To add to the general gloom, England was threatened before the close of the year (1586) with a famine, caused partly by the inclemency of the seasons and partly by a "corner" in wheat, which some enterprising engrossers had managed to bring about.[1653] In November the mayor caused the city companies to lay in 6,000 or 7,000 quarters of wheat and rye for the relief of those who had already[pg 534] suffered from the extreme dearth, and to raise a sum of £2,500 over and above such sums as they had hitherto disbursed for the provision of corn and grain,[1654] and the Court of Aldermen (3 Jan., 1587) agreed to erect a new garner at the Bridgehouse.[1655]
Philip's preparations for invasion, 1587.
After the execution of Mary Stuart, Philip of Spain laid claim to the crown of England. For years past he was known to have been preparing a fleet for an invasion of the country. Preparations were now almost complete, and in 1587 expectation was that the fleet might be seen any day bearing down upon the English coast. The inhabitants of villages and towns on the south coast forsook their homes in terror of the invasion and sought shelter inland.[1656] The evil hour was put off by the prompt action of Drake, who, with four ships of the royal navy and twenty-four others supplied by the City and private individuals,[1657] appeared suddenly off the Spanish coast, and running into Cadiz and Lisbon, destroyed tons of shipping under the very nose of the Spanish lord high admiral, and threw into the sea the vast military stores that had been accumulated there. Having thus accomplished the object for which he set sail—that of "singeing the king of Spain's beard"—he returned, and the sailing of the Armada was put off for a year.
Preparations in England, 1587-1588.
Preparations were in the meanwhile pushed on in the city to meet the attack whenever it should be made. Ten thousand men were levied and equipped in a short space of time.[1658] Any inhabitant of the city[pg 535] assessed in the subsidy-book at £50 in goods, and who, being under fifty years of age, was called upon to serve, and refused, was forthwith committed to Newgate.[1659] If any fault was to be found with the city's force it was the inefficiency of its officers, whom the municipal authorities always claimed to appoint. The Earl of Leicester, who was in command of the camp which had been formed at Tilbury, held but a poor opinion of Londoners as a fighting force.[1660] "For your Londoners," wrote the earl to Walsingham,[1661] I see their service will be little, except they have their own captains, and having them, I look for none at all by them when we shall meet the enemy." He declares that he knows what burghers be well enough, even though they be "as brave and well trained" as the Londoners; they would be useless without good leaders,[1662] and on this he had always insisted. He warns Walsingham against yielding to the wishes of "townsmen" at such a critical juncture, for they would look for the like concession at other times. The Londoners were not peculiar in their desire to have their own officers, according to the earl's own showing, for the letter continues:—"You and my lords all know the imperfection[pg 536] at this time, how few leaders you have, and the gentlemen of the counties here are likewise very loth to have any placed with them to command under them, but well pleased to have some expert man with them to give them advice." Two years later a code of regulations for the "trayninge of capytaynes" was forwarded by the government to the city, and there put into execution.[1663]
The City fits out sixteen ships and four pinnaces.
In addition to the land force the City agreed (3 April, 1588) to furnish and fully equip for war sixteen of the largest and best merchant ships that could be found in the Thames, and four pinnaces to attend on them.[1664] A committee was nominated to sit at Clothworkers' Hall and take the necessary steps for fitting out the vessels, the cost of which was to be met by an assessment on citizen and stranger alike.[1665] Nothing was said at the time about victualling the fleet, but we learn from a later entry in the City's Journal that they were victualled for three months. On the 16th July the City agreed to supply victuals[pg 537] for "those twentie shipps lately sett forth" for one month longer, and on the 10th August the Common Council again passed a similar resolution.[1666]
The fate of the Armada, July, 1588.
At last the blow fell. On Friday, the 19th (o.s.) July, the Armada was sighted off the Lizard. A strong wind from the south-west was blowing at the time, and it was thought advisable to let the fleet pass and to follow it up with the English vessels then lying in Plymouth harbour. On the following day the two fleets hove in sight of each other. According to the report made to Walsingham by Richard Tomson—a Londoner serving on board the Margaret and John, one of the ships furnished by the City—the Spanish fleet numbered at that time 136 sail, ninety of which were large vessels, whilst the English fleet numbered no more than sixty-seven.[1667]
Notwithstanding the great superiority of the enemy's fleet in numbers and tonnage, the English admiral, Lord Howard, opened fire the next morning, but took care not to come to close quarters. "We had some small fight with them that Sunday afternoon," reported Hawkins to Walsingham.[1668] The admiral had other reasons for preserving caution. His ships were but ill-furnished with provisions and with ammunition, and even thus early he had to beg the Secretary of State to send him "for God's sake some powder and shot."[1669] The same deficiency of ammunition was experienced the whole time that[pg 538] the two fleets were opposed to each other, and but for this the enemy would not have got off so cheaply as it did. Scarcely a day passed without some cannonading taking place, but never a general engagement. The English trusted to their superior seamanship and to the greater activity of their own light vessels compared with the heavier and more unwieldly Spanish galleons. Again and again they poured broadside after broadside into the enemy, but always making good their retreat before the Spanish vessels could turn in pursuit. On Tuesday (23 July), wrote Hawkins, they had "a sharp and long fight" off Portland, on Thursday "a hot fraye." And thus the Armada made its way up channel, pestered with the swarm of English vessels that would never leave it at peace. On the Saturday following (27 July) it finally dropped anchor in Calais roads, with the intention of awaiting there the arrival of Alexander Farnese with his promised aid before making a direct descent upon the English coast. Farnese did not arrive for the reason that he was blockaded by the Dutch fleet; but the English received an accession of strength by the arrival of Lord Henry Seymour with a squadron of sixteen ships, which hitherto had been lying off Folkestone.[1670]