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 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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