Fire-ships--a fit device of heretics--had worked havoc among
the Spanish troops, when the bridge was blown up, at Antwerp. They
imagined that similar infernal machines were approaching the Armada. A
capable commander would have sent a few launches to grapple the burning
hulks, which of course were now deserted, and tow them out of harm's
way. Spanish sailors were not cowards, and would not have flinched from
duty because it might be dangerous; but the Duke and Diego Florez lost
their heads again. A signal gun from the _San Martin_ ordered the whole
fleet to slip their cables and stand out to sea.
Orders given in panic are doubly unwise, for they spread the terror in
which they originate. The danger from the fire-ships was chiefly from
the effect on the imagination, for they appear to have drifted by and
done no real injury. And it speaks well for the seamanship and courage
of the Spaniards that they were able, crowded together as they were, at
midnight and in sudden alarm to set their canvas and clear out without
running into one another. They buoyed their cables, expecting to return
for them at daylight, and with only a single accident, to be mentioned
directly, they executed successfully a really difficult manoeuvre.
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