seven in the morning
And now while the mastiffs of England and the bloodhounds of Spain are nearing and nearing over the rolling surges , thirsting for each other 's blood , let us spend a few minutes at least in looking at them both , and considering the causes which in those days enabled the English to face and conquer armaments immensely superior in size and number of ships , and to boast that in the whole Spanish war but one queen 's ship , the Revenge , and -LRB- if I recollect right -RRB- but one private man-of-war , Sir Richard Hawkins 's Dainty , had ever struck their colors to the enemy . What was it which enabled Sir Richard Grenville 's Revenge , in his last fearful fight off the Azores , to endure , for twelve hours before she struck , the attack of eight Spanish armadas , of which two -LRB- three times her own burden -RRB- sank at her side ; and after all her masts were gone , and she had been boarded three times without success , to defy to the last the whole fleet of fifty-four sail , which lay around her , waiting for her to sink , `` like dogs around the dying forest king '' ? What enabled young Richard Hawkins 's Dainty , though half her guns were useless through the carelessness or treachery of the gunner , to maintain for three days a running fight with two Spaniards of equal size with her , double the weight of metal , and ten times the number of men ? What enabled Sir George Cary 's illustrious ship , the Content , to fight , single-handed , from seven in the morning till eleven at night , with four great armadas and two galleys , though her heaviest gun was but one nine-pounder , and for many hours she had but thirteen men fit for service ? What enabled , in the very year of which I write , those two `` valiant Turkey Merchantmen of London , the Merchant Royal and the Tobie , '' with their three small consorts , to cripple , off Pantellaria in the Mediterranean , the whole fleet of Spanish galleys sent to intercept them , and return triumphant through the Straits of Gibraltar ? And lastly , what in the fight of 1588 , whereof more hereafter , enabled the English fleet to capture , destroy , and scatter that Great Armada , with the loss -LRB- but not the capture -RRB- of one pinnace , and one gentleman of note ? There were more causes than one : the first seems to have lain in the build of the English ships ; the second in their superior gunnery and weight of metal ; the third -LRB- without which the first would have been useless -RRB- in the hearts of the English men .