The Spaniards are coming

70 The Spaniards1 are coming!

A I am an old man now, but I will never forget that hot evening in July, 1588. I remember every minute! And every minute is a picture full of life – and adventure. All was quiet at Plymouth harbour where the English fleet2 lay at anchor3. Everyone in England had heard that the Spaniards wanted to attack us with the greatest fleet in the world. They called it the Great Armada. The only question was: When would they come? The Spaniards had a large army in the Netherlands4, and they wanted to bring it here, to England. Our ships had been ready for weeks. On that evening Sir Francis Drake and a few other officers5 had gone to play bowls6 on a hill above the town. I was a very young officer and had to take care of7 Sir Francis’s ship when he was gone. Suddenly I heard the shouts of our men on land8 . I ran to the side of the ship and looked down. “What is it?” I asked. “The Spaniards, sir,” a sailor9 shouted. “Some of our men have seen their ships in the English Channel. Over a hundred!” Over a hundred! There was only one thing to do. I left the ship and ran all the way through the town to the bowling-green10. Sir Francis and Lord Howard, the commander11 of the English fleet, were standing with a group of officers. I ran up to them.

1Spaniard !*spxnJEd? • 2fleet !fli:t? • 3(to) lie at anchor !+laI-Et *xNkE? • 4Netherlands !*neDElEndz? • 5 officer !*OfIsE? • 6(to) play bowls !pleI *bEUlz? • 7(to) take care of !teIk *keE-Ev? • 8on land !On *lxnd? • 9 sailor !*seIlE? • 10 bowling-green !*bEUlIN Gri:n? • 11commander !kE*mA:ndE?

“My Lord Howard! Sir Francis!” I said. “The Spaniards are coming up the Channel! The Armada is almost here!” Lord Howard threw down his bowl, and all the other officers – but not Drake – looked very worried. “Back to your ships, gentlemen,” said Lord Howard. “There is no time to lose!” “One moment, my Lord,” Drake said quietly. “There is time to finish the game and defeat the Spaniards, too. Let the Spaniards go by12, and with the help of God we can follow them and defeat them. We’ll finish the game first.” That was the way of Sir Francis Drake. He never became excited or worried. He smiled, took his bowl, which he still held in his hands, and continued the game.

B When we left the harbour we soon sighted13 the Armada. The heavy ships were sailing up the Channel in the shape14 of a great half-moon. I had never seen so many ships in my life. I heard later that there were 130 of them, with 30,000 men on them. Our little ships were not even half the size of the big Spanish ships. But we could sail much faster. As Drake had planned, we attacked them from behind15. First we fired off16 our cannon balls17, then we turned away before the Spaniards could fire theirs. This is the way we followed the Armada up the Channel, until the Spaniards turned towards the French coast and entered the harbour of Calais. It was difficult to attack them there, but Drake, as always, knew what to do. We filled six of our oldest ships with pitch18 and tar19. Then, in the night, we set fire to20 them and let them drift21 towards the Spanish fleet. It was terrible to see those burning Spanish ships in the night. We could hear the shouts of the Spaniards as they tried to sail off 22 . That was the chance we had been waiting for. We surrounded23 a few of the largest ships and sank them. The rest of the ships sailed out into the North Sea. We followed them and fired off our cannons again and again. Soon, we had no more cannon balls, and then we turned back.

C Before we got home, a great storm had come up. The ships of the Armada had to sail farther24 and farther north. We heard no more of them for a long time until Lord Howard told us that they had sailed round the north of Scotland. The Spaniards had lost most of their ships on the coast of Scotland and Ireland, and only 54 out of 130 returned to Spain. There was great joy25 in all of Queen Elizabeth’s land. When we returned to England, bonfires26 were burning, church bells27 were ringing, and all the people were dancing in the streets. Everyone was celebrating the greatest victory28 in English history. I was a very young officer, so I danced on the deck with the other men. Sir Francis stood there and watched us, and I could see that he was smiling.

12(to) go by !GEU *baI? • 13(to) sight !saIt? • 14shape !SeIp? • 15from behind !frOm bI*haInd? • 16(to) fire off !9faIE-*Of? • 17cannon ball !*kxnEn bC:l? • 18pitch !pItS? • 19tar !tA:? • 20(to) set fire to !set *faIE tE? • 21(to) drift !drIft? • 22(to) sail off !seIl*Of? •

23(to) surround !sE*raUnd? • 24farther !*fA:DE? • 25joy !dZCI? • 26bonfire !*bOnfaIE? • 27bell !bel? • 28victory !*vIktri?