CharXXIII. from the L of James I, to the Revolution,

) 2 §.Fleetes atiutb

ither

1625. an d especially of one of the Council,,who had the Plan of a Place in Spain,which else had been proposed.

„ There it was concluded to go into

theB^of tBe Ba J of Cadiz, my Lord of Effex' sCadiz/ Squadron to go in first, and to anchoras near St. Mary's Port as he could.My Lord of Effete and Lord Cromwelthen moved, that if they found anySpanijh Shipping in the Bay (which itis seldom without) to know if theyshould attempt them, and desired a fulland clear Direction in that Point. MyLord Marjhal, without referring it tothe Council, of himself answered; thatwhen we should be upon thePlace, thenhe would advise thereon, and resolve,when our Eyes might be our Directors,and so gave my Lord of Effex plain Or-ders to come to Anchor, and to leaveBreadth betwixt St. Mary's Port andhim, for the Rest of the Fleet, {m)This Resolution was a new seconded,by an expressLetterfrom my Lord Mar-shal, to my Lord of Effex, when hewas entering into the Mouth of theBay,y and had the Ships in Sight, («)

art!ve The twenty-second of Ocloher, in°f the Afternoon, my Lord of Effex sailedinto the Bay, where he found seven-teen good Ships riding under theTown,and ten or twelve Gallies which camefrom St. Mary's-Port. When they dis-covered us to be English, they madewhat Haste they could, to get underthe Port Punt al, and so up the Creek,Fari of to ^ ort TioyaT, My Lord of Effex wentff' at. , something beyond St. Mary's-Port, and&h,p. the exchanged some Shot, both with theGallies and Gallions; He brailed hisFore-fail, and hovered some Time, tosee if my Lord Marffal would sendsf c ui « not him any Order ; (0) But receiving° nded - none, fell down near the Place assign-

485

ed him, and came to Anchor. If my 1625.Lord Marjhal had, upon my Lord ofEffex, and Lord Cromwel 's Motion, gi-ven Orders for attempting theShipping,before they came in, if they found any;

Or, at his own Coming in, a Quarter ofan Hour after, when he first saw Ship-ping there, and when his Eyes mighthave been his Directors (for he couldfee them cut their Cables) had then puthimself into a Barge, or Long-boat,and given Orders; Or but sent a Ketch,with Orders to my Lord of Effex, toattempt them, these Ships had beenthe King’s; But his Lordship came pre-sently to an Anchor, with the Rest ofthe Fleet.

Soon after, the Lord of Effex, theDutch Admiral, and some few otherChiefs, went of themselves on Boardthe Admiral, to offer their Servicesmndreceive Orders. After their being someTime aboard, the Flag of Council washung out; But it was then so late itcould not be far discerned. My .Lord The Generalof Effex, Colonel j Burgh, and Sir John pressed to at-Prowd, then pressed him to set imme- ^ the erdiately upon the Shipping, giving him Town.Reasons why, if he did not, he mightendanger the losing them: As also, ifhe intended any Thing to Cadiz, heshould do well to give them no Time,

{p) But presently land his Army,whichhe might have done, between the Townand the Fort. His Lordship orderedno more for that Night, but that twen- h 7 f e ^f rity Colliers, with five of the Dutch Squa-dron, should batter the Fort. For this,he sent Sir Thomas. Love, and Sir MichaelGore, to give Order, which, how theyexecuted, we leave them to answer, on-ly saying, Sir Michael Gore was but se-cond in that Commission, and Sir Tho-mas Love, being Captain of his Lord-ship’s

{m) I must say here, as I told my Lord of Es-sex, the other Day, speaking of it, that " I ne-“ ver heard any such Thing: " Then my Lordsaid; “ If j did not.speak it to you, I spoke it to“ Sir Thomas Love: ” For if I had been askedthat Question, I should not have given any otherCouncil, than what I had written in the Instruc-tions I gave my Lord for Fighting; Witness theseventh and tenth Articles. And I did forbear topress, 'till that I am urged to it. Therefore, ifOfficers of that Quality, will not. read and marktheir Instructions, but pick Faults in. their Com-mander , and join with so many to do iil Offices^I refer it and appeal to. higher Powers-.(») This Letter was only to desire his.Lord- ;to perform the Resolution of the Council,That was, to make Haste in, and anchor beforeM Mary's-Port ; But not to forbid him to fightwith any Ship that should give him Occasion, as”

my Instructions will answer for me to the con-trary.

(0). TH75 plainly shews, that my Lord hadTime enough to have entertained a Fight withthe Ships, but that still he had forgot to read hisInstructions.

{p) I WONDER why they in Council gaveOrderty go to Puntal , to take that in first: However,I am assured, I lost no Minute of Time; But didmy utmost to batter Puntal , and to have under-taken the Spanijh Ships, likewise; Witness myInstructions to the Ships appointed to go up- .Buthow could- this be done, when Sir Michael Goredeceived me, and His Majesty’s Service, in notwarning those twenty Ships, which were to havedone the Business that Night, as .the five DutchShips did, to the" Dishonour of our Nation; whichif he had performed, we had, in the Morning,sent the Ships towards Port-Royah