Fantasy Football Challenge - Football Fanatics Library

Fantasy Football Challenge - Library of Books for Football Fanatics

Fantasy Football Challenge presents
Young Knights of the Empire

71 of 87

Effingham, the Lord High Admiral, there were Frobisher, and Davis, Walter Raleigh, and Francis Drake. It is true they had only 67 ships with which to oppose the 130 of the Spaniards, but they sallied out and tackled them at once before the Spaniards were really ready for them, and drove them into Dunkirk. Here the Spaniards felt secure and would not come out till one night the English sent fire ships in among them which forced them to put to sea. Then ensued a tremendous sea fight, in which Drake, in the _Revenge_, took the lead. The battle lasted all day, with guns roaring and ships foundering or exploding. At length the Spaniards drew off northward to the German Ocean, the only line of escape open to them. Round the north of Scotland and Ireland they went, damaged by shot and beset by a gale, so that in the end, out of the magnificent fleet of 130 sail which had set out for the conquest of England, only 53 got back, with only about 9000 out of the original 30,000 men. * * * * * NELSON. Two hundred years after Drake came Nelson. He was the son of a clergyman in Norfolk, a poor, sickly little fellow, and was for a time in the merchant service. His first step to greatness was when the ship which he was in captured an enemy's ship, and the first lieutenant was ordered to take a boat and some men and go aboard the prize. But owing to the heavy sea which was running the officer gave up the attempt as too dangerous, whereupon Nelson, like a good Scout, stepped forward and offered to go. He succeeded, and thence was marked as a good officer. Every boy knows how, after a splendid career of fighting for Britain, he finally won the great sea battle of Trafalgar against the French and Spanish fleets, and fell mortally wounded in the hour of victory. But his work, and that of other great sea-captains who served with him, completed the supremacy of the British Navy begun by Drake and the sea-dogs of his time. The navies of our enemies were entirely swept from off the seas, and their merchant ships could only carry on their trade so long as their countries remained at peace with Britain. And that supremacy has remained with us till to-day. In consequence of this we have been enabled to put a stop to the awful slave trade which used to go on on the coasts of Africa; to discover new lands for our Empire, and to bring civilisation to savages in the farthest corners of the world. And the enterprise of our merchant ships has made our trade successful all over the globe, and so increased the prosperity of our people both at home and in our Oversea Dominions. The sailor has a grand life of it. Continually visiting strange and interesting lands, with a good ship manoeuvring through distant oceans, with plenty of contests with tides and winds. A free, open, and healthy life, which breeds cheery handiness and pluck such as make a sailor so deservedly loved by all. And all the time he is doing grand work for his country. * * * * * OUR LIFEBOATMEN. We are hearing a great deal of the heroes of everyday life, but there are perhaps no greater heroes, no truer scouts than sailors of the kind that man our lifeboats all round the coasts of Great Britain. They have to Be Prepared to turn out at any minute, when the dangerous storm is at its worst, to face danger in order to save others. Because they do it so often and so quietly we have come to look upon it almost as an everyday affair to be expected, but it is none the less splendid of them or worthy of our admiration. A large number of Boy Scouts have, by taking up "sea scouting" and by learning boat management and seamanship, been able to take their place in the service of their Country as seamen on our battleships, and in the merchant service, and as lifeboatmen upon our coasts. * * * * * SEAMANSHIP GAMES. During the summer months Scouts in many parts of the country practise sea scouting as well as camping on shore. This involves living on board ship and learning all the duties of sailors--going on watch, going aloft, managing boats, saving life at sea, and swimming and saving life from drowning--with plenty of interesting games and

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