The English fleet, of forty sail, put out from Plymouth Sound;
The flagship was the Raleigh Ark; beside her sailed the Bear,
The Dreadnought and the Victory had foremost places there;
And soon they saw the Spanish ships, with every sail outspread,
Come up from the Atlantic main, by the tall Pinta led;
Full six-score gallant ships sailed up, the south-west wind before,
And, like a crescent moon, they stretched for seven good miles or more,
And on their decks and in their hulls were thirty thousand men.
Such fleet was never seen before, nor shall be seen again!
Up channel now they set their helms, King Philip ordered so,