Philip II. had made with his excellent friend Henry III. for aid and
comfort to Spanish vessels in French ports. Unluckily, however, the
inclination for plunder being rife that morning, some of the Englishmen
hustled their French visitors, plundered them of their rings and jewels,
as if they had been enemies, and then permitted them to depart. They
rowed off to the shore, vowing vengeance, and within a few minutes after
their return the battery of the fort was opened upon the English, and
they were compelled to make their escape as they could with the plunder
already secured, leaving the galeasse in the possession of M. de Gourdon.

This adventure being terminated, and the pinnaces having returned to the
fleet, the Lord-Admiral, who had been lying off and on, now bore away
with all his force in pursuit of the Spaniards. The Invincible Armada,
already sorely crippled, was standing N.N.E. directly before a fresh
topsail-breeze from the S.S.W. The English came up with them soon after
nine o'clock A.M. off Gravelines, and found them sailing in a half-moon,
the admiral and vice-admiral in the centre, and the flanks protected by
the three remaining galeasses and by the great galleons of Portugal.

Seeing the enemy approaching, Medina Sidonia ordered his whole fleet to
luff to the wind, and prepare for action. The wind shifting a few
points, was now at W.N.W., so that the English had both the weather-gage
and the tide in their favour. A general combat began at about ten, and
it was soon obvious to the Spaniards that their adversaries were
intending warm work. Sir Francis Drake in the Revenge, followed by,
Frobisher in the Triumph, Hawkins in the Victory, and some smaller
vessels, made the first attack upon the Spanish flagships. Lord Henry in
the Rainbow, Sir Henry Palmer in the Antelope, and others, engaged with
three of the largest galleons of the Armada, while Sir William Winter in
the Vanguard, supported by most of his squadron, charged the starboard