Spanish Armada

“ THE Defeat of the Spanish Armada being the most glorious Victory that was ever obtained at Sea, and the most important to the British Nation, every Method deserves some Praise, that may in a suitable Manner propagate the Memory of it. ”

“ Such was the End of the formidable Spanish Armada, that had been three Years fitting out at a vast Expence; and which in less than three Months was shamefully beaten, and put to a most ignominious Flight, [137] without taking at the same time, in several Engagements, and in many Days Fight, any English Ship or Boat, or making one Prisoner; not having so much as fired a Cottage at Land, or taken a Cock-Boat of ours at Sea, as the Lord Bacon observes [138] , it wandered through the Wilderness of the Northern Seas ”

“ APPENDIX. NOTE. The Spanish Armada made an effort, July 25, 1588, to land and take possession of the Isle of Wight, when a spirited engagement took place, which caused the Spanish admiral to pursue his course to Calais Roads.
The next day the Lord High Admiral of the English fleet called on board of his own ship, the “Arke-Royal,” and conferred the honor of knighthood on the Lord Thomas Howard, the Lord Sheffield Roger Townshend, Martin Frobisher, and John Hawkins, as a reward for their undaunted spirit and bravery in this great fight at sea, having power from the Queen so to do. ”

“ Thus in the space of one day, with the loss only of one small ship and less than a hundred men on the part of the English, was the so-called Invincible Armada utterly beaten and nearly destroyed—though to the God of battles must truly be ascribed the victory, for the power of the elements more than man’s strength, caused the destruction of the larger number of the Spanish ships. ”

“ The defeat of the Spanish Armada gave Europe its first great lesson in the value of sea power, for with the destruction of many of the great Spanish galleons in the English Channel and the wrecking of others off the Scotch and Irish coasts, the way was opened to the Far East for other nations. ”

“ The Spaniards, upon this Occasion had great Advantage, since their Ships had Oars, and ours, by reason of a Calm, had no use of their Sails. However, the English galled the Enemy very much with their Cannon and Chain-Shot; but at last, wanting Powder and other Necessaries to continue the Fight, the Lord Admiral sent some Vessels into the next Port for a Supply. In the mean time, a Council of War was held, wherein it was agreed, That the Fleet should be divided into four Squadrons, to be commanded, the first by the Lord Admiral himself in the Ark-Royal ”

“ In the contemporary histories and in Spanish official documents it is more modestly and truthfully spoken of as the "Gran Armada"—"the great armed force." And, by the way, our very use of the word "armada" is based on popular ignorance of the Spanish language, and on the impression produced in England by the attempt of Philip II to make himself master of the narrow seas, and invade our islands. An "armada" is not necessarily a fleet. It is an armed force, an "army" either marching on land or embarked for service on the sea, in which case fleet and fighting-men are included in the word. ”

“ By keeping clear, the English ships could also take advantage of wind and tide for manœuvring round the enemy. He held that, by lying alongside of the Spaniards they would have risked defeat, and that the free movement and fighting gave them a better chance of humiliating the enemy. ”

“ The Spaniards proved ignorant of marine evolutions, and the English sailed around them with a velocity which none of their ships could equal, and proved so much better marksmen that nearly every shot told, while the Spanish gunners fired high and wasted their balls in the air. The fight with the Armada seemed a prototype of the much later sea-battles at Manila and Santiago de Cuba. ”

“ In the Evening, they held a Council of War, wherein it was unanimously resolved [108] , That seeing they were in want of many Necessaries, especially of Cannon-Ball, that the Ships were very much shattered, their Anchors left in Calais-Road, their Provisions short, their Water spent, a great number of their Soldiers slain, many of their Men sick and wounded, and that there was no hopes of the Duke of Parma’s coming out to join them, they should return to Spain, by the North of Scotland. ”

“ Having cleared the Minion of the enemy, they did equally effective service with the ship’s guns; they sent a shot into the Spanish vice-admiral’s ship that, probably from piercing the powder-room, blew up the ship and three hundred men with it. On the other hand, all the Englishmen who happened to be on shore were cut off, except three who escaped by swimming from shore to their ships. The English were overmatched to an enormous extent, by the fleet and the attack from the shore. The Spaniards took the Swallow, and burnt the Angel. ”

“ The Armada carried besides 21,855 soldiers. [12] The first thing that strikes us is the immense preponderance in tonnage on the part of the Spaniards, and in sailors on the part of the English. This really goes far to explain the result. Nothing is more certain than that the Spanish ships, notwithstanding their superior size, were for fighting and sailing purposes very inferior to the English. It had always been believed that, to withstand the heavy seas of the Atlantic, a ship should be constructed like a lofty fortress. ”

“ So the Spanish Fleet sailed forward, |Plate 8.|this and the best part of the next Day, with a gentle Gale at South-West and by South, the English following them close, and driving them like Sheep before them; and so far was this Invincible Armada from alarming the Sea-Coasts with any frightful Apprehensions, that a great many of the young Nobility and Gentry entered themselves Volunteers, and taking leave of their Parents, Wives, and Children, did, with incredible Chearfulness, hire Ships at their own Charge ”

“ While this huge armament was making ready in the southern ports of the Spanish dominions, the Duke of Parma, with almost incredible toil and skill, collected a squadron of war-ships at Dunkirk, and a large flotilla of other ships and of flat-bottomed boats for the transport to England of the picked troops, which were designed to be the main instruments in subduing England. The design of the Spaniards was that the Armada should give them, at least for a time, the command of the sea, and that it should join the squadron, that Parma had collected, off Calais. ”

“ The Wind then shifted to the South-East, and afterwards to the South-South-West; |Plate 6.|whereupon a Body of English Ships, and several Merchant-Men attacked the Spanish Fleet so sharply to the Westward, that it was all forced to give way. The Lord-Admiral perceiving this, and observing at the same Time the Distress which the Triumph and the five Ships above mentioned in her Company, were in, he ordered some Ships that were then near at hand, to follow him, and to set upon the Spaniards a-fresh ”

“ Thomas Gerard, Henry Nowel, Edward Darcy, Thomas Woodhouse, William Harvey, Arthur Gorges, and others; [80] and at the same time, the Justices of Peace in the maritime Counties, as also the Earl of Sussex, Sir George Carey, and the Captains of the Forts and Castles along the Sea-Coasts, sent Ships, Men, Powder, Shot, Victuals, and all kinds of Provisions, for the Relief and Assistance of the main Fleet.
[81] July 27. This Day, towards the Evening, the Spanish Fleet came to an Anchor before Calais; [82] intending for Dunkirk, where they were to join the Prince of Parma’s Forces ”

“ Some knowledge of the terrible magnitude of Philip’s preparations is necessary, in order to see what it was which England escaped in 1588. The Armada consisted of 134 ships, and, reckoning soldiers, sailors, and galley-slaves, carried about 32,000 men. (The exact figures are much disputed, hardly two accounts being alike.) The cost of sustenance per day was thirty thousand ducats. ”

“ Plate IV. and Chart IV. De Valdez’s Galleon springs her Foremast, and is taken by Sir Francis Drake. The Lord-Admiral with the Bear and Mary Rose, pursue the Enemy, who are in the Form of a Half Moon. Account, &c. p. 13, 14.
Plate V. and Chart V. The Admiral of the Guypuscoan Squadron being set on Fire, is taken by the English. The rest of the Spanish Fleet continue their Course in the Form of a Half Moon: And when both Fleets were against the Isle of Portland, they come to an Engagement. Account, &c. p. 14.
Plate VI. and Chart VI. Some English Ships attack the Spanish Fleet to the Westward. ”

“ Below them, upon a Columna Rostrata, (i.e. a Pillar adorned with the Beaks of Ships,) stands Victory, holding a Shield, upon which are the Names of those brave Persons that were knighted by the Lord-Admiral, as is represented at the Bottom. See Account, &c. p. 16. Others are bringing Weapons out of the Spanish Ships.
Chart IX. and X. At the Top is a curious Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, (taken from a Gold Alto Relievo, in the Collection of Dr. Mead,) thundering down upon Philip II. King of Spain, Pope Sixtus V. (taken from a Copper Medal in the Collection of Tho. Sadler Esq;) ”

“ The ships of the Spanish admiral and vice-admiral were17 both disabled,—the latter destroyed; four other Spanish ships were sunk or burnt. Of the Spanish fighting men,—fifteen hundred in number at the commencement of the battle,—five hundred and forty, or more than a third, were killed or wounded. The Jesus and the Minion fought themselves clear of the Spaniards, but the former was so much damaged as to be unmanageable, and the Minion, with Hawkins and most of his men on board, and the Judith, of 50 tons, were the only ships that escaped. ”

“ But that Course not being good for the English to recover the Wind of the Spaniards, the former cast about to the Eastward. And, after several Attempts on both Sides to get the Weather-gage, the Spaniards offering to board the English, a smart Engagement began, which was managed with Confusion enough, and with Variety of Success. The Enemy seeing several of the English Ships waited their coming, particularly the Ark, the Nonpareil, the Elizabeth-Jonas, the Victory, &c. they fell a stern the Nonpareil, which was the hindmost Ship ”

“ After this Fight there remained of the whole Spanish; Fleet but one hundred and ten, or one hundred and twelve Ships, and those extremely battered and shot through, and having their Rigging much damaged with the Shot.
[106] The next Day, July 30, the Lord Admiral ordered the Lord Henry Seymour, and Sir William Winter to return back with their Squadron into the narrow Seas, to guard the Coasts; as for himself, he resolved to follow the Spanish Fleet, ’till they came as far Northward as the Forth in Scotland, if they bent their Course that way ”

“ Spanish fleet, 230; Admiral Cervera’s complaints, 230; Spanish dash from Santiago; destruction of Spanish fleet, 230-3; Admiral Sampson’s 4th July present to the nation, 231 Spanish Armada, 51 Spur gearing, 98, 101, 103 Sponsons as gun platforms, 97 Speed, 202, 236, 237, 238, 239, 253, 302; rapid firing guns and increased speed, 304; of destroyers, 306; with turbines, 308; objections to high speed, 308; Invincible and Von der Tann, 254; former’s speed, how obtained, 255; speed retarded by marine growths, 257; importance of, in armoured cruisers, 260; turbine engines, 262 ”

“ But while at the outset Spain had cruisers and battle ships, torpedo boats and “destroyers,” in numbers exceeding their opponents, yet there was one factor she had overlooked—the men who manned the ships and trained the guns! While the American navy was at first inferior, in guns and ships, to that of Spain, yet the men had been trained to a higher state of efficiency, than the Spanish sailors, as will be shown a little later on. ”

“ The Marine corps were embarked in the Fleet under Admiral Sir George Rooke, and were at the taking or Gibraltar, and in its subsequent defence in 1704; they were afterwards employed at the siege of Barcelona in 1705.
[3] The brave Sir Roger Williams, in his Discourse on War, printed in 1590 observes:—“I persuade myself ten thousand of our nation would beat thirty thousand of theirs (the Spaniards) out of the field, let them be chosen where they list.” Yet at this time the Spanish infantry was allowed to be the best disciplined in Europe. ”

“ With Spain, notwithstanding isolated ship and fleet actions occasionally occurring, warfare had never been serious or continuous, nor had the political interests of the two countries been of such a nature as to bring them into conflict. The union, however, under the sway of Charles V, of the Empire, of Spain, and of the Netherlands, altered, in view of the new attitude assumed by Henry VIII, the pre-existing situation, and here again, besides the Imperial troops, Spanish fleets had to be reckoned with. ”

“ But the Spanish army never landed in England. When its sails appeared, and it seemed as though it must overwhelm the small English fleet that was opposed to it, Queen Elizabeth on horseback rode among her soldiers, encouraging and cheering them, and urging them to fight to their last drop of blood in defense of their country. But the English fleet, under Sir Francis Drake, put the Spanish ships to flight and sunk a great number of them. And a gale of wind did the rest, wrecking the unwieldy Spanish boats and drowning thousands of Spanish soldiers and sailors. ”

“ The world seemed suddenly to have expanded its wings from East to West, only to bear the fortunate Spanish Empire to the most dizzy heights of wealth and power. The most accomplished generals, the most disciplined and daring infantry the world has ever known, the best equipped and most extensive navy, royal and mercantile, of the age, were at the absolute command of the sovereign. Such was Spain. ”