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Wood, William (William Charles Henry), 1864-1947

"Flag and Fleet How the British Navy Won the Freedom of the Seas"

But I have the heart of a king;
and of a King of England too."
There can be no doubt whatever that both leaders and followers must
have good hearts, and have them in the right place too; and that the
heart of England beat high throughout this great campaign. But good
heads, rightly used, are equally needed in war. Sea-Dog courage
counted for much against the Great Armada; but Sea-Dog skill for more.
If you want a fight in which the Sea-Dog hearts might well have quailed
against appalling odds, then turn to the glorious end of Drake's old
flagship, the _Revenge_, when her new captain, Sir Richard Grenville,
fought her single-handed against a whole encircling fleet of Spain.
[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE ON BOARD THE _REVENGE_ receiving the
surrender of Don Pedro de Valdes.]
Grenville, Drake, and Sir Philip Sidney had been among those members of
Parliament who had asked Queen Elizabeth to give Sir Walter Raleigh a
Royal Charter to found the first of the English oversea Dominions--the
colony on Roanoke Island in what is now North Carolina.


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