the iron-bound coast of Connaught, over 2,000 men perished.
In Galway harbour, 70 prisoners were taken by the Queen's
garrison, and executed on St. Augustine's hill. In the
Shannon, the crew of a disabled vessel set her on fire,
and escaped to another in the offing. On the coasts of
Cork and Kerry nearly one thousand men were lost or cast
away. In all, according to a state paper of the time,
above 6,000 of the Spaniards were either drowned, killed,
or captured, on the north, west, and southern coasts. A
more calamitous reverse could not have befallen Spain or
Ireland in the era of the Reformation.

It is worthy of remark that at the very moment the fear
of the armada was most intensely felt in England--the
beginning of July--Sir John Perrott was recalled from
the government. His high and imperious temper, not less
than his reliance on the native chiefs, rather than on
the courtiers of Dublin Castle, had made him many enemies.
He was succeeded by a Lord Deputy of a different
character--Sir William Fitzwilliam--who had filled the
same office, for a short period, seventeen years before.
The administration of this nobleman was protracted till
the year 1594, and is chiefly memorable in connection
with the formation of the Ulster Confederacy, under the
leadership of O'Neil and O'Donnell.

Fitzwilliam, whose master passion was avarice, had no
sooner been sworn into the government than he issued a
commission to search for treasure, which the shipwrecked
Spaniards were supposed to have saved. "In hopes to finger