My review is from this edition: London: Souvineer Press, 1963. 291p.
I ordered seven nonfiction books to burn some credits and Ms. Clampit of Bastrop kindly included others, including this one. As I will pack it up for the shelf at the old soldiers and sailors' home, I only was able to read a few chapters, but certainly enjoyed them. This book is aimed at a wide audience and while the author's research efforts made sixty years ago are evident, there are no footnotes allowing one to track down the quotes made by the eyewitnesses that he uses to tell the story. There are a few short notes on Sources, but those especially cited are books published in the 1890s and archives. The endpapers offer a map of the British Isles and the nations bordering the Channel. There are sections of plates offering portraits of the principals, but the map of Ireland offering detail about the western geography, where many ships of the Spanish Armada washed ashore when attempting to return to Spain after battle and bad weather, is only found midway in the chapter dealing with that disaster.
I myself was interested in the aftermath and the history is well told. We are reminded that the Netherlands was ruled by Phillip II, as was Portugal, and the Irish were restive. France and Scotland were neutral but friendly toward those who would make trouble in Elizabeth's realm. The Reformation remained in dispute and Calais had been lost only twenty-five years earlier. England had 2,000 troops in all of Ireland.
Thus almost every shipwrecked Spaniard (and Portuguese, French, Italian, Dutch) soldiers and sailor who was shipwrecked was summarily killed by the English rulers and the people. They had no place to hold prisoners, even those who might have brought a ransom. There were a few Catholics who hid a few survivors and arranged passage to Scotland. The Irish were wildmen and gladly set upon the few hundred who made it ashore (most could not swim), leaving them naked in cold weather as they even took their clothing. The flotsam and jetsom washing ashore was gathered up. I suspect that there were canny traders who garnered large returns in 1589 and later by obtaining some good jewelry from unsophisticated villagers.
There are a few paragraphs about English efforts to raise valuables and especially cannon (bronze being best) from Armada ships that were near the coast. While the beaches had been stripped bare of useful articles within hours, they used a diving bell to snag some treasure and cannon. While a very few ocho reales coins and gold ducats from the Armada yet wash ashore as in Florida, the author dismisses the notion of treasure ships. The Captain would have had some plate but the cash to make payroll was carried on the several flagships, perhaps amounting to 50,000 ducats. The anchors and cables lost at Calais alone were worth 100,000 ducats and "the value of the guns in a single ship was immensely greater. Consequently, when Sir George Carew, Master of Ordnance, went over to Ireland during the summer following the Armada, he found himself in the undersea salvage business."
The defeat of the Spanish Armada was a near thing--England faced a powerful enemy. And while it was not as bad as the losses of WWI, Phillip lost many skilled warriors in 1588.
Index.
I ordered seven nonfiction books to burn some credits and Ms. Clampit of Bastrop kindly included others, including this one. As I will pack it up for the shelf at the old soldiers and sailors' home, I only was able to read a few chapters, but certainly enjoyed them. This book is aimed at a wide audience and while the author's research efforts made sixty years ago are evident, there are no footnotes allowing one to track down the quotes made by the eyewitnesses that he uses to tell the story. There are a few short notes on Sources, but those especially cited are books published in the 1890s and archives. The endpapers offer a map of the British Isles and the nations bordering the Channel. There are sections of plates offering portraits of the principals, but the map of Ireland offering detail about the western geography, where many ships of the Spanish Armada washed ashore when attempting to return to Spain after battle and bad weather, is only found midway in the chapter dealing with that disaster.
I myself was interested in the aftermath and the history is well told. We are reminded that the Netherlands was ruled by Phillip II, as was Portugal, and the Irish were restive. France and Scotland were neutral but friendly toward those who would make trouble in Elizabeth's realm. The Reformation remained in dispute and Calais had been lost only twenty-five years earlier. England had 2,000 troops in all of Ireland.
Thus almost every shipwrecked Spaniard (and Portuguese, French, Italian, Dutch) soldiers and sailor who was shipwrecked was summarily killed by the English rulers and the people. They had no place to hold prisoners, even those who might have brought a ransom. There were a few Catholics who hid a few survivors and arranged passage to Scotland. The Irish were wildmen and gladly set upon the few hundred who made it ashore (most could not swim), leaving them naked in cold weather as they even took their clothing. The flotsam and jetsom washing ashore was gathered up. I suspect that there were canny traders who garnered large returns in 1589 and later by obtaining some good jewelry from unsophisticated villagers.
There are a few paragraphs about English efforts to raise valuables and especially cannon (bronze being best) from Armada ships that were near the coast. While the beaches had been stripped bare of useful articles within hours, they used a diving bell to snag some treasure and cannon. While a very few ocho reales coins and gold ducats from the Armada yet wash ashore as in Florida, the author dismisses the notion of treasure ships. The Captain would have had some plate but the cash to make payroll was carried on the several flagships, perhaps amounting to 50,000 ducats. The anchors and cables lost at Calais alone were worth 100,000 ducats and "the value of the guns in a single ship was immensely greater. Consequently, when Sir George Carew, Master of Ordnance, went over to Ireland during the summer following the Armada, he found himself in the undersea salvage business."
The defeat of the Spanish Armada was a near thing--England faced a powerful enemy. And while it was not as bad as the losses of WWI, Phillip lost many skilled warriors in 1588.
Index.
