Grenville
himself went out to Roanoke. He was a born soldier of fortune and
"first-class fighting man"; an explorer, scout, and pioneer; but not a
colonist at all. On his return from founding Raleigh's colony his
boats were swept away in a storm just before he saw a Spanish treasure
ship. But he made his carpenter put together some sort of boat with
bits of boxes; and in this he boarded the Spaniard, just reaching her
deck before his makeshift craft went down.
On the 1st of September, 1591, the _Revenge_, with Grenville in command
of her less than two hundred men, was at "Flores in the Azores" when
Don Alonzo de Bazan arrived with fifty-three ships of Spain. The
little English squadron under Lord Thomas Howard had no chance against
this overwhelming force. So it put to sea just in time to escape
destruction. But when Howard saw that the _Revenge_ was being
surrounded he gallantly came back and attacked the Spaniards in rear;
while the little _George Noble_ of London ran alongside the _Revenge_,
offering to stand by through thick and thin.
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