2-495-251 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588 (c1857). The Armada, a fleet of 130 ships under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia was intended to protect an invasion force commanded by the Duke of Parma as it crossed the English Channel. Harrassment from the smaller, more manoeuvrable vessels of the British Navy, the use of fireships and unfavourable weather conditions meant that the Armada could not achieve its objective of guaranteeing Parma's barges safe passage across the Channel. Ultimately the Armada was swept up the North Sea and much of it was destroyed in storms around the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. From England's Battles by Sea and Land, volume IV, by Lieutenant Colonel William Freke Williams, published by the London Printing and Publishing Company, 1857.