contemplated such a step, Margate would have been as convenient a place of waiting as the neighbourhood of the Isle of Wight.[1] The junction was not to be needlessly postponed, the coast of Flanders being a dangerous one, and the Armada having to fear that many of its ships might be driven ashore in case of heavy weather arising. For this reason Parma was requested to join immediately upon Medina Sidonia's arrival on the coast, and not to cause the fleet a moment's delay. But again the exact place of junction was not specified.
Valdes, however, wrote[2] that, on July 20th, Dunquerque was the point of destination. On July 21st, after the first battle, Medina Sidonia's idea[3] was to continue his passage without halt, until he should learn from Parma what to do, and where to wait for him. If Margate was still the goal, it is evident that Medina Sidonia understood that the junction was to be effected before his arrival off that place. The coast of Flanders, then, in spite of the dangers of its shoals, may be accepted as the locality for the intended meeting. Moreover, on July 26th, Medina Sidonia, as Valdes had done previously, indicated Dunquerque as the point. Parma was to join the Armada as soon as it came in sight of Dunquerque.[4]
But when the Spanish admiral drew near Calais, he was informed by the pilots that, owing to the currents, it would be risky to proceed farther on his intended course. He therefore altered his plan. The new scheme was that Parma should join off Calais.[5] After the junction had been effected, the combined fleet was to seek some secure harbour, in default of which the large ships of the Armada would certainly drive ashore. Nor is it clear that there was any longer an idea of making Margate the common point of destination. On the contrary, Medina Sidonia seems to have again turned his mind to the Isle of Wight, and to have proposed to Parma to seize the requisite secure harbour in that neighbourhood.[6]
In spite of all this vagueness, alteration, and ambiguity, one
- ↑ Duro, doc. 95, pp. 14, 15. The duke is therein strictly forbidden to attempt anything against the Isle of Wight before first proceeding to Margate.
- ↑ S. P. Dom. ccxv. 36.
- ↑ Expressed in a letter to Parma of July 21st. Froude's Transcripts in B. M.
- ↑ Duro, doc. 165, p. 238; doc. 168, p. 259.
- ↑ Ib., doc. 165, p. 238; and Medina Sidonia to Parma, July 27th, in Froude's Transcripts.
- ↑ Ib., doc. 183.
