“Oh, the weather outside is frightful…” Spain didn’t like Queen Elizabeth I. She stuck her nose in the continent and the Spanish, who fancied themselves as the kings of the ocean, decided they were going to kick some English butt. Spain sent 11 large warships (galleons) and 108 smaller armed ships – their so-called Spanish Armada -- and plopped them off Gravelines in Flanders (NW France) where they awaited orders to move in. They were anchored in a nice tight formation. The English sent about 8 fire ships straight into the Spanish fleet. (A fire ship was an old beater ship that could still float, but was considered expendable. It would be loaded with pitch and other stuff that would burn and often, gunpowder. They rarely rammed anchored ships – well, nobody was steering them – but they did cause some panic.) Well, the Spanish thought the worst and cut their anchors to make a fast getaway. Primarily because of the way they were pointed, they all headed north up the English Channel with the English ships nipping at their heels the whole way. The Spanish commander, the Duke of Media Sidonia, decided to return to Spain, but bad navigation sent them close to the Irish and Scottish coastlines. As luck would have it, on this day, 1588, a huge storm caught the fleet. Thanks to no longer having any anchors to help tie them down or stabilize them, a number of them sank or crashed into the rocks. The sailors tossed all kinds of stuff overboard, including the horses, to try to save themselves. Most of those that made it to shore were killed by the locals. Out of the original 130 ships only 50 made it home. Oddly, typhus and dysentery killed more sailors on both sides (5-6,000 English and over 15,000 Spanish) than the actual battles. England only lost around 75 guys in the actual battle, Spain about 5,000.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 06:31:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015