Almost as soon as he learned the extent of his losses he was assuring ambassadors that he would build another fleet stronger than the last, if he had to melt down every piece of plate on his table and every silver candlestick in the Escurial. It did not quite come to that, but American bullion had to be supplemented by scraping the cupboards of Castile and striking new bargains with Genoese bankers.

Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish A…, loc. 877