of Gibraltar, knowing that about this time of the year many Dutch vessels would be returning from Italy, Turkey, and Egypt. Here was a glorious chance. Exactly the thing they wanted. Immediately they steered for Gibraltar. On the 22nd, while they were sailing forward with a sharp look-out, they met a Dutch vessel which had just miraculously escaped the Spaniards, having sailed right into the midst of them during the night. This was splendid news; for they were now on the right track. Two nights more and they met a Frenchman, who told them that the fleet lay before Gibraltar, and was twenty-one vessels strong. Now the decisive time had come. Heemskerk sent for all the captains, and told them how things stood. Although he was perhaps the youngest of them all, his courage, his energy, his patriotism inspired them, and the eloquent words with which he addressed them stirred their hearts. He pointed out that the Dutch were by far the better sailors, and the more courageous, and that they had now an opportunity of doing what would gain them the gratitude and blessing of those at home, and the admiration of the whole world. Then he told them his plan of battle. They were to divide in pairs, and each pair was to steer alongside one of the Spaniards right and left, and pound him until there was nothing left to pound. Heemskerk had reserved for himself and Captain Lambert the admiral's ship, and promised to lead the attack. Having commended them to God, and urged them to uphold the honour of their country, he shook hands with them all round. Every one of them swore to obey his orders until death, and left the ship. Then the fleet sailed towards Gibraltar. Next morning, the 25th of April, the Spanish fleet appeared in sight, lying in a half-circle in front of the quay. Their position was magnificent. The quay of the city was armed, the castles on either side were bristling with guns, and the galleons of the Spaniards carried twice the number of cannon on the Dutch ships. Besides this they had prepared for the contest by crowding their ships with more than four thousand soldiers, and also manning one German, three Dutch, and four French vessels which they had captured. Notwithstanding all this the Dutch fleet came sailing on quietly, with Van Heemskerk in the van. The Spanish admiral, Don Juan Alvarez d'Avilla, on seeing this extraordinary approach, called one of the captured Dutch captains and asked him whether that little fleet actually meant to fight him. 'It looks like it,' answered the Dutchman. 'Why, this is absurd,' exclaimed the admiral; 'one of my galleons can lick the lot.' 'We'll see presently,' said the prisoner, and they did see. The Dutch fleet came gliding into the bay like a flock of swans. On every ship the captain collected his men, and told them the order. He exhorted them to piety, as not many of them would come out of this deadly conflict. They all knelt down, and offered up a short prayer; a cup of wine was handed round for a farewell draught, and then the work began. In the most death-like silence Heemskerk's ship led the way. He himself stood on the upper deck, helmet on head, and in full harness. At his bold approach the Spanish admiral, who lay first, cut his anchor, and drifted behind the other ships nearer the town. The vice-admiral's ship then came first. 'Shall we attack him, sir?' asked the captain of the 'olus.' Do 'No,' said Heemskerk; 'follow the admiral. not fire a shot until you are alongside of him; do not drop your anchor until you hear it go 'crack;' and a hundred dollars for the man who fetches me down the flag.' On he went, passing the vice-admiral on his left, and closely followed by Lambert. When the Spanish admiral saw that there was no help for it, he resolved to fight, and opened fire out of his two stern-pieces. The first shot went through the forecastle, and did but little damage. Then Heemskerk turned to his men, and gave the word to fire. At the same time the ships touched with a 'crack,' und the anchor dropped. Then the Spanish admiral fired his second stern-piece. The shot cut a young musketeer in two, and Heemskerk fell by his side. The blood streamed over the deck. His left leg was smashed, and he felt that death was near. Captain Verhoeff ran towards him, and threw himself on his knees by his dear friend's side. Van Heemskerk pressed his hand faintly, exhorted those around him to go on as they had begun, and obtain the victory at any price. He then commended his soul to God, and died. At that moment the other ships had all reached their respective opponents, and the battle was raging everywhere. The whole were soon intermingled in deadly conflict, and enveloped in one vast and lurid cloud of sulphur. The earth trembled under the terrific cannonade. The very sea heaved in mighty billows when one of the largest Spanish galleons blew up with a terrific explosion, and flung the fragments a hundred feet into the air. The water was covered with the bodies of the dead, or the wounded who endeavoured to escape; the air was filled with the cries of war, and ship after ship of the Spaniards caught fire, and threw a terrible glare over the scene. Those who had begun so proudly now begged for mercy; but the Dutch were furious. They were fighting ten to one, and they would give no quarter. Their patience had long since been exhausted, and they must teach the tyrant their power. Ship after ship was blown up or burned. When the evening fell, the whole Spanish fleet had disappeared. The two admirals' ships, three galleons, one large man-ofwar, and two foreign vessels had been burned; two galleons had been blown up, one was shot under water, and sank; two were chased ashore, and rendered useless. The admiral was killed, his son and fifty others taken prisoners; the vice-admiral, many officers, and two hundred men were wounded; and the dead-so the historian tells us were so numerous that they could not be counted, but floated about the bay in numbers. The Dutch lost nearly a hundred killed, and fifty to sixty wounded, but not a single ship. When it was known that Heemskerk had fallen, the grief in the fleet was profound; for his courage, his piety, and his disinterestedness had inspired all. His body was immediately embalmed, and sent to Amsterdam on the following day by one of the ships. The city honoured him with a public and magnificent burial in the old church of Amsterdam. I have often stood before the tomb where his deeds are recorded, and I have felt that but for him, and men like him, Holland would never have been the free country it is; and I wish I could more thoroughly render the beauty of the words which the poet Hooft wrote under his name— Here lies a man of noblest courage and device, Heemskerk, who cut his way through iron and through ice. |