Surprise is sometimes expressed that, having once established the art of warfare under sail in broadside ships, our seamen were so long in finding the tactical system it demanded.

Should not the wonder be the converse: that the Elizabethan seamen so quickly came so near the perfected method of the greatest master of the art?
The attack at Gravelines in 1588 with four mutually supporting squadrons in echelon bears strong elementary resemblance to that at Trafalgar in 1805.

It was in dexterity and precision of detail far more than in principle that the difference lay.

The first and the last great victory of the British navy had certainly more in common with each other than either had with Malaga or the First of June.

In the zenith of their careers Nelson and Drake came very near to joining hands.