sea, however, in April from Plymouth, with eighty, or, as some say, one hundred and forty-six ships,[1] of which six belonged to the Royal Navy,[2] and with eleven thousand soldiers under Sir John Norreys. Dom Antonio was with the fleet, and the Earl of Essex, in some vessels privately fitted out at his own expense for other objects, joined it off the coast of Portugal.
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FERROL AND CORUNNA (THE GROYNE).
(From a chart published by Joyce Gold, 1818.)
The first attempt was made upon Corunna, where troops were landed, and the defenders driven into the town. On the following day, the lower town, after an assault by land and by water, was carried, and the governor, Don Juan de Luna, was taken, a great quantity of ammunition and stores being destroyed. The English discipline was, unfortunately, lax, and the men got drunk with the captured wine in the cellars, while the Spaniards annoyed them by burning such of their own ships as lay in harbour, after having first overloaded their guns, which as they burst or went off caused some damage to the invaders. An attack upon the upper town was unsuccessful. Hearing of the approach of a Spanish relieving force, Norreys, on May 6th, advanced with about two-thirds of his troops to meet it, and defeated it with great slaughter, and with very little loss to himself. But when, having burnt the enemy's camp and the neighbouring villages, he returned, the chiefs decided to abandon the siege. On May 8th, therefore, the lower town was set on fire, and the expedition re-embarked.
From Corunna the fleet proceeded to the coast of Portugal, and on May 16, arrived off Peniche, in Estremadura. The troops were landed, and, after the place had surrendered to Dom Antonio, were marched overland towards Lisbon,[3] taking Torres Vedras on their
