1596]	THE   TAKING   OF   CADIZ
the whole town, except for the Castle and the fort St  Philip,
both "which were rendered in the morning
The Corngidor and the rest of the town yielded on condition
that they should have their lives saved and only their rearing
clothes permitted them , all the rest of their goods and -wealth
should be spoil and pillage to the soldiers, and besides for their
ransom they should pay to the Generals 120,000 ducats, and
for payment thereof forty of the chief men are to be held in
England as pledges till the money be paid
And now proclamation was made that no Englishman should
offer violence to any religious person, to any woman or child,
or any other of the Spanish nation , and the Generals sent a-way
boats, barges and pinnaces first with the ladies and religious,
and then the men and all other of the inhabitants of Cadiz
(except the pledges and certain prisoners of the captains) to
Porto Santa Maria The women were suffered by the Generals
to wear so much apparel as they were able to bear upon them
and all their jewels, and because none of them should be spoiled
by our ruder soldiers and manners, the Lords Generals them-
selves stood at the water gates and saw to their embarking.
In this interim the Lord Admiral appointed the Rear-
admiral to take some of the lesser Queen's ships and merchant
ships that drew but little water to go after the Spanish ships
which were fled to Porto Real, and there either to take them or to
sink or fire them if they would not yield While this was
determined, offer was made of two millions to the Earl of
Essex for the ransoming of the ships and their merchandise
The Lord Admiral would by no means agree to the ransoming
of the ships but only of the merchandise But the Duke of
Medina Sidoma, the Admiral of Spain, decided this controversy;
for he, being at Porto Santa Maria and always ill affected to
them of Cadiz, gave order that the next morning before day the
whole fleet at Porto Real should be fired This was put in
execution , nevertheless our men made such haste thither that
they recovered much merchandise and divers pieces of ordnance,
but none of the ships could be saved
Thus is the whole fleet of the Spaniards, valued by some of
them at ten or twelve million ducats, all either taken, sunk or
burned in a short space , together with much rich, merchandise
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