1.
Falmouth, Cornwall
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Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a resident population of 27,422. See also, Miss Susan Gays Falmouth chronology The name Falmouth is of English origin and it is claimed that an earlier Celtic name for the place was Peny-cwm-cuic which is the same as the anglicised Pennycomequick district in Plymouth. Falmouth was where Henry VIII built Pendennis Castle to defend Carrick Roads in 1540, the main town of the district was then at Penryn. Sir John Killigrew created the town of Falmouth shortly after 1613, in the late 16th century, under threat from the Spanish Armada, the defences at Pendennis were strengthened by the building of angled ramparts. During the Civil War, Pendennis Castle was the second to last fort to surrender to the Parliamentary Army. After the Civil War, Sir Peter Killigrew received royal patronage when he gave land for the building of the Church of King Charles the Martyr, dedicated to Charles I, the Martyr. The seal of Falmouth was blazoned as An eagle displayed with two heads and on each wing with a tower, the arms of the borough of Falmouth were Arg. The Falmouth Packet Service operated out of Falmouth for over 160 years between 1689 and 1851 and its purpose was to carry mail to and from Britains growing empire. As the most south-westerly good harbour in Great Britain, Falmouth was often the first port for returning Royal Navy ships, in 1805 news of Britains victory and Admiral Nelsons death at Trafalgar was landed here from the schooner Pickle and taken to London by stagecoach. On 2 October 1836 HMS Beagle anchored at Falmouth at the end of her noted survey voyage around the world and that evening, Charles Darwin left the ship and took the Mail coach to his family home at The Mount, Shrewsbury. The ship stayed a few days and Captain Robert FitzRoy visited the Fox family at nearby Penjerrick Gardens, darwins shipmate Sulivan later made his home in the nearby waterside village of Flushing, then home to many naval officers. In 1839 Falmouth was the scene of a gold dust robbery when £47,600 worth of gold dust from Brazil was stolen on arrival at the port, the Falmouth Docks were developed from 1858, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution opened Falmouth Lifeboat Station nearby in 1867. The present building dates from 1993 and also houses Her Majestys Coastguard, the RNLI operates two lifeboats from Falmouth, Richard Cox Scott, a 17-metre Severn-class all-weather boat, and Eve Park, an Atlantic 75 inshore lifeboat. Near the town centre is Kimberley Park, the land pre-dates 1877, and is named after the Earl of Kimberley who leased the parks land to the borough of Falmouth. Today the park has exotic and ornate plants and trees, the Cornwall Railway reached Falmouth on 24 August 1863. The railway brought new prosperity to Falmouth, as it made it easy for tourists to reach the town and it also allowed the swift transport of the goods recently disembarked from the ships in the port. The town now has three railway stations, Falmouth Docks railway station is the original terminus and is close to Pendennis Castle and Gyllyngvase beach
2.
Cornwall
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Cornwall is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area of England within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, Cornwall has a population of 551,700 and covers an area of 3,563 km2. Cornwall forms the westernmost part of the south-west peninsula of the island of Great Britain, and this area was first inhabited in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. It continued to be occupied by Neolithic and then Bronze Age peoples, there is little evidence that Roman rule was effective west of Exeter and few Roman remains have been found. In the mid-19th century, however, the tin and copper mines entered a period of decline, subsequently, china clay extraction became more important and metal mining had virtually ended by the 1990s. Traditionally, fishing and agriculture were the important sectors of the economy. Railways led to a growth of tourism in the 20th century, however, the area is noted for its wild moorland landscapes, its long and varied coastline, its attractive villages, its many place-names derived from the Cornish language, and its very mild climate. Extensive stretches of Cornwalls coastline, and Bodmin Moor, are protected as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Cornwall is the homeland of the Cornish people and is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, retaining a distinct cultural identity that reflects its history. Some people question the present constitutional status of Cornwall, and a nationalist movement seeks greater autonomy within the United Kingdom in the form of a devolved legislative Cornish Assembly. On 24 April 2014 it was announced that Cornish people will be granted minority status under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The modern English name Cornwall derives from the concatenation of two ancient demonyms from different linguistic traditions, Corn- records the native Brythonic tribe, the Cornovii. The Celtic word kernou is cognate with the English word horn. -wall derives from the Old English exonym walh, the Ravenna Cosmography first mentions a city named Purocoronavis in the locality. This is thought to be a rendering of Duro-cornov-ium, meaning fort of the Cornovii. The exact location of Durocornovium is disputed, with Tintagel and Carn Brea suggested as possible sites, in later times, Cornwall was known to the Anglo-Saxons as West Wales to distinguish it from North Wales. The name appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 891 as On Corn walum, in the Domesday Book it was referred to as Cornualia and in c.1198 as Cornwal. Other names for the county include a latinisation of the name as Cornubia, the present human history of Cornwall begins with the reoccupation of Britain after the last Ice Age. The area now known as Cornwall was first inhabited in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods and it continued to be occupied by Neolithic and then Bronze Age people. The Common Brittonic spoken at the time developed into several distinct tongues
3.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
4.
English Channel
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The English Channel, also called simply the Channel, is the body of water that separates southern England from northern France, and links the southern part of the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 560 km long and varies in width from 240 km at its widest to 33.3 km in the Strait of Dover and it is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 km2. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as follows, a line joining Isle Vierge to Lands End. The southwestern limit of the North Sea, the IHO defines the southwestern limit of the North Sea as a line joining the Walde Lighthouse and Leathercoat Point. The Walde Lighthouse is 6 km east of Calais, and Leathercoat Point is at the end of St Margarets Bay. The Strait of Dover, at the Channels eastern end, is its narrowest point and it is relatively shallow, with an average depth of about 120 m at its widest part, reducing to a depth of about 45 m between Dover and Calais. Eastwards from there the adjoining North Sea reduces to about 26 m in the Broad Fourteens where it lies over the watershed of the land bridge between East Anglia and the Low Countries. It reaches a depth of 180 m in the submerged valley of Hurds Deep,48 km west-northwest of Guernsey. The eastern region along the French coast between Cherbourg and the mouth of the Seine river at Le Havre is frequently referred to as the Bay of the Seine. There are several islands in the Channel, the most notable being the Isle of Wight off the English coast. The coastline, particularly on the French shore, is indented, several small islands close to the coastline, including Chausey. The Cotentin Peninsula in France juts out into the Channel, whilst on the English side there is a parallel channel known as the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The Celtic Sea is to the west of the Channel, the time difference of about six hours between high water at the eastern and western limits of the Channel is indicative of the tidal range being amplified further by resonance. It was never defined as a border and the names were more or less descriptive. It was not considered as the property of a nation, strangely, before the development of the modern nations, British scholars very often referred to it as Gaulish and the French one as British or English. The name English Channel has been used since the early 18th century. In modern Dutch, however, it is known as Het Kanaal, later, it has also been known as the British Channel or the British Sea having been called the Oceanus Britannicus by the 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy. The same name is used on an Italian map of about 1450, the Anglo-Saxon texts often call it Sūð-sǣ as opposed to Norð-sǣ
5.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
6.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
7.
Kingdom of England
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In the early 11th century the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, united by Æthelstan, became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway. The completion of the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1284 put Wales under the control of the English crown, from the accession of James I in 1603, the Stuart dynasty ruled England in personal union with Scotland and Ireland. Under the Stuarts, the kingdom plunged into war, which culminated in the execution of Charles I in 1649. The monarchy returned in 1660, but the Civil War had established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without the consent of Parliament and this concept became legally established as part of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. From this time the kingdom of England, as well as its state the United Kingdom. On 1 May 1707, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707, the Anglo-Saxons referred to themselves as the Engle or the Angelcynn, originally names of the Angles. They called their land Engla land, meaning land of the English, by Æthelweard Latinized Anglia, from an original Anglia vetus, the name Engla land became England by haplology during the Middle English period. The Latin name was Anglia or Anglorum terra, the Old French, by the 14th century, England was also used in reference to the entire island of Great Britain. The standard title for all monarchs from Æthelstan until the time of King John was Rex Anglorum, Canute the Great, a Dane, was the first king to call himself King of England. In the Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with use of Rex Anglie. The Empress Matilda styled herself Domina Anglorum, from the time of King John onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of Rex or Regina Anglie. In 1604 James VI and I, who had inherited the English throne the previous year, the English and Scottish parliaments, however, did not recognise this title until the Acts of Union of 1707. The kingdom of England emerged from the unification of the early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms known as the Heptarchy, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex. The Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, and native Anglo-Saxon life in general, the English lands were unified in the 10th century in a reconquest completed by King Æthelstan in 927 CE. During the Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda, the decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful. It absorbed the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825, the kings of Wessex became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore, in 886, Alfred the Great retook London, which he apparently regarded as a turning point in his reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that all of the English people not subject to the Danes submitted themselves to King Alfred, asser added that Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, restored the city of London splendidly
8.
Philip II of Spain
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Philip II of Spain, called the Prudent, was King of Spain, King of Portugal, King of Naples and Sicily, and jure uxoris King of England and Ireland. He was also Duke of Milan, from 1555, he was lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands. Known in Spain as Felipe el Prudente, his empire included territories on every continent then known to Europeans, during his reign, Spain reached the height of its influence and power. This is sometimes called the Golden Age, the expression, the empire on which the sun never sets, was coined during Philips time to reflect the extent of his dominion. During Philips reign there were separate state bankruptcies in 1557,1560,1569,1575 and this was partly the cause of the declaration of independence that created the Dutch Republic in 1581. The Ambassador went on to say He dresses very tastefully, the culture and courtly life of Spain were an important influence in his early life. He was tutored by Juan Martínez Siliceo, the future Archbishop of Toledo, Philip displayed reasonable aptitude in arms and letters alike. Later he would study with more illustrious tutors, including the humanist Juan Cristóbal Calvete de Estrella, though Philip had good command over Latin, Spanish, and Portuguese, he never managed to equal his father, Charles V, as a polyglot. While Philip was also a German archduke of the House of Habsburg, Philip felt himself to be culturally Spanish, he had been born in Spain and raised in the Castilian court, his native tongue was Spanish, and he preferred to live in Spain. This would ultimately impede his succession to the imperial throne, in April 1528, when Philip was eleven months old, he received the oath of allegiance as heir to the crown from the Cortes of Castile. Philip was also close to his two sisters, María and Juana, and to his two pages, the Portuguese nobleman Rui Gomes da Silva and Luis de Requesens, the son of his governor Juan de Zúñiga. These men would serve Philip throughout their lives, as would Antonio Pérez, Philips martial training was undertaken by his governor, Juan de Zúñiga, a Castilian nobleman who served as the commendador mayor of Castile. The practical lessons in warfare were overseen by the Duke of Alba during the Italian Wars, Philip was present at the Siege of Perpignan in 1542 but did not see action as the Spanish army under Alba decisively defeated the besieging French forces under the Dauphin of France. On his way back to Castile, Philip received the oath of allegiance of the Aragonese Cortes at Monzón. The king-emperors interactions with his son during his stay in Spain convinced him of Philips precocity in statesmanship, Philip, who had previously been made the Duke of Milan in 1540, began governing the most extensive empire in the world at the young age of sixteen. Charles left Philip with experienced advisors—notably the secretary Francisco de los Cobos, Philip was also left with extensive written instructions that emphasised piety, patience, modesty, and distrust. These principles of Charles were gradually assimilated by his son, who would grow up to become grave, self-possessed, personally, Philip spoke softly and had an icy self-mastery, in the words of one of his ministers, he had a smile that cut like a sword. After living in the Netherlands in the years of his reign
9.
Elizabeth I of England
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Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two and a half years after Elizabeths birth. Annes marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate, edwards will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Marys reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels, in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers, led by William Cecil, one of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England and it was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir to continue the Tudor line. She never did, despite numerous courtships, as she grew older, Elizabeth became famous for her virginity. A cult grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, in government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and half-siblings had been. One of her mottoes was video et taceo, in religion, she was relatively tolerant and avoided systematic persecution. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, manoeuvring between the powers of France and Spain. She only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France, by the mid-1580s, England could no longer avoid war with Spain. Englands defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 associated Elizabeth with one of the greatest military victories in English history, Elizabeths reign is known as the Elizabethan era. Some historians depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Such was the case with Elizabeths rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, after the short reigns of Elizabeths half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity. Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Palace and was named after both her grandmothers, Elizabeth of York and Elizabeth Howard and she was the second child of Henry VIII of England born in wedlock to survive infancy. Her mother was Henrys second wife, Anne Boleyn, at birth, Elizabeth was the heir presumptive to the throne of England. She was baptised on 10 September, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the Marquess of Exeter, the Duchess of Norfolk, Elizabeth was two years and eight months old when her mother was beheaded on 19 May 1536, four months after Catherine of Aragons death from natural causes. Elizabeth was declared illegitimate and deprived of her place in the royal succession, eleven days after Anne Boleyns execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, who died shortly after the birth of their son, Prince Edward, in 1537
10.
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham
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Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham, known as Howard of Effingham, was an English statesman and Lord High Admiral under Elizabeth I and James I. Few details of Charles Howards early life are known and he was born in 1536, and was the cousin of Queen Elizabeth. He was son of William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham and Margaret Gamage and he was a grandson of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. He was also the cousin of Anne Boleyn, and held prominent posts during the reign of Annes daughter. It is believed that Charles Howard was taught French and a bit of Latin at the house of his uncle and he was also educated in penmanship, chivalric exercises, and some legal traditions. He served as a page to his cousin Thomas who later became the 4th Duke of Norfolk and he also fished and hunted fervently throughout his life. Howard served at sea under his fathers command as a youth, in 1552, he was sent to France to become well-educated in the French language, but was soon brought back to England at the request of his father because of questionable or unexpected treatment. Howard went to the negotiations between England and France which led to the Treaty of Câteau-Cambrésis of 1559. He personally informed Elizabeth of its ratification and he served as Ambassador to France in 1559. In December 1562, he became the keeper of the Queens house, Howard was also a member of the House of Commons, yet he was not as distinguished as many others have been. He represented Surrey in Parliament in 1563 and again in 1572, in 1564 he became a member of Grays Inn, and received his Master of Arts at Cambridge in 1571. This was not because he had any ambitions, but because it was the normal thing for men of his status to do. He served as General of the Horse in 1569 and suppressed a Catholic rebellion in northern England and he commanded a squadron of ships escorting the Queen of Spain on a state visit in 1570. Howard was knighted in 1572 and became Lord Howard of Effingham following his fathers death in 1573, from 1576–1603 he was patron of a playing company, Nottinghams Men, later called the Admirals Men. On 3 April 1575 Howard was elected to the Order of the Garter to replace his cousin, Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk and he was installed at Windsor on 8 May 1575. Howard was named Lord High Admiral in 1585, the French ambassador wrote to Sir Francis Walsingham, saying Elizabeths appointment of Howard was a choice worthy of her virtue and prudence and very necessary for the Admiralty. I pray you tell her that the King has written to me by an express to thank her for having elected so good an admiral, Howard regularly attended the Privy Council during the Babington Plot. He was named as one of the commissioners to try Mary, Howard then met Davison and informed him that Elizabeth was now fully resolved and ordered him to bring forth the warrant to be signed, that it might be forthwith despatched and deferred no longer
11.
Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy
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Mountjoy commanded the Crowns forces during the final years of Tyrones Rebellion. He was able to defeat Tyrone at the Battle of Kinsale and he was MP for St Ives, Cornwall in 1584 and for Bere Alston in 1586 and 1593. Between 1586 and 1598 Charles spent a lot of time on the continent, serving in the Netherlands and he joined Essex and Sir Walter Raleigh in their expedition to the Azores in 1597, along with his distant cousin, Sir Christopher Blount. In July 1601 he had ordered an amphibious landing at Lough Foyle, near Derry. In the following December he defeated the rebels at the battle of Kinsale, the downfall of Essex did no damage to Mountjoys career. Following Kinsale Mountjoy and his forces made increasingly successful incursions into Tyrones Ulster heartlands, in 1602 Tyrone ordered the burning of his capital at Dungannon and retreated into the woods where he continued to evade capture. Mountjoy occupied the ruins of Dungannon, and symbolically destroyed the ONeills traditional inauguration site at Tullyhohue, on 30 March 1603, six days after the death of Elizabeth and the accession of James I, ONeill made peace with Mountjoy, signing the Treaty of Mellifont. Mountjoy continued in office with the distinguished title of Lord-Lieutenant. He declared an amnesty for the rebels and granted them honourable terms and he was one of the founder members of the Spanish Company re-founded by royal charter in 1605. Mountjoys long-term successor in Ireland was Arthur Chichester, in 1607, a year after Mountjoys death, the Flight of the Earls took place. The following year a former government ally Sir Cahir ODoherty attacked and burned Derry, the flight and the rebellion led to the Plantation of Ulster, something that had not been envisaged by Mountjoy when he had made peace in 1603. After the execution of her brother in 1601, Lord Rich divorced her in the ecclesiastical courts, the marriage was carried out in defiance of canon law, and resulted in the disgrace of both parties, who were banished from the royal court by King James. The couple continued to live together as husband and wife with their children until his death a few months later. Mountjoy left no children, and so the hereditary titles became extinct at his death. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Mountjoy, Barons. Berleth, Richard, The Twilight Lords,1978, reissued 1994, Barnes & Noble Books, ISBN 1-56619-598-5
12.
Walter Raleigh
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Sir Walter Raleigh was an English landed gentleman, writer, poet, soldier, politician, courtier, spy and explorer. He was cousin to Sir Richard Grenville and younger half-brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and he is also well known for popularising tobacco in England. Raleigh was born to a Protestant family in Devon, the son of Walter Raleigh, later, he became a landlord of property confiscated from the native Irish. He rose rapidly in the favour of Queen Elizabeth I and was knighted in 1585, Raleigh was instrumental in the English colonisation of North America and was granted a royal patent to explore Virginia, which paved the way for future English settlements. In 1591, he secretly married Elizabeth Throckmorton, one of the Queens ladies-in-waiting, without the Queens permission, for which he, after his release, they retired to his estate at Sherborne, Dorset. In 1594, Raleigh heard of a City of Gold in South America and sailed to find it, publishing an exaggerated account of his experiences in a book that contributed to the legend of El Dorado. After Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, Raleigh was again imprisoned in the Tower, this time for being involved in the Main Plot against King James I, in 1616, he was released to lead a second expedition in search of El Dorado. During the expedition, men led by his top commander ransacked a Spanish outpost and he returned to England and, to appease the Spanish, was arrested and executed in 1618. Raleigh was one of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, in 2002, he was featured in the BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. Little is known about Raleighs birth, some historians believe that he was born on 22 January 1552, although the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography currently favours a date of 1554. He grew up in the house of Hayes Barton, a farmhouse near the village of East Budleigh and he was the youngest of five sons born to Catherine Champernowne in two successive marriages. His half-brothers John Gilbert, Humphrey Gilbert, and Adrian Gilbert, Catherine Champernowne was a niece of Kat Ashley, Elizabeths governess, who introduced the young men at court. Raleighs family was highly Protestant in religious orientation and had a number of near escapes during the reign of Roman Catholic Queen Mary I of England, in the most notable of these, his father had to hide in a tower to avoid execution. As a result, Raleigh developed a hatred of Roman Catholicism during his childhood, in matters of religion, Elizabeth was more moderate than her half sister Mary. In 1569, Raleigh left for France to serve with the Huguenots in the French religious civil wars, in 1572, Raleigh was registered as an undergraduate at Oriel College, Oxford, but he left a year later without a degree. Raleigh proceeded to finish his education in the Inns of Court, in 1575, he was registered at the Middle Temple. At his trial in 1603, he stated that he had never studied law and his life is uncertain between 1569 and 1575, but in his History of the World he claimed to have been an eyewitness at the Battle of Moncontour in France. In 1575 or 1576, Raleigh returned to England, between 1579 and 1583, Raleigh took part in the suppression of the Desmond Rebellions
13.
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
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Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG, PC was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years War in 1599. In 1601, he led an abortive coup détat against the government and was executed for treason, Essex was born on 10 November 1565 at Netherwood near Bromyard, in Herefordshire, the son of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, and Lettice Knollys. His maternal great-grandmother Mary Boleyn was a sister of Anne Boleyn and he was brought up on his fathers estates at Chartley Castle, Staffordshire, and at Lamphey, Pembrokeshire, in Wales. His father died in 1576, and the new Earl of Essex became a ward of Lord Burghley, in 1577, he was admitted as a fellow-commoner at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1579, he matriculated, and in 1581 he graduated as Master of Arts. On 21 September 1578, Essexs mother married Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth Is long-standing favourite, Essex performed military service under his stepfather in the Netherlands, before making an impact at court and winning the Queens favour. In 1590, he married Frances Walsingham, daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham and widow of Sir Philip Sidney, by whom he was to have several children, Sidney, Leicesters nephew, died in 1586 at the Battle of Zutphen in which Essex also distinguished himself. In October 1591, Devereuxs mistress, Elizabeth Southwell, gave birth to a son who survived into adulthood. Essex first came to court in 1584, and by 1587 had become a favourite of the Queen, in June 1587 he replaced the Earl of Leicester as Master of the Horse. After Leicesters death in 1588, the Queen transferred the late Earls royal monopoly on sweet wines to Essex, in 1593, he was made a member of her Privy Council. Essex underestimated the Queen, however, and his behaviour towards her lacked due respect and showed disdain for the influence of her principal secretary. On one occasion during a heated Privy Council debate on the problems in Ireland, in 1591, he was given command of a force sent to the assistance of King Henry IV of France. In 1596, he distinguished himself by the capture of Cadiz, so when the 3rd Spanish Armada first appeared off the English coast in October 1597, the English fleet was far out to sea, with the coast almost undefended, and panic ensued. This further damaged the relationship between the Queen and Essex, even though he was given full command of the English fleet when he reached England a few days later. Fortunately a storm dispersed the Spanish fleet, and though there were a few landings, Essexs greatest failure was as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a post which he talked himself into in 1599. The Nine Years War was in its stages, and no English commander had been successful. More military force was required to defeat the Irish chieftains, led by Hugh ONeill, Essex led the largest expeditionary force ever sent to Ireland—16,000 troops—with orders to put an end to the rebellion. Essex had declared to the Privy Council that he would confront ONeill in Ulster, rather than face ONeill in battle, Essex entered a truce that some considered humiliating to the Crown and to the detriment of English authority
14.
Ferdinando Gorges
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Sir Ferdinando Gorges was a naval and military commander and governor of the important port of Plymouth in England. He was involved in Essexs Rebellion against the Queen, but escaped punishment by testifying against the main conspirators and he was the second son of Edward Gorges, Esq. and Lady Cicely Lygon. The circumstances of his fathers death at 31 suggested to Gorgess first biographer that Ferdinando was born around the time of his fathers death on August 29,1568. The terms of the testamentary gifts led an earlier memorialist to conclude that Ferdinando had been born sometime between 1565 and 1567, Gorgess ancestors on his fathers side arrived in England with the Norman invasion. The male line of the Gorges family died out on the death of Ralph de Gorges of Knighton, Isle of Wight, 2nd Baron Gorges, in 1331. A cadet branch of the Russells of Kingston Russell, Dorset, changed its name to the matronymic Gorges and they were said to have lived in Somersetshire from the time of Henry I and held their estates in Wraxal since the time of Edward II. Ferdinandos great-great-grandfather married the eldest daughter of the first Duke of Norfolk, the Gorges were recipients of many royal appointments and privileges since Edwards time. Ferdinandos father Edward, as first born, became the possessor of the estate in Wraxal when his father died in 1558 when he was 21. Notwithstanding the family tradition in royal offices, neither Edward nor his father Edmund took part in public affairs, among their descendants were the Earls Beauchamp. Ferdinando Gorges was named for his mothers brother, Ferdinando Lygon, after the death of Edward Gorges, Cecily married John Vivian, Esq. of Brydges. Ferdinandos only sibling was his older brother Edward, who was baptized at Wraxal on September 5,1564, Edward entered Harts College, Oxford, in 1582. Very little documentation exists regarding his life and education. He was brought up at Nailsea Court at Kenn near Wraxall and it is likely that he was engaged in active duty shortly after the outbreak of the Anglo-Spanish War in 1585. Gorges fought under the command of Lord Willoughby, whose family he developed a connection with. In 1589 Gorges was wounded at the siege of Paris and he was knighted at the siege of Rouen in 1591. He was rewarded for his services by the post of Governor of the Fort at Plymouth, during the Spanish Armada of 1597 Gorges was able to raise the alarm that enabled the defence of the country, but autumn storms made sure that the Spanish fleet was dispersed. In 1601, he involved in the Essex Conspiracy and later testified against its leader, Robert Devereux. His interest in colonization was invoked when Captain George Weymouth presented him with three captured American Indians, in 1607, as a shareholder in the Plymouth Company, he helped fund the failed Popham Colony, in present-day Phippsburg, Maine
15.
Galleon
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Another possible origin is the Old French word galie meaning galley, also from Byzantine Greek galea. The galea was a warship of the Byzantine navy, and its name may be related to the Greek word galeos, the term was originally given to certain types of war galleys in the Middle Ages. The Annali Genovesi mentions galleons of 80,64 and 60 oars, used for battle and on missions of exploration and it is very likely that the galleons and galliots mentioned in the accounts of the crusades were the same vessels. In the early 16th century, the Venetian galleoni was a new class of galley used to hunt down pirates in the Mediterranean. In Portugal at least, Portuguese carracks were very large ships for their time, while galleons were mostly under 500 tons. One of the largest and most famous of Portuguese galleons was the São João Baptista, there are disputes about its origins and development but each Atlantic sea power built types suited to its needs, while constantly learning from their rivals. It was the captains of the Spanish navy, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and Álvaro de Bazán, the galleon was powered entirely by wind, using sails carried on three or four masts, with a lateen sail continuing to be used on the last masts. They were used in military and trade applications, most famously in the Spanish treasure fleet, and the Manila Galleons. While carracks played the role in early global explorations, galleons also played a part in the 16th and 17th centuries. In fact, galleons were so versatile that a vessel may have been refitted for wartime and peacetime roles several times during its lifespan. The galleon was the prototype of all square-rigged ships with three or more masts for over two and a half centuries, including the later full-rigged ship, Galleons were constructed from oak, pine and various hardwoods for hull and decking. The expenses involved in construction were enormous. Hundreds of expert tradesmen worked day and night for months before a galleon was seaworthy, to cover the expense, galleons were often funded by groups of wealthy businessmen who pooled resources for a new ship. Therefore, most galleons were originally consigned for trade, although those captured by rival states were usually put into military service, the most common gun used aboard a galleon was the demi-culverin, although gun sizes up to demi-cannon were possible. Galleons were a class of blue water sailing ship that combined the easy-to-maneuver fore-and-aft rig of smaller shipping with the rig of late middle ages cargo vessels. On average with three masts, in larger galleons, a fourth mast was added, usually another lateen-rigged mizzen, the oldest known scale drawings in England are in a manuscript called Fragments of Ancient Shipwrightry made in about 1586 by Mathew Baker, a master-shipwright. This manuscript, held at the Pepysian Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge, provides a reference for the size. Based on these plans, the Science Museum, London has built a 1,48 scale model ship that is an exemplar of galleons of this era
16.
Hulk (ship type)
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A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. The word hulk is used as a verb, a ship is hulked to convert it to a hulk. The verb was also applied to crews of Royal Navy ships in dock, although the term hulk can be used to refer to an abandoned wreck or shell, it is much more commonly applied to hulls that are still performing a useful function. In the days of sail, many hulls served longer as hulks than they did as functional ships, wooden ships were often hulked when the hull structure became too old and weak to withstand the stresses of sailing. More recently, ships have been hulked when they become obsolete or when they become uneconomical to operate. A sheer hulk was used in shipbuilding and repair as a crane in the days of sailing ships. Booms known as sheers were attached to the base of a hulks lower masts or beam, blocks & tackle were then used in such tasks as placing or removing the lower masts of the vessel under construction or repair. These lower masts were the largest and most massive single timbers aboard a ship, the concept of sheer hulks originated with the Royal Navy in the 1690s, and persisted in Britain until the early nineteenth century. Most sheer hulks were decommissioned warships, Chatham, built in 1694, was the first of only three purpose-built vessels, there were at least six sheer hulks in service in Britain at any time throughout the 1700s. The concept spread to France in the 1740s with the commissioning of a sheer hulk at the port of Rochefort. By 1807 the Royal Navy had standardised sheer hulk crew numbers to comprise a boatswain, mate and six seamen, an accommodation hulk is a hulk used as housing, generally when there is a lack of quarters available ashore. An operational ship may be used for accommodation, but a hulk can accommodate more personnel than the hull would accommodate as a functional ship. For this role, the hulk is often modified to improve living conditions. Receiving hulks and prison hulks are specialized types of accommodation hulks, during World War II, purpose-built barracks ships were used in this role. A receiving ship is a used in harbour to house newly recruited sailors before they are assigned to a ships crew. In the Royal Navy, the use of impressment to collect sailors resulted in the problem of preventing escape of the unwilling recruits. The receiving ship was part of the solution, it was difficult to get off the ship without being detected, receiving ships were typically older vessels that could still be kept afloat, but were obsolete or no longer seaworthy. Receiving ships often served as floating hospitals as many were assigned in locations without shore-based station hospitals, often the afloat surgeon would take up station on the receiving ship
17.
Barque
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A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen rigged fore-and-aft. The word barque entered English via French, which in came from the Latin barca by way of Occitan. The Latin barca may stem from Celtic barc or Greek baris, the Oxford English Dictionary considers the latter improbable. The word barc appears to have come from Celtic languages, the form adopted by English, perhaps from Irish, was bark, while that adopted by Latin as barca very early, which gave rise to the French barge and barque. In Latin, Spanish and Italian the term refers to a small boat. French influence in England led to the use in English of both words, although their meanings now are not the same, well before the 19th century a barge had become interpreted as a small vessel of coastal or inland waters. Somewhat later, a became a sailing vessel of a distinctive rig as detailed below. In Britain, by the century, the spelling had taken on the French form of barque. Francis Bacon used this form of the word as early as 1592, throughout the period of sail, the word was used also as a shortening of the barca-longa of the Mediterranean Sea. The usual convention is that spelling barque refers to a ship and bark to tree hide, barcarole in music shares the same etymology, being originally a folk song sung by Venetian gondolier and derived from barca - boat in Italian. In the 18th century, the British Royal Navy used the bark for a nondescript vessel that did not fit any of its usual categories. She happened to be a sailing vessel with a plain bluff bow. Our Northern Mariners, who are trained in the coal-trade, apply this distinction to a broad-sterned ship, hon. the Earl of Sussex, Lord Deputy of Ireland. By the end of the 18th century, the term came to refer to any vessel with a particular type of sail-plan. This comprises three masts, fore-and-aft sails on the aftermost mast and square sails on all other masts, barques were the workhorse of the Golden Age of Sail in the mid-19th century as they attained passages that nearly matched full rigged ships but could operate with smaller crews. Conversely, the ship rig tended to be retained for training vessels where the larger the crew, another advantage is that a barque can outperform a schooner or barkentine, and is both easier to handle and better at going to windward than a full-rigged ship. Usually the main mast was the tallest, that of Moshulu extends to 58 m off the deck, the four-masted barque can be handled with a surprisingly small crew—at minimum, ten—and while the usual crew was around thirty, almost half of them could be apprentices. Today many sailing ships are barques
18.
Battle of Santo Domingo (1586)
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The English were led by Francis Drake and was part of his Great Expedition to the raid the Spanish New World in a kind of preemptive strike. The English soldiers then occupied the city for over a month, war had already been unofficially declared by Philip II of Spain after the Treaty of Nonsuch in which Elizabeth I had offered her support to the rebellious Protestant Dutch rebels. The Queen through Francis Walsingham ordered Sir Francis Drake to lead an expedition to attack the Spanish New World in a kind of preemptive strike, Drake arrived in the Caribbean in December to the uninhabited island of Saint Kitts, where he landed his sick and sought supplies. Whilst there he sent a reconnaissance squadron to the Spanish city of Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola. The governor, Cristóbal de Ovalle, was provided with artillery batteries covering both land and sea and had nearly 1,500 men of which 100 were cavalry. The naval defenses of the city consisted of one galley and although it was largely unseaworthy was still capable of posing a threat, Drake had the fortune of knowing that surprise would be on his side since the Spanish had no idea the English fleet were in the area. Just after midnight on 1 January 1586 Drake arrived off the Bajos de Haina, the path through the jungle that led towards the city was also defenseless and the English advanced forward. The main fleet under Drake meanwhile sailed ten miles along the coast to Santo Domingo, the Spanish soon saw the threat, troops were mustered, work began on building earthworks to defend the shore, whilst many of the townspeople began slipping out of the city. At the mouth of the harbor, three ships were sunk to prevent any attempt to force the entrance but it was too late. On New Years Day Drakes ships lay off the mouth of the harbor, just within range and as English ships took up their stations, Drake ran out his guns. The Spanish fire soon replied and one shot hit the Elizabeth Bonaventure. Drake ordered his ships in closer, and soon began firing at the castle and the earthworks. Carleill and 800 soldiers approached the city through the jungle, Drake then sent men in boats to make a show of attempting a landing by way of a diversion. Carleill however placed his pikemen and musketeers on every side, so that the Spanish were driven back, with both columns still advancing they received the fire of the Spanish guns at very close quarters. An ambuscade of Spanish musketeers beside the road had no success as these were quickly driven back by English fire. Within half an hour, the party had reached the western walls of Santo Domingo. The western defenses were pierced by two gates, the Lenba and a one, closer to the beach. By that stage there were scarcely 300 Spaniards left, most of which had no fireams, Carleill ordered Sergeant-Major Powell to assault the secondary gate with a storming party, while the lieutenant-general led the rest of his men towards the Lenba
19.
Battle of Cartagena de Indias (1586)
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The English were led by Francis Drake. The raid was part of his Great Expedition to the Spanish New World, the English soldiers then occupied the city for over two months and captured much booty along with a ransom before departing on 12 April. War had already been declared by Philip II of Spain after the Treaty of Nonsuch in which Elizabeth I had offered her support to the rebellious Protestant Dutch rebels. The Queen through Francis Walsingham ordered Sir Francis Drake to lead an expedition to attack the Spanish New World in a kind of preemptive strike, Drake, having raided Cartagena harbor a decade before, decided this important place was the next target. Governor Don Pedro Fernandez de Busto had been warned from a vessel that had sailed fast from the recently sacked city of Santo Domingo that his city would be next and he decided that all value was to be transported inland, while the city itself was evacuated of all non-combatants. Don Pedro Fernandez called for reinforcements from nearby settlements and the militia of Cartagena was mustered. The English fleet after leaving Santo Domingo sailed parallel along the New Granadan coast towards Cartagena, Drake knew that the coast was a treacherous one and a dangerous place to land sailors let alone soldiers. Cartagena lay on the coast and it was protected from an attack on its seaward side. Between Cartagena and the mainland, a moat had been dug. To the east swampland separated the city from the hills of the mainland. The city itself lay on the base of a narrow S-shaped spit of sand called La Caleta, which divided the Outer Harbour from the Caribbean, and which ended at the Boca Grande Channel. The naval defenses of Cartagena included two well-armed galleys crewed by a total of 300 men under the command of Don Pedro Vique y Manrique who also doubled as the governors military advisor. These galleys would give supporting fire on La Caleta which was covered by the earthworks, on land a stone-built fort, El Boqueron with eight guns was garrisoned by about 200 men under Captain Pedro Mexia Mirabel and guarded the passage to the Inner Harbour. These were supported by a handful of Spanish regulars who served as officers and instructors, the English ships dropped anchor at the northern end of the Outer Harbour after sailing past the entrance, just beyond the range of the Spanish guns guarding the Boqueron Channel. Drake sent Martin Frobisher forward to probe the defences using small boats, Drake concurred with Christopher Carleil commander of the English troops that the best chance of capturing the city was by advancing up La Caleta. Just before midnight on 9 February, the troops clambered into boats, a few hours later of the next day almost 1,000 English soldiers and sailors were landed safely after Spanish sentries were surprised and killed. They also avoided the poisoned tip stakes which the Spanish had put up, as the English moved to the Spanish positions a battery of four heavy guns covered the approaches, and Carleill could see the two Spanish galleys moving into position. At least 300 Spanish militia and 200 Indian allies lined the defences, the galleys began to open fire, joined by the defenders of the earthwork
20.
Raid on St. Augustine
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This was part of Francis Drakes Great Expedition and was the last engagement on the Spanish main before Drake headed north for the Roanoke Colony. The expedition also forced the Spanish to abandon any settlements and forts in present-day South Carolina, war had already been unofficially declared by Philip II of Spain after the Treaty of Nonsuch in which Elizabeth I had offered her support to the rebellious Protestant Dutch rebels. The Queen through Francis Walsingham ordered Sir Francis Drake to lead an expedition to attack the Spanish New World in a kind of preemptive strike. Drake wanted to strike at another Spanish city on the Main before finally visiting and replenishing Sir Walter Raleighs new colony of Roanoke Colony on the American East Coast, then after this he hoped to make the Transatlantic crossing back to England. The fleet traveled north within sight of land on the Florida peninsula sailing past the West coast, on 27 May 1586 as they approached further north a small fort was spotted on the shore, with a small inlet close by. This was the location of St Augustine, the most northerly town in Spains New World Empire, and the oldest permanent colonial settlement in North America. Drake knew of the place and was aware of the fact that the Spanish under Pedro Menéndez de Avilés had ordered all of the French Huguenot colonists that had tried to settle in the area executed. Drake decided on one final opportunity to raid and plunder, the English attacked and bombarded a small wooden fort in the sand dunes, the Spanish there fired only a few shots and fled. Drake sent a party to investigate, while Carleill and a few volunteers rowed a ships boat into the inlet. It sat on a strip of sand, separated from the mainland by a band of water, a French Huguenot Nicholas Borgoignon, who had been taken prisoner by the Spanish six years before was found in a boat and agreed to guide the English to the Spanish settlement. The Spanish settlers withdrew inland and hoped to make surprise raids against the English gradually, Drake and his men occupied the area of the small fort but during the night Indians attacked, launched by native allies of the Spanish garrison. After a few shots by the Spanish the English landed and took the fort with only a few losses and they found it deserted as the Spanish had fled but found intact a gun platform with fourteen bronze artillery pieces. They also found a chest containing the garrisons pay, about 2,000 gold ducats which was left behind in the retreat. Drake knowing the Spanish had fled, began to plunder what he could, he took the guns, soon the English came upon the main settlement of St. Augustine itself, this time they found it deserted. The Spanish however were just beyond the settlement in the outskirts, when Drakes men arrived, anthony Powell one of Carleills deputies was killed in the opening shots as he tried to assault the outskirts. Carleills men then charged all the way to the outskirts of the town into the forcing the Spanish to retreat leaving Drake in control of the settlement. The English garrisoned it overnight and the following day razed the whole of St. Augustine to the ground, all buildings were torched, crops were destroyed and anything of value was either taken or destroyed. The fort of San Juan was burnt and all the pieces were carried by the English among other booty
21.
Capture of Recife (1595)
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An English expedition of ships led by James Lancaster sailed via the Atlantic capturing numerous prizes before he captured Recife. He held the place for nearly a month and then proceeded to defeat a number of Portuguese counterattacks before leaving, the booty captured was substantial, Lancaster chartered Dutch and French ships that were also present there thus making the expedition a military and financial success. Remaining there until September Portuguese and Spanish ships were plundered which although highly profitable had been a disaster in terms lives lost to storms. Lancaster newly returned in 1593, decided on an expedition to Portuguese Brazil and tap the lucrative sugar and spice market. Lancaster mustered a fleet of a joint stock venture in late 1594 with John Watts, Simon Boreman, Paul Bayning, John More. Lancaster had been raised amongst the Portuguese, spoke the language and had been a trader with them before war had broken out, the combined forces soon captured its largest prize yet, a large Spanish galley-frigate. This was great news for Lancaster which gave him more of an incentive to take Recifie. The fleet now totaling nearly fifteen ships would accompany him there, when Lancaster arrived he found three sixty ton Dutch fluitships already there intending to take the cargo and prevent it going back to Portugal. The garrison fled to Olinda almost three miles away who then took refuge and Lancaster with only ten casualties permitted not the slightest disorder after the place was taken. Now in possession of the area Lancaster knew the Portuguese were preparing a counterattack so he strengthened Fort São Jorge which connected Recife with Olinda and he then proceeded at leisure to stow his ships with the goods found in the town of which there nearly 100 houses and store buildings. The Portuguese however intended to drive the English away so made several attempts at retaking the town but each time assaulting the fortified isthmus they were repelled with heavy losses. The next attempt was made via the waters, blazing rafts were sent down the river and at the time an attempt by fire-ships on sea was also made. With this extra number Lancaster ordered an attack Olinda in order to any aggression while they consolidated their gains. This was achieved at night and Olinda was sacked after meeting little resistance with more booty taken, after remaining in possession of Recife for more than twenty days Lancaster knew that he would have to leave soon and prepared to sail. The Portuguese however were observed constructing a battery to command the entrance of the harbor, almost all the officers of the party including Venner, and others to the number of thirty-five were killed before the rest found the safety of the English lines. Buoyed by this success the Portuguese with their Indian allies then launched another attack on the isthmus, after this close call Lancaster decided that the occupation had reached its end and decided to take advantage of leaving unmolested with the destruction of the battery. Lancaster put to sea with fifteen vessels ladened with merchandises but a strong gale outside caused the fleet to be scattered. Lancaster had four ships with him and arrived in the Downs in July, only one ship never made it that being a Portuguese prize heavily damaged in gales and lack of crew so was scuttled
22.
Battle of Guadalupe Island (1595)
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The result was a Spanish victory. One of the English ships, the Francis, was captured, then, knowing Drakes plans, the Spanish flotilla took advantage over the bulk of Drakes fleet, and arrived at San Juan on November 13, reinforcing the town with 500 soldiers and supplies. On November 22, with the completed, the English fleet arrived off San Juan. The result was another Spanish victory over Drakes forces, Spanish Main Battle of Las Palmas Battle of San Juan Guadalupe Island Fort San Felipe del Morro Fernández Duro, Cesáreo. Armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón, instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval. ISBN 978-1-84603-240-0 Van Middeldyk, R. A, ISBN 978-84-8472-127-7 Rodríguez González, Agustín Ramón. Victorias por Mar de los Españoles, armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón. Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval
23.
Battle of San Juan (1595)
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The Battle of San Juan was a Spanish victory during the Anglo–Spanish War. This war broke out in 1585 and was not only in the European theatre. On 22 November 1595 Drake and John Hawkins tried to invade San Juan with 27 ships and 2,500 men. After failing to be able to land at the Ensenada del Escambron on the end of San Juan Islet. This defeat and the defeat at Pinos ended English hopes of establishing a presence in the Caribbean Sea, in the first days 1596 Drake was diagnosed with dysentery and eventually died on 28 January. The battle is mentioned in Lope de Vegas epic poem La Dragontea Konstam, Angus
24.
Battle of Pinos
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The Spanish squadron was victorious, capturing two English ships. Two generals,15 captains and 22 officers had died in combat or from disease, the English fleet departed Portobello on February 8. A few days later a storm scattered the fleet, several ships returned to England via Jamaica, while Baskerville, with the bulk of the fleet, headed to Cabo Corrientes to sail to his country along the northern coast of Cuba. In Spain, meanwhile, news of Drake-Hawkins attack in Gran Canaria had reached the Spanish court, in early March they arrived at Cartagena de Indias, disposed to pursue Baskerville. On March 7, part of Avellanedas fleet surprised two English ships south of Cienfuegos and they were the Pegasine and were commanded by Thomas Maynarde. Avellaneda immediately ordered his ships hoist their flags and attack, Baskerville, whose flagship was John Hawkins La Garlande, however, tried to avoid combat scattering his ships towards Cape San Antonio. Most of the English ships escaped because they abandoned their boats, the loss on the Spanish side amounted to 80 men killed or wounded and a warship, sunk during the clash. Avellanedas fleet pursued the English as far as the Old Bahama Channel, on 22 May, returning to Havana, they captured John Crosse’s pinnace Little Exchange off the town. This was not the last loss suffered by the English, as eight of the 28 warships which had departed England on 1595 returned to their country. Armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón, madrid, Spain, Est. tipográfico Sucesores de Rivadeneyra. Wars of the Americas, a chronology of armed conflict in the New World,1492 to the present
25.
Battle of San Juan (1598)
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They were able to hold the castle for 65 days but disease took its toll and the English forces left but not before plundering and burning San Juan to the ground. It was this attack proved to be the only one to ever break through. Sir Francis Drake had been defeated in 1595 and the report alarmed Elizabeth I that she wanted to avenge or dirten the defeat. Queen Elizabeth almost immediately sent a new expedition led by the third Earl of Cumberland, Sir George Clifford, so that he could seize San Juan, in total the fleet consisted of 1,700 men and twenty ships. After refreshing his fleet for nearly a week, the Earl transferred to the Virgin Islands on 11 June, on the morning of 16 June, Cumberland disembarked 700 men at Cangrejos Bay twelve miles east of San Juan, then marched until nightfall. However one mile short of the city he and his men came up to a known as San Antonio. This was held by around 100 Spanish soldiers and they managed to repel the English assault who inflicted forty casualties, while the Earl of Cumberland himself almost drowned trying to cross the San Antonio channel. The Spaniards suffered only four casualties, next morning, the English use their boats to outflank the Spanish position, disembarking at Escambrón Point while bombarding Boquerón Redoubt. The English took possession of the area and consolidated while the rest of the force arrived, on 18 June Cumberland with his forces advanced and then swept into San Juan’s streets meeting little resistance, he found that some of the citizenry had already fled. The government officials and other residents had taken refuge in El Morro and 250 Spanish soldiers are ensconced within the Morro Citadel, soon after the town had been occupied, the English had artillery ferried ashore from their fleet and a formal siege was instituted. Two days later the siege was under way and El Morro was bombarded from both land and sea while in the meantime Cumberland set about sacking the town. Knowing that the Spanish were short of supplies, the English preferred to lay siege to the castle of El Morro rather than destroy it. After nearly 15 days huddled inside El Morro, short of food and ammunition and being constantly bombarded, Cumberland refused this request and set his own terms for the Spanish surrender of which Mosquera eventually agreed to. He and his followers were repatriated to Cartagena several weeks later, with barely enough troops to crew his ships, much less maintain control of the prize he had seized from Spain, Cumberland finally decided to leave the island. Before he left however he ordered the sacking of San Juan and his troops stole the organ and bells from the cathedral and took booty ranging from 2,000 slaves to a marble windowsill that caught his eye. Cumberland sailed for England with some ships on 14 August, then on 23 September Berkeley followed with his body along with around 70 artillery pieces from the fort. Clifford on his return to England was proclaimed as a hero of sorts, in the wake of the attack, Spain sent more soldiers, supplies and weapons to rebuild the city and its defenses. From 1601 to 1609, the reconstruction of El Morro saw its toppled hornwork strengthened with the still used today
26.
Capture of Portobello (1601)
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The war with Spain was continuing and English privateers were still roaming the Spanish American empire for prizes and attacking ports. At Cubagua they were offered a ransom in exchange for a number of boats they had seized. Near Cabo de le Veda they captured a Portuguese slaving ship, Parker next guided what was now a flotilla of 6 ships to the east of a recently abandoned Nombre de Dios and approached Portobello in pinnaces and shallops with the help of the black guides. They then disembarked a vanguard of some forty men from the shallops, Parker and his men were then able to enter the city on the south shore unopposed since the castle of Santiago de la Gloria was positioned too far away to offer any protection. Whilst some of their party created as much noise and panic as possible in their attack on the barracks, the 100 Spanish defenders which the Spanish Governor Pedro Meléndez had sent was too little too late. There was a battle fought to seize the treasure house. The English were able to push the rest of Spanish troops with ease inland, by the end of the day however Parker had secured the town and set about garrisoning the place. About 30 Spanish prisoners were taken among whom was the governor, the English prepared for a Spanish counterattack but it never came. Parker could only hold the town for 24 hours and the day found no large bullion shipments. He did however acquire a large haul of booty and he had taken a further three prizes when the harbor was secured, Parker then went about sacking the town and he burnt the suburb of Triana to the ground. After this and with all the booty that could be collected along with cannons, the English then stood out to sea with a total 10,000 ducats of booty. Parker then returned to Plymouth in May 1601 where he distributed his prize money and he would then became a founding member of the Virginia Company in 1606. Battle of Porto Bello Battle of Porto Bello Sources Bicheno, Hugh, elizabeths Sea Dogs, How Englands Mariners Became the Scourge of the Seas. British Maritime Enterprise in the New World, From the Late Fifteenth to the Mid-eighteenth Century, wars of the Americas, A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the Western Hemisphere
27.
Battle of Puerto Caballos (1603)
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The English were able to achieve victory after a bitter fight. Two Spanish galleons were captured, one of which was subsequently burned, the Anglo-French consortium occupied the area and after two weeks withdrew with captured booty. With the Anglo-Spanish war still raging, English privateers were harassing Spanish shipping and these were mainly London merchants who, in a grinding war of attrition, were still able to roam the coast of the Spanish New World. In charge of one of these expeditions was veteran Christopher Newport who had been in the Caribbean since 1602 and had continually returned and he had lost his arm during a successful expedition in 1590 but this did not still stop him from fighting. The 300- to 350-ton English vessels – Archangel of Geare, Newports Neptune, Newport had successfully raided Puerto Caballos before in May 1592, where he captured a 200-ton merchantmen. He knew the area well but the fleet needed supplies badly so they headed first for Jamaica, on 24 January 1603, while heading for Puerto Caballos, the Anglo-French flotilla raided Jamaica. Newport and his associates withdrew with minor losses, in the dark on 17 February the English ships followed by the French slavers reached the port of Puerto Caballos and detached seven boats with 200 men and light artillery. They hoped to board the two partially laden Spanish galleons at anchor in the rather than destroy them. The galleons were Captain Juan de Monasterioss 600-ton Nuestra Señora del Rosario and these were the flagship and vice flagship of the flota of New Spain. At almost sunrise the attackers rowed towards the galleons hoping to use surprise, warning shots were fired, but soon the English and French boarded both the galleons. Both sides were near exhaustion but the English finally took the Nuestra Señora del Rosario, with that the San Juan Bautista, seeing the position was hopeless, surrendered not long after. To prevent a Spanish counterattack Newport immediately ordered an attack on the port itself, after a short fight the Spanish soon fled the town and after nearly eight hours the battle was over. The casualties on both sides were roughly the same—around 30—but the Spanish had surrendered nearly 200 men, of which the majority consisted of the ships complements. The triumphant English and French then looted the vessels and buildings ashore for the eighteen days as well as the two galleons they seized from two merchant vessels. The loot was considerable—200 sacks of anil,3,000 hides, the Rosario was considerably damaged from the battering it had suffered from Nepture and Archangel in supporting the final attack. Newport decided to burn her as she was too damaged to be towed away, there were arguments between the English and the French during their occupation of the town, not to do with the spoils but with regards to the Spanish prisoners. Spanish eyewitnesses later declare that the French wished to kill them all, the English got their way and spared the prisoners, but it did not stop the French from killing a number. In the last days of occupation Newport set them free a number at a time, eventually, both groups departed with San Juan Bautista as their sole prize, Rosario being left behind a stripped and burnt hulk
28.
Battle of Ponta Delgada
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The Spanish victory resulted in the rapid Spanish conquest of the Azores, completing the incorporation of Portugal into the Spanish Empire. The only portion of the Portuguese overseas empire to resist the Habsburg King Philip II of Spain were the Azores Islands, the French crown sent a fleet under the command of the mercenary admiral Filipo Strozzi in order to help defend the islands. However, receiving the same replies the former envoy, Valdés was persuaded to attempt an assault on Terceira, meanwhile, António reached Calais and proceeded to England. In June 1582 Antónios French fleet left Belle-Isle, intending to subdue the two islands of São Miguel and Santa Maria and to capture the fleet which would probably put in at the Azores. However, on learning that Strozzi had sailed, Santa Cruz also made for the Azores with less ships but larger in size and arms than Strozzi and about an equal number of men. He arrived too late to prevent the French from landing on São Miguel, after an indecisive gunfight on 24 July 1582 the fleets met two days later in a fierce close battle south of the island of São Miguel. The Spanish were outnumbered two to one, the brunt of the French attack was borne by the Portuguese-built Spanish galleon San Mateo, although surrounded, battered by artillery and boarded by several French ships, her sailors held their ground and repulsed all attacks. They then took the fight to the enemy, boarding and capturing two French vessels before the battle ended, Santa Cruz began the action by arranging themselves in a line abreast. This was the tactic employed by the Spanish galleys, which carried its few cannon in the bow. Santa Cruz in his Portuguese-built flagship São Martinho sought out Strozzis ship amid the smoke and chaos and, having found her, Santa Cruz defeated the French through a combination of gunfire and boarding. Some thought that Strozzi had been unlucky to lose, the Spanish fleet suffered severe damage, Philip IIs commemorative mural in the Escorials Hall of Battles correctly depicts extensive shot damage on the Spanish side. The galleon San Martín barely managed to tow the captured enemy flagship back to port, on July 26, after a five-hour naval engagement, the French and English fleets weaker in battle-power, were routed, seventeen of their ships deserted. Men over seventeen who were captured were put to death as pirates, though larger, the improvised French fleet had not been sufficient to challenge the Spanish in the Atlantic triangle. The magnitude of French losses is uncertain but they were heavy, however, the battle shows that Strozzi tried, partly, an approximation to this tactic, by an attack by a group of naus engaged in formation. However, in the end, the battle was largely resolved in the old way of naval warfare. Santa Cruz had won a victory and jubilation at his triumphant return seems to have gripped the whole of Spain. Terceira remained in the Pretenders hands, and in the spring of 1583 he managed to reinforce his garrisons there with 800 fresh French troops, Santa Cruz, who now enjoyed command of the sea, reacted swiftly. The Terceirans expected the Spaniards to land at the harbours of Angra and Peggia, however, Santa Cruz decided to deliver his main thrust at Mole, a beach 10 miles from Angra defended only by light earthworks occupied by infantry with some artillery support
29.
Conquest of the Azores
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Following a days fighting, forces of the island of Terceira were defeated by Spanish Tercios, using the strategies and tactics of Álvaro de Bazán. A few days later, a contingent of Spanish-Portuguese troops landed on the island of Faial, at the end of the campaign, approximately 9,000 Portuguese, French, Italian and English were captured by the Spanish. Philip II ordered Bazán by letter to hang those French and English subjects on the island caught in arms against his forces. The Terceirans expected the Spaniards to land at the harbours of Angra and Peggia, however, Santa Cruz decided to deliver his main thrust at Mole, a beach 10 miles from Angra defended only by light earthworks occupied by infantry with some artillery support. António himself was on Terceira, where he supervised the raising of levies for defense, but left in November to persuade the French to furnish another 1,500 men, who arrived in June 1583. The Queen Mother of France, Catherine de Medici, sent 1,200 French and 400 English soldiers organized in 9 companies under Aymar de Chatte, governor of Dieppe, who took the command of the islands. The quality of the troops was diverse, the French and English were veteran soldiers. The Spanish army landed on Calheta das Mós, next to Angra, the date for the landing was selected because it was the first anniversary of Bazáns victory over the French fleet at Ponta Delgada. At 3 AM the Spanish galleys headed to the beach with the landing crafts on tow carrying 4,500 soldiers aboard, Bazán in person commanded the operation. The beach was guarded by the fort of Santa Catarina, garrisoned by a French captain – Bourguignon – with 50 Frenchmen and 2 Portuguese companies, as the Spanish ships were sighted at dawn, Bourguignon opened fire over them with Santa Catarinas artillery. Within arquebus shot, Bazáns flagship, opening the way, received a heavy gunfire, seconded by 9 other galleys, however, he silenced the fort. The landing craft sailed to the beach and put the infantry on land, one of the first men the reach the shores was Rodrigo de Cervantes, brother of Miguel de Cervantes. They were met by an arquebus fire directed from the trenches and ramparts which caused 35 fatalities, the fort was then carried by assault with scales, and Bourguignon and 35 of his men slayed. The capture of Santa Catarina allowed the Spanish to land what remained of the infantry, supplies and 6 cannons, then, Bazán ordered the advance of the force towards Vila da Praia to met the French army. De Chatte also gathered his troops and went to the encounter of the Spanish with 8 cannons, Bazán formed his army into three lines, the Germans on the right wing and the Spanish on the left. The vanguard was formed by sleeves of arquebusiers which met a heavy resistance in the hedges and fences of the ground, from there, De Chatte launched fierce counterattacks and managed to break the Spanish first line several times. However, Bazán reinforced his arquebusiers with German pikemen and hold the ground, by the afternoon, Manuel da Silva arrived to the battlefield with 1,000 Portuguese soldiers and a heard of cows to launch over the Spanish battalions. De Chatte feel himself strong enough to renew the attack, after 16 hours of fighting, the Spanish army had lost 70 men killed and 300 wounded, against 70 French and Portuguese deaths and over 400 wounded or prisoner
30.
Capture of Santiago (1585)
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The Capture of Santiago was a military event that took place between 11–28 November 1585 during the newly declared Anglo-Spanish War. An English expedition led by Francis Drake captured the town of Cidade Velha in the Cape Verde islands that had recently belonged to the Crown of Portugal. He sacked it and then marched inland before doing the same at São Domingos, afterwards Drake left and continued his expedition to successfully raid the Spanish possessions in the Americas. War had already been declared by Phillip II of Spain after the Treaty of Nonsuch in which Elizabeth I had offered her support to the rebellious Protestant Dutch rebels. The Queen through Francis Walsingham ordered Sir Francis Drake to lead an expedition to attack the Spanish New World in a kind of preemptive strike. The expedition gathered at Plymouth, England on 14 September 1585 with Sir Francis Drake in command of twenty one ships with 1,800 soldiers under Christopher Carleill, sailing from Plymouth he first attacked Vigo in Spain and held the place for two weeks ransoming supplies. After taking on water from the undefended La Gomera island, he continued his voyage, by virtue of the Iberian Union, the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373 was in abeyance, and the commencement of war with Spain, Portuguese colonies and ships were now a target for the English. The Cape Verde Islands were a relatively poor archipelago that until 1580 had been Portuguese, Drake arrived off the islands in early November and set about planning his assault, in effect this would be baptism of fire for his men and a good rehearsal for future attacks. On the evening of 11 November, under cover of darkness Christopher Carleills assault force consisting of nearly 1,000 men landed on a four miles to the east. There was no resistance and then set off on a march towards the town. Drakes ships moved into to position on the Queens Accession Day he ordered the firing of ordnance in her honor, the Spanish and Portuguese returned fire, but their firing was sporadic, and it soon petered out while Carleills men stormed the batteries and took the guns. Also captured was a caravel being built in a shipyard but the English upon their discovery of it disassembled the vessel, old bronze Portuguese and Spanish guns and equipment were taken from the batteries, in addition gun powder, silk and cloth were seized from the towns warehouses. The houses were ransacked for food and the grove stripped of their fruit before finally, Drake set up his headquarters and sent emissaries to track down some of the inhabitants, as he planned to hold the town and burn it unless the islands governor paid him a ransom. After a number of days there was no response, so Drake rounded up the prisoners he had captured and interrogated them. The few that Drake held told him that the governor Gaspar de Andrade was in the village of São Domingos. Drake and Carleill led a force of 600 men in a trek into the dry, the inhabitants of São Domingos fled when the English approached, so Drake and his men looted what little they could, then burned the village to the ground. The English returned to the coast, shadowed as they went by local militia, on 28 November, Drake made one last attempt to force the Spanish governor to pay a ransom, he was aware of a small settlement called Praia and so had plans to seize that too. Drake sent Carleill on another expedition nine miles along the coast to the east, Carleills arrival coincided with the appearance of Drake and the fleet off the towns beach at dawn the following morning
31.
Battle of Flores (1591)
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After transferring his ill crew men onshore back to his ship, he led the Revenge in a rear guard action against 55 Spanish ships. Allowing the British fleet to retire to safety, the crew of the Revenge sank and damaged several Spanish ships during a day and night running battle. The Revenge was boarded many times by different Spanish ships and repelled each attack successfully, when Admiral Sir Richard Grenville was badly wounded, his surviving crew surrendered. Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote a poem about the battle entitled The Revenge, Revenge was on such a patrol in the summer of 1591 under the command of Sir Richard Grenville. The Spanish, meanwhile, had dispatched a fleet of some 55 ships under Alonso de Bazán, having under his orders Generals Martín de Bertendona, Bazán learned that the English were patrolling around the northern Azores. In late August 1591, having been joined by 8 Portuguese flyboats under Luis Coutinho, Howards fleet was caught while undergoing repairs and when the crews, many of whom were suffering an epidemic of fever, were resting ashore. Bazán tried to surprise the English fleet at anchor, but Sancho Pardos Vice-flagship lost their bowsprit and it was not until 5 PM when Bazáns ships bore down the channel which separated Flores and Corvo islands. Howard, alerted to the arrival of the Spanish, managed to slip away to sea, an exchange of fire took place between both fleets before they became separated. Grenville, however, preferred to fight and went straight through the Spaniards, meanwhile, Defiance, Howards flagship, received heavy gunfire from Aramburus San Cristóbal before withdrawing from the battle. Revenge was left behind and directly engaged by Claudio de Viamontes San Felipe, viamonte boarded the English galleon, suffering the misfortune of the grappling hook parting after having only passed 10 men aboard her. Shortly after Martín de Bertendonas San Bernabé did the same, this time successfully, San Bernabé´s grappling was decisive to the fate of Revenge, because the English warship lost the advantage of her long-range naval guns. Conversely, the heavy fire of the Spanish infantry forced the English gunners to abandon their post in order to repulse the attack. The Spanish soldiers got as far forward as far as the mainmast before being forced to retreat due to the musketry fire made from the aftcastle. San Cristóbals bow had been shattered by the ramming and she had to ask for reinforcements, Grenville held them back with cannon and musket fire until, being himself badly injured and Revenge severely damaged, completely dis-masted and with 150 men killed or unable to fight, surrendered. During the night Manriques and Coutinhos ships sank after they collided each other. Despite the damage Grenville had inflicted, the Spanish treated Revenges survivors honourably, Grenville, who had been taken aboard Bazáns flagship, died two days later. The Spanish Treasure Fleet rendezvoused with Bazán soon after, and the fleet sailed to Spain. They were overtaken by a storm during which Revenge and 15 Spanish warships
32.
Battle of Flores (1592)
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The battle was part of an expedition by an English fleet initially led by Sir Walter Raleigh, and then by Martin Frobisher and John Burrough. The expedition involved the capture of a number of Portuguese and Spanish ships including the large Portuguese carrack Madre de Deus, the expedition, particularly the capture of the great carrack, was a financial and military success. The expedition had formative consequences for the English both financially and on the future of English exploration, by virtue of the Iberian Union that joined the crowns of Portugal and Spain in 1580, the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373 had fallen in abeyance. As the Anglo–Spanish War was ongoing, Portuguese shipping was a target for the Royal Navy. Sir Walter Raleigh, having only just been released from the Tower of London and he outfitted a sixteen ship naval squadron of which two, the Garland and Foresight belonged to the Queen. The expedition was a private venture much like the Drake-Norris expedition, supported by limited assistance, Raleigh appointed Burrough as his vice-admiral and was joined in commission with Frobisher, who had knowledge of maritime affairs. George Clifford, the Earl of Cumberland had the largest stake in the expedition and helped Raleigh to finance, the majority of the fleet were owned by investors, the ship Dainty for example was owned by John Hawkins, but was captained by John Norton. The fleet included notables such as William Monson, Robert Crosse, captain of the Foresight, Samuel Purchas, Richard Hawkins and Christopher Newport, the expedition launched from Dartmouth, setting sail on 6 May 1592 after delays due to bad weather. The planned voyage to the West Indies was put on hold as supplies had already been depleted during the delay, instead the fleet intended to head towards the Azores to intercept a Spanish treasure fleet or Portuguese carracks heading homeward from the East Indies. Initially Raleigh commanded, but on the day,7 May. Raleigh was given letters from the Queen ordering his immediate recall to England, on 11 May a storm struck just off Cape Finisterre, scattering the majority of the fleet, three small ships were sunk and Garland very nearly foundered. Nearing Cape St Vincent on the Portuguese coast, the split into two sections as ordered by Raleigh. One, under Burrough, headed to the Azores to lie in wait for Spanish, the other, under Frobisher in Garland with Clifford, cruised off Cape St. Vincent with the strategy to pin the Spanish fleet against their own lee coast. The fleet sailed south, and by the end of May encountered the Santa Clara. The English captured the ship after heavy resistance, taking whatever goods the Spanish had failed to retrieve from her burnt-out hull. She was carrying an amount of ironware valued at £7,000 and was sailing to Sanlúcar de Barrameda where further freight was destined for the West Indies. With the capture, the fleet separated, leaving the prize and goods in the hands of Frobisher, as the fleet continued south from the Cape in early June, Burrough in the Roebuck took a Spanish flyboat after a long chase that brought him near the Spanish coast. The flyboats master revealed that a fleet was prepared at Cadiz
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