Chap. LIII.

during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth.

CHAP. LIII. -

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A Particular and ImpdrttaV- Account of the 'Expedition of the Engljlh to Cadiz,*under the Command of th? Earl of Essex, and the Lord High Admiral Howard ;With several Original Papers relating to the same. Vv

ICQ 6.Gmden.shuanus.Jaclduyt,{•I. p. do7.^rchas,v oI. IV. p.

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fppendix to^ a rris’j Col.I'r Williamrjonson’r

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W E are now come so a Year asmemorable for the 'Numberand Importance of the NavalExpeditions performed in it, as anyone Year of this ever-glorious Reign. Ishall begin with the Chief of them, theExpedition to Cadiz.

The Reports which had for someTime prevailed, of great Preparationsbeing making by the Spaniards to in-vade England', still continuing; Andthe ill Success Sir Francis Drake , andSir John Hawkins had met with in theirlast Expedition, together with the tak-ing of Calais from the French , havingraised the Pride of Spain to such a Pitch,that they began, to talk with great As-surance of their Designs not only uponEngland ,■ but upon Ireland, at the sameTime, Her Majesty thought She couldnot better avert the impending Storm,than by attacking the Enemy in his ownPorts, and destroying his Shipping be-fore they could be in a Readiness forAction, or assemble in a Body.

To this End, She fitted out a verypowerful Fleet; But Authors differ ve-ry much as to the Number of Ships em-ployed in this Expedition, the Forcethey carried, and their CommandersNames., Mr. Secretary Burchett fays, itconsisted of one Hundred and six andtwenty Men of War, (which is an appa-rent Mi flake,) seventeen whereof wereHer Majesty’s own Ships, and the Resthired. Camden, and other Historians,with a greater Shew of Reason, withRegard to the Quality of the Ships, fay,it consisted of one Hundred and fiftyShips, of several Sorts, including twoand twenty Dutch Ships; tho’ they seemto exceed in Number, (a)

This Fleet had seven Thousand,three Hundred and sixty Landmen onBoard, of which one Thousand were

Volunteers, and Six Thousand sevenHundred, and seventy-two Seamen, be-sides the Dutch.

M r. Secretary Burchett fays the whole(Land and Sea-Force) was under thejoint Command of the Earl of EJsex ,and the Lord High Admiral Howard(who, fays Camden, had expended vastSums from their own private Purse, up-on this Expedition) assisted by a Councilof War, consisting of the Lord ThomasHoward, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Fran -cis Fere, Sir George Carew, and SirComers Clifford ; And this agrees prettynearly with their Instructions; ButCamden adds, the Lord High Admiral,however, being to have the principalAuthority at Sea, and the Earl of EJsexat Land.

Some other Authors fay only, thatthe Lord Charles Howard commandedas Admiral, and the Earl of EJsex asGeneral of the Land-Forces. But thebest and most probable Account wehave of the Disposition of the Command,both of the Land and Sea-Forces, maybe collected from Camden and Stow, asfollows.

This Fleet (according to these Au-<c thors) was divided into four Squadrons," whereof the first was commanded by" the Lord High Admiral Howard j" the second by the Earl of EJsex, the" third by the Lord Thomas Haward ;" and the fourth by Sir Walter Raleigh.“ The Officers of the Army (of which" the Lord Admiral, and the Earl of“ EJsex were joint Generals) were Sir" Francis Fere, Lord Marshal, Sir" John Wingfield Camp-master Gene-ts ral, Sir Conyers Clifford, Serjeant" Major, Sir George Carew, Master of" the Ordnance. The Colonels were

Robert Earl of Sussex, Sir Chris opher" Blunt, Sis Thomas Gerrard, Sir RF4 M " chard

( a ) Speed mentions the fame Number, andparticularises them as follows : Seventeen of HerMajesty's Ships Royal, three of the Lord Admi-

ral’s, four and twenty of the Stats’5 Ships, Mer Tchant, Men of War and Victualers above a Hun-dred : In all, one Hundred and fifty.