Under Drake's Flag

From the foreword:

"A match at bowls was being played in which Drake and other high officers of the fleet were engaged, when a small armed vessel was seen running before the wind into Plymouth Harbor, with all sails set. Her commander landed in haste, and eagerly sought the place where the English lord admiral and his captains were standing. He was master of a Scottish privateer, and he told the English officers that he had that morning seen the Spanish Armada off the Cornish coast. At this exciting information the captains began to hurry down to the water, but Drake coolly checked his comrades and insisted that the match should be played out. 'There is time to finish the game first, and beat the Spaniards afterwards,' he said."

Such was the confidence of this daring privateer. His superb navigational skill enabled him to out run or out maneuver his incessant pursuers. He escaped so often and so ingeniously that he became legendary and was assumed by some to have supernatural powers.