On 19th July 1588 The Spanish Armada set sail from Spain in order to overthrow Protestant Queen Elizabeth I. The result is well known – Spain against the odds suffered a terrible defeat and England won a surprised victory thanks in part to Sir Francis Drake.
Spain was motivated to overthrow Elizabeth for a variety of reasons. Elizabeth had been assisting Dutch protestants escape the Inquisition against them in the Spanish Netherlands. Spain was also angered by the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, a Catholic, by Elizabeth in 1587. This was not just for religious reasons, but because Mary had stated that if she was Queen of England upon her death Philip would become the King. King Philip of Spain had previously been married to ‘Bloody Mary’ of England and this secured safe passage for ships between mainland Spain and the Spanish Netherlands. With Mary’s death this ended and England had begun attacking Spanish shipping, largely of the valuable metal silver, in the Caribbean and off the coast of Spain with men such as Sir Francis Drake. Spain realised Drake was not simply a pirate and was acting with permission of Queen Elizabeth.
The Spanish Armada suffered a number of set backs before its final defeat in the English Channel. Firstly in 1587 Sir Francis Drake attacked the harbour at Cadiz where the Spanish were building their Armada, destroying and damaging several ships. The Spanish had not dried the wood of the barrels used to store food on the ships, leading to it rotting. The Spanish were also relying on picking up troops in the Netherlands in order to attack England, but there wasn’t a clear place where this could be done. The admiral of the Armada was the Duke of Medina Sidonia who although a good general had never commanded at sea before and became seasick. It is suggested that King Philip made a bad choice of appointing him as the admiral after the death of the famous admiral Santa Cruz in 1586. Finally when the Armada first set sail in April 1588 it had to return to port after many ships were damaged in a storm.
The Armada was a huge affair. 130 ships including 22 galleons sailed towards England in a Crescent formation. Their provisions included 40,000 gallons of olive oil, 14,000 barrels of win, 600,000 pounds of pork, 11 million pounds of biscuits, 11,000 pairs of sandals and 5,000 pairs of shoes. As well as soldiers, 180 priests and 728 servants were on board.
By July 29th the Armada reached Cornwall and sailed past. The allowed London to be notified of their presence by a series of beacons that had been erected along the South coast to quickly warn London. When a beacon is lit the next beacon notices and lights up too allowing much speedier communication than even by horse.
Sir Francis Drake led a force to attack the Armada in the English Channel. So quick was the communication that it is said Drake remarked when he heard the news in Plymouth that he still had time to finish his game of bowls before attacking. This perhaps was due to tides in the River Tamar which would need to change before he could move his ships out to sea. Drake however did little damage to the Armada initially, as the Spanish hulls were too solidly built for English ammunition of have much effect. Only two galleons were damaged. This was largely due to the Armada’s defensive crescent formation.
The winds were in Spain’s favour as they allowed her quick passage to the Netherlands; especially important as the ships were running low on ammunition. Meanwhile the English ships which were much smaller were suffering due to the rough waters. Spain however had to harbour at Gravelines near Calais on July 27th 1588 due to lack of deep water port near where the Spanish troops were located. The Spanish had to wait for troops to arrive, leaving them open to attack.
Eight ships, built by an Italian named Giambelli, were packed with incendiary materials, set on course for the Spanish fleet then set alight. If they had hit into Armada ships they would set them on fire. These ships, known as Hell Burners, were known to the Armada and they placed look outs and attempted to move away from Gravelines to avoid them, leading to the destruction of their crescent formation which was so vital to their defence.
The English ships then attacked, but the Spanish defended themselves well with four galleons. The Spanish were however outnumbered by a factor of ten leading three of the four galleons to be sunk with the loss of six hundred men and a further eight hundred wounded. These ships enabled the rest of the Armada to escape into worsening weather which led the English with smaller ships not to follow.
Despite this the Armada was at the other end of the narrowest point in the Channel which English ships were able to defend. The only choice for the Armada was to go along the East coast of England, around the North of Scotland to travel around Ireland and back to Spain. The supplies for this however were not suitable as food and water ran out. Many ships were damaged in a mid-September storm around the North of Scotland. The rest decided to make land at Ireland where they hoped the Catholic population would assist them. However when they landed at what is now Armada Bay, to the South of Galway they were seen by the Irish as invaders.
Only around half of the 130 ships made it back to Spain, with over 20,000 Spanish dead. The English only lost 100 men in battle in comparison, and no ships. However they lost over 7000 to disease. The government did not pay much to the survivors leading the commander of the Navy, Lord Howard of Effingham, to pay them himself.
The effect of the victory over the Spanish Armada is felt strongly in English history and tradition. Queen Elizabeth ordered that everyone should eat goose on Christmas Day as she had eaten goose on the day.
