A.d± Charles I. Naval Expeditions , &c. oj the English, Book III*
1625. Lordship’s late (5) distributing of them,and but in single Copies, to the Admi-rals of the Squadrons, (for the Rear-Admiral received his no sooner) wasCause that many could not have them,before we came to the South Cape, andafter the Storm ; So that many mighthave been severed from the Fleet, andnever come to them again, for Wantof Instructions; As was near being theCafe of Captain Roskinner, in the Mat-ThreeS'pz- thew , and Captain White, in anothermsh Snips Ship, with two Ships more, who toge-ther had six Hundred Land-men onBoard ; ( d ) All which came not intothe Bay of Cadiz, till we were readyButsufered to come away. In the said Articles noto pass. Enemy was particularly named, (<?) forDefault whereof, the Captains, Osborn,Bainthon, and Squill, when they metthree Spanish Ships, near the Rock, a-bout the seventeenth of Qffober, didnot fight with them.
A Council of .. The eleventh of October, at a Coun-^Fizr. csi. Sir Michael Gore moved to have theEnemy named; But my Lord Marshalpersisted it was enough to fay, Ehe com-mon Enemy. Being urged by Sir JohnButgh and Mr. Glanvil, he, at Length,named the Spaniard, which was also in-serted in the next Instructions; Butthey being delivered, as before, onlysingly to the Admirals, to write themout, many Ships did not know theirEnemy, ’till they came to Cadiz, (f)
si) Those who would take Advantage of this,do not know, or else have forgotten ; For myLord of EJfex coming to me at Plymouth, I shew -ed him my Instructions, lying on the Table ; Butwhen he was commanded to depart for Falmouth,he forgot to call for them ; Yet I sent them afterhim (before I sailed) by Land, and asked him thefirst Time I met him at Sea, if he had receivedthem, but he told me no ; And then I gave himnew ones.
(d) It was their own Neglect that they camenot for Instructions, and the Cause must havebeen, that they were not ready to fail with theFleet.
(e) The Instructions shewed where the Ren-dezvous was to be, and no Man could think wewent upon the Coast of Spain to trafiick, havingno other Merchandize than .Powder and Shot.
(/) I should think that the Vice-Admiral(the Earl of E,(fex) and the Rear-Admiral (theEarl of Denbigh ) might have caused them to bewrit out as well. as I; For I caused theirs to be writ-ten, and some for their Squadrons, and all for myown. I had them written most at Sea, being com-manded by my Lord Duke to let slip no Oppor-tunity of a VV”ind. Besides, I gave one to SirFrancis Steward , so that I had more writing thanothers; But no more Allowance for Secretaries.
(g) Can any of the Council of War ask fitcha Question, that had the Honour to hear His Ma-jesty, after a long Debate, condescend that weshould go directly for St. Lucas.
The nineteenth of Oftober, the Fleet 1625*was off the South Cape. The twentieth, ‘Ehe Fleeta Council was called, where it appear- % ri J es t ued, that the Lord Marshall understood CapEwe were only to give our Advice towhat he proposed. We were then in Anothera proper Height, and hoped his Lord- Council k el ^ship would name some Place, in parti-cular,to attack ; Not believing my LordMarshal came from Plymouth, withouthaving resolved (g). His Lordshipnamed St. Lucas ; But answered him-self, that it was a barred Haven (A),where no great Ships could go in, con-demning the Seamen (but naming none)who, at Plymouth, advised most forthat Place, and made no Difficulty ofthe Entrance then, tho’ now they foundit barred. It was there proposed to gointo the Bay of Cadiz, to attempt St.
Mary's Port (/), and divers were of thisOpinion. Sir Henry Bruce proposedand urged Gibraltar ; But his Lordshipflighted his Proposal, and would not al-low it a full Debating(£) As appearsby his Manner of putting the Question :
Whether to Cadiz Bay or Gibraltar ?
Adding, he believed Sir Henry wouldstand alone. This Slighting of ColonelBruce, a Gentleman of great Experi-ence, and good Reputation, did notonly discourage him, who, besides this,advised to have gone into the Streights,
(/) there to have farther attempted ;
But hindered divers Proposals of others,
and
(h) All tHe World knew it was a barred Ha-ven, before we came from Plymouth ; But the Dif-ficulty was, that it was a dangerous Haven, andmore dangerous in Winter, as the Act of Coun-cil doth more plainly declare ; Therefore, I won-der, that Ten sufficient Counsellors should leng-then their Journal with that Doubt; And I amsure, that no Seamen made that Difficulty beforeHis Majesty at Plymouth.
si) No one refused Sir Samuel Ar gall’% Propo-sal for Port St- Mary’s.
(k) I must place this among other Slanderswhich cannot be proved ; For this is a worthyGentleman, and one I have known longer in theWars, than any of the Colonels in the Troops.Had the Knowledge come from himself, I shouldhave readily embraced it ; Yet I could not havedone it without the Liking of the Rest of the Co-lonels, nor could I change His Majesty's Direc-tions. Knowing him not to be a Seaman, I be-lieved the Proposal came from the Master of hisShip; Yet I did not wholly neglect it; But calledsome Captains and Masters who knew the Place,that it was very strong, and but one Way to ap-proach it; Well-proyided with Ordnance, andwe not able to land any, having lost our Long-boats : And besides, there was no Anchoring, butin the Power of the Castle.
(l) If we had gone into the Streights, we mighthave been locked in, and be long before we couldcome out, and dean out of Hope of the Plate-Fleet.