'' The American subjects of King George III in
the year 1776 came to a similar conclusion. But they had three
thousand miles of ocean between themselves and their ruler
and the Estates General took their decision (which meant a
slow death in case of defeat) within hearing of the Spanish
guns and although in constant fear of an avenging Spanish
fleet.
The stories about a mysterious Spanish fleet that was to conquer
both Holland and England, when Protestant Queen
Elizabeth had succeeded Catholic ``Bloody Mary'' was an old
one. For years the sailors of the waterfront had talked
about it. In the eighties of the sixteenth century, the
rumour took a definite shape. According to pilots who had
been in Lisbon, all the Spanish and Portuguese wharves were
building ships. And in the southern Netherlands (in Belgium)
the Duke of Parma was collecting a large expeditionary
force to be carried from Ostend to London and Amsterdam
as soon as the fleet should arrive.
In the year 1586 the Great Armada set sail for the north.
But the harbours of the Flemish coast were blockaded by a
Dutch fleet and the Channel was guarded by the English, and
the Spaniards, accustomed to the quieter seas of the south, did
not know how to navigate in this squally and bleak northern
climate. What happened to the Armada once it was attacked
by ships and by storms I need not tell you.
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