76 BALLADS
So desperately they boarded us
For all our valiant shot, Threescore of their best fighting men
Upon our decks were got; And lo ! at their first entrances
Full thirty did we kill, And thus we cleared with speed the deck
Of our Angel Gabriel.
With that their three ships boarded us
Again with might and main, But still our noble Englishmen
Cried out, 'A fig for Spain! ' Though seven times they boarded us
At last we showed our skill, And made them feel what men we were
On the Angel Gabriel.
Seven hours this fight continued :
So many men lay dead, With Spanish blood for fathoms round
The sea was coloured red. Five hundred of their fighting men
We there outright did kill, And many more were hurt and maimed
By our Angel Gabriel.
Then, seeing of these bloody spoils,
The rest made haste away : For why, they said, it was no boot
The longer there to stay.
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