Here certainly was no very triumphant beginning for the Invincible Armada.  On the very first day of their being in presence of the English fleet—­then but sixty-seven in number, and vastly their inferior in size and weight of metal—­they had lost the flag ships of the Guipuzcoan and of the Andalusian squadrons, with a general-admiral, 450 officers and, men, and some 100,000 ducats of treasure.  They had been out-manoeuvred, out-sailed, and thoroughly maltreated by their antagonists, and they had been unable to inflict a single blow in return.  Thus the “small fight” had been a cheerful one for the opponents of the Inquisition, and the English were proportionably encouraged.

On Monday, 1st of August, Medina Sidonia placed the rear-guard-consisting of the galeasses, the galleons St. Matthew, St. Luke, St. James, and the Florence and other ships, forty-three in all—­under command of Don Antonio de Leyva.  He was instructed to entertain the enemy—­ so constantly hanging on the rear—­to accept every chance of battle, and to come to close quarters whenever it should be possible.  The Spaniards felt confident of sinking every ship in the English navy, if they could but once come to grappling; but it was growing more obvious every hour that the giving or withholding battle was entirely in the hands of their foes.  Meantime—­while the rear was thus protected by Leyva’s division—­ the vanguard and main body of the Armada, led by the captain-general, would steadily pursue its way, according to the royal instructions, until it arrived at its appointed meeting-place with the Duke of Parma.  Moreover, the Duke of Medina—­dissatisfied with the want of discipline and of good seamanship hitherto displayed in his fleet—­now took occasion to send a serjeant-major, with written sailing directions, on board each ship in the Armada, with express orders to hang every captain, without appeal or consultation, who should leave the position assigned him; and the hangmen were sent with the sergeant-majors to ensure immediate attention to these arrangements.  Juan Gil was at the name time sent off in a sloop to the Duke of Parma, to carry the news of the movements of the Armada, to request information as to the exact spot and moment of the junction, and to beg for pilots acquainted with the French and Flemish coasts.  “In case of the slightest gale in the world,” said Medina, “I don’t know how or where to shelter such large ships as ours.”

Disposed in this manner; the Spaniards sailed leisurely along the English coast with light westerly breezes, watched closely by the Queen’s fleet, which hovered at a moderate distance to windward, without offering, that day, any obstruction to their course.