Armada Catastrophe

The main battle was on Monday August 9th

This Naval History continues on from: "Armada Charade"

The Armada had scattered and a great galleass had grounded on the shore, Howard's boats crews had ravaged it of anything of value, and they made sure that it would never be seaworthy again.

But the looting of one stranded ship seems a strange reason for keeping a powerful squadron for hours out of a major battle.

With the strong winds of a moderate gale, and with the Dukes ship sailing in the company of the four remaing ships, they sailed through the straits into the North Sea. Evan at this point the Duke was concerned to lead his straggling fleet away from the dangerous Dunkirk banks and into deep water.

Some ships started returning to the fleet enabling the Duke to form two small squadrons, his northern squadron gave the English something of a stern chase and delayed the beginning of the action.

Sir Francis Drake in the "Revenge" gave the first charge, as the English approached, she wore round to present her broadside towards the enemy. Laying off for some time while the distance between the two ships lessened, both ships held their fire.

Armada Charade

The English tactics became more aggressive

This time the English were determined to make every shot count, with so few cannon balls, the Spanish were obliged to hang on until the last minute.

Not until the ships were within approximately one-hundred yards, did Drake's "Revenge" fire first her bow guns, this was followed up with her broadside.

The answer from the "San Martin" was the thunder of her guns, which pierced the "Revenge". Drakes squadron following close behind him, each ship in passing they loosened off their broadsides into the "San Martin" doing terrible damage and inflicting heavy casualties.

Ar first there were only seven or eight Spanish ships of all sizes, others were coming into view and within a short while there were twenty-five or more fighting alongside their admiral, some only able to fire muskets; all were trying to close to fight hand-to-hand with cold steel, but the English would have none of it.

Drake saw that the proper tactical target was farther to leeward where the stronger galleons were hauling away from the shoals and reforming in deeper water. Drake could see that the English needed the prevent the reformation of the Spanish crescent. He was sure others would follow him, the decision was a credit to Drake's tactical insight.

Great-ships were fighting Great-ships

Frobisher stayed and fought the Duke's ship the "San Martin". The "Triump's" castles were higher and its bulk greater, and Frobisher lay close to the Spanish flagship, though he did not offer to board, beating her with his guns, while the rest of his squadron swarmed across her bow and stern and under the lee, riddling her upper decks with shot.

Every Spanish ship was under fire by one or more English ships. When Hawkins came up in the "Victory", it seemed to him that every ship in the English fleet was taking a shot at the Duke's ship, it looked like he was taking on all of them on his own.

Other ships that were never far away from the Duke came over to protect him and took on their share of the fighting. The English were fighting like this was going to be the last great battle of the Armada, which they were determined to win, not realising that the Spanish had barely a round of shot left between them. Every musketeer was on the deck firing their muskets as quickly as they could reload them.

By the time all of Hawkins's squadron had come up other Spanish ships were arriving and joining in with the fight, although out of range when the fight started the sounds of battle soon reached their ears and they came running as quickly as they could, they had known which direction the distant battle was being fought.

The ships of the Armada in the centre of the fighting were the familiar names that had always been at the front of each battle, and had borne the brunt all the way up the channel. The royal galleons of Portugal, the galleons of Castile, de Leiva's carrack and Bertendona's the Florentine galleon, Oqendo's flagship, two or three of the biggest and best-armed Biscayans like the "Grangrin".

Under constant fire their discipline held

At first it was not the familiar crescent but its tough outer rim, a shield around which the slower and weaker ships could form. Seymour and Wynter when they joined the battle, found the Spaniards back in something like their regular formation.

"They went," says Wynter, "into the proportion of a half moon, their admiral and vice-admiral in the midst and the greatest number of them; there went on each side, in the wings, their galleasses, armados of Portugal and other good ships, in the whole to the number of sixteen in a wing which did seem to be of their principal shipping."

The recovery of that formidable but tricky order in the blustery, choppy seas, in the first hours of Monday morning was one of the more remarkable feats of Spanish discipline and seamanship ever seen. It was made possible, of course, by the leadership of the Duke of Medina Sidonia and the stubborn courage of the rearguard's action.

With high courage and bold leadership on both sides the victory goes to the best ships and the best guns. The superiority of English ships had been demonstrated already, time and again. They could outflank and worry the enemy at will, keep the weather-advantage, choose their own range and always be sure of engaging when they liked.

The superiority of English guns and gunnery the Spanish were inclined to agree, but the chief superiority of the English off Gravelines on Sunday, lay in the fact that they still had ammunition. When they decided to close the range, as must have been agreed at a Council of War, they cannot have known how short of shot the Spanish were.

The English moved in closer

But in the second phase on Monday's battle, when all of the five English squadrons were harrying and jostling the Spanish crescent and trying to worry it to bits, they found they could close in to easy hailing distance and not take too much punnishment.

The English were still over estimating the most effective range. "How much the nearer, so much the better the result," said Sir Richard Hawkins later. He had commanded the "Swallow" in his father's squadron, and learned by the campaign's experience.

But at Monday's range the English guns could do real damage. The tough layers of Spanish oak guarding the lower hulls of the galleons were not smashed, but they were pierced repeatedly. Before the battle was over most of the Armada's first-line ships were leaking, and some were mortally hurt.

The upper works were only musket proof at best, and by evening they had been beaten to small fragments or splinters. The slaughter of the soldiers and sailors on the upper decks by the big guns must have been terrible.

The Spanish fought gallantly

Again and again one galleon or another struggled desperately to board. It was after all, their only chance of fighting on even terms. Badly mangled as the "San Martin" had been in the first phase of the action, afterwards, twice at least, she thrust herself into the midst of the melee ro rescue a ship in trouble.

The crew of one of the "urcas" saw Bertebdona's great carrack drive past, her decks a shambles, her battery guns silent and blood spilling out of her scuppers as she heeled to the wind, but musketeers ready and still firing in her sail tops and on her quarter-deck, as she came back stubbornly to take her place in the line.

The "San Mateo," which twice had found herself surrounded and fighting a ring of enemies, was in an even worse state of damage. More than half her men, soldiers and sailors had been killed or disabled, her great guns were useless, she was leaking like a sieve and wallowing low in the water.

The "San Martin" bore up to cover her, the Duke offered to take off her officers and crew, Don Diego de Pimentel proudly refused to abandon his ship.

Later an English galleon, Seymour's "Rainbow," impressed by such heroic and useless sacrifice, steered close enough for an officer to hail, offering good terms.

For his answer a musketeer shot the officer through the body, from then onwards, the "San Mateo" went on suffering broadside after broadside, only replying with a futile splutter of small-arms.

This frenzied battle at sea

Surpassed all previous great battles

The Spanish fleet had weakened since their first great battle off Eddystone, whereas the English had grown much stronger, almost doubling their attacking force in size, confidence and determination.

Seeing Spanish blood flowing through scuppers, great ships moving without their masts and spars, and timber from their castles floating past, the urge to finish the job was at its greatest.

By this time the Duke could see his painfully re-established formation breaking up again before his eyes, his ships were being isolated, group being cut out by group and being set upon the situation was desperate.

When nothing more could go wrong he noticed his whole fleet was helpless, it was being crowded by the English, forcing it onto the Flanders sands.

Howard had come up and was applying the main pressure of attack on the Armada's wing that had the weather-advantage. It was four o' clock. The battle had raged since dawn and it looked like there was time enough before sunset to finish off the Spanish fleet.

Then, just when it seemed that in an hour the Armada would be broken up and most of its ships driven onto the sand-banks, there was a violent squall with blinding torrents of rain. For fifteen minutes or so the English were too busy keeping out of each other's way to pay much attention to the enemy.

When they had time to look they saw the Spaniards standing away north-wards, already out of range and reforming as the English watched. And in complete amazement, to everyone there, who had all thought the Spanish were bound to be doomed on the sands and that nature would surely finish them off.

And then to their utter surprise the Duke's "San Martin" defiantly shortened sail, and the reordered fleet conformed again. The battered Spaniards were offering to renew the battle.

The English did not renew the attack

They had broken the Spanish formation once and knew they could break it again whenever they wanted. The moment of disengagement had been given by the commanders to find out how much shot and powder remained in the English fleet. They discovered they had scarcely enough for another hour's fighting.

For the time being they wanted to keep the Armada in view while appealing for more ammunition to complete the job. In fact, from this point on neither fleet could have fought much of a gun battle, but neither knew the extent of the other's weakness.

That night Howard wrote to Lord Walsingham: 'ever since morning we have chased them in fight until this evening late and have distressed them much; but their fleet consisteth of mighty ships and great strength. Their force is wonderful, great and strong; and yet we pluck their feathers little by little.'

Drake expressed more satisfaction with the results of the fighting. 'God hath given us a good day in forcing the enemy so far to leeward, I hope to God the Prince of Parma and the Duke of Medina Sidonia shall not shake hands this few days, and whensoever they shall meet, I believe neither of them will geatly rejoice of this day's service.'

The Spanish fleet was in an evil state

As far as the Duke could find out, there was some powder left but no great shot at all. For the first time the Armada had taken a real beating. Most of the first-class ships were leaking; most had lost their rigging and had their decks littered with wreckage; all had sustained heavy casualties.

During the squall a great Biscayan, the "Maria Juan," which had been isolated and severely mauled earlier in the day, went to bottom, though not before most of the surviving men aboard her had been taken off.

In the earlier part of the night the "San Mateo" and the "San Felipe," both leaking so badly they would not live many hours more, turned aside and staggered towards the sand-banks between Nieuport and Ostend where they went aground, and were last seen with Dutch crawling all over them.

Next morning an armed merchantman of Diego Flores's squadron, lagging hopelessly behind, went down in the sight of both fleets. That night the wind blew harder and the Armada ran on blidly up the coast with the English in chase.

9th August was the moment of greatest danger

The Duke was keeping the rearguard, supported by Recalde in the "San Juan," de Leiva's carrack, the "San Marcos," a Castillian galleon and the three remaining galleasses. All the rest of the Armada were some distance to leeward. All were followed by the powerful English fleet.

What was terrifying was the change in the run and the slope of the seas and the changed colour of water ahead. At its present course the whole Armada would be blown onto the Zeeland sands in less than half an hour. It is often thought, 'better to die in battle than to be drowned without a fight.'

The Duke lay to, and his little rearguard conformed. He sent pinnaces to order the ships ahead to lie and wait the enemy or, if they could, to make their way back to him. Some of them tried to obey.

Meanwhile officers and men prayed, confessed and communicated, preparing to receive the enemy with only a few rounds left for their small-arms and cold steel. But the English kept aloof, standing off and on short tacks. It scarcely needed the pilots to tell the Duke why.

For the fleet ahead no course was possible except the one they were being carried on, and that in a few minutes would mean certain catastrophe for the Armada. The English were standing by waiting to watch the destruction of their enemy's fleet by the hand of God.

At any moment now the ships ahead would begin to strike; it seemed amazing that some had not struck already. Thereafter the waves would pound them to pieces more thoroughly than English broadsides. In those minutes every man in the Armada must have tasted death.

Then the moment they braced themselves for the shock of stranding, the wind backed. "Right round the compass to the south-east," one witness says. More likely to west-south-west as the Duke reported.

Not the miracle of God they wanted mostly

The wind had moved far enough and suddenly enough so that the leading ships could weather the deadly sands and the whole Armada could stand away into deep water. Both the Duke and the chaplain felt sure the fleet had been saved by a miracle of God.

It was not quite the miracle King Philip II and his admiral had counted on. If the Armada was saved the English was as far away from defeat as ever. The Duke had learnt enough about seamanship, to recognize that, in the matter of weather, ever since they had entered the Channel the Armada had been luckier than anyone had a right to expect.

The English must have thought so too. They were so dissapointed by the Armada's inexplicable escape that they never mentioned it. If anything it made the English more determined to get more powder and shot and as soon as possible.

Council of War on the Ark Royal

The English ships were all sound, casualties had not been serious, moral was high, everything was well except for the shortage of powder and shot and the approaching shortage of food. It was determined that the main fleet would follow the Spaniards.

Seymour was to return with his squadron back to the Channel to keep a watch out for the Prince of Parma. Howard was thinking of the safety of England. He doggedly tried at all times to keep his ships betwen his country's enemies and her shores.

While the wind held, the two fleets sailed northwards, past the height of Hull, on until past the height of Berwick. Here the English were confident that the Spanish had no nore shot left, or they would have tried to use it. Plenty of fight in the Spanish there might have been, but in their battered fleet there could be none.

On Friday 12th/2nd August, the English turned away and headed for the Firth of the Forth. Howard was satisfied that the Spanish did not have the means to try for a landing, the English were going home.

Armada's fighting-ships severly damaged

Almost all the first-class fighting-ship had major damage. All had taken heavy casualties, on some so heavy as to make it hard to work or fight the ships. It scarcely looked as if in the next action the Armada would have much chance of survival.

The Duke was trying to come to terms with his situation, he had done his best, and his best had not been good enough, perhaps another man could have done better?

Anything was better than going home to Spain in acknowledged defeat. He realised that if the wind held for four more days, they would run into the Sea of Norway.

Then they would have try and get home westward, around the British Isles. They could not cut their margin of safety any finer than that. The Duke summed it up, it was their duty to save as many ships as they could of the King's fleet.

The Duke watched the English haul away

The Duke felt the alleviation of a great removal of anxiety leave his body. The English turned before his very eyes heading away from any further battles. With the burden of war lifted he felt tired and weak, then the realisation of duty drove him on.

He had hardly quitted his post there since the first nightmarish battle off Plymouth almost two weeks ago. Men had been killed all about him, a sailor, a musketeer, a boatswain and some of the finest gentlemen of Spain, but except for a gash on his leg he remained unscathed.

Now and then he had gone below to snatch a little food or a few hours' sleep, but mostly he had stayed leaning on the taffrail through most of the short nights.

He leaned there now, watching the wrechedly familiar topsails vanishing into the west. He stayed long after the last topsail had sunk from sight.

If he wondered sometimes, coming up the Channel, whether the Armada was advancing in triumph or fleeing from the enemy, there was no doubt now. This was flight, even though the English no longer pursued. This was defeat.

The defeat of the Spanish Armada was one of the most decisive battles of the world. But it did not start the decline of the Spanish Empire. During the next fifteen years King Philip II recieved far more revenues from the New World than in any other fifteen year period.

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Win or Lose the Armada

Perhaps there was nothing the Duke of Medina Sidonia could have done to win the naval battle, but Howard could certainly have lost it.

Had he done so, perhaps some way could have been found to get Prince Parma's powerful army across to England.

Had Parma landed at Rochester, as he meant to do, and then marched on to London supported by a victorious Spanish fleet in the Thames, the course of history in England and on the Continent might have been different.

The success of the Armada raised the English men's hearts in those dark hours, and led them to say to one another: "What we have done once, we can do again."

In so far as it did this the legend of the defeat of the Spanish Armada became as important as the actual event - perhaps even more important.

The continuation of this Naval History will be: "Armada Going Home"

Armada Catastrophe Armada Going Home

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