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What defeated the Spanish Armada? Well, the English navy, of course, and Lord Howard, Francis Drake, John Hawkins. They sailed out of Plymouth in their gallant little ships and harried the Spanish galleons all along the Channel from the Lizard to Calais until the Spaniards had had enough. It was a great naval victory. Well, yes, up to a point. The English ships – many of which were as big or even bigger than the Spanish – did all of that. It was a continuous naval battle lasting – with intervals – over a week. There was lots of cannon fire – particularly from the English, who probably fired about three times as many cannon balls as the Spanish. It was a major naval battle – 150 ships in the Spanish fleet, about the same in the English. But – here’s a strange thing. Despite all those guns, and all those cannon balls, not a single ship was sunk by enemy fire on either side. Not one. Because naval gunnery simply wasn’t good enough.   And anyway, wooden ships were notoriously difficult...

by Tim Vicary As part of the research for Nobody’s Slave , in which the young Francis Drake is a minor character, I read The Defeat of the Spanish Armada , by Garrett Mattingley. One of the many fascinating details in this classic book is the tale of how Sir Francis, instead of pursuing treasure as he normally did, changed the course of history by lighting a bonfire on a beach. What bonfire was this, you ask? Was it one of the famous beacons on the cliffs of southern England, which were lit when the Armada appeared, passing the message from the Lizard in Cornwall to Whitehall in London that the long awaited menace, the dreaded Catholic invasion fleet, had at last arrived? No, it was none of these. It was another bonfire, lit almost a year before, on a June evening on a beach in Spain. While English sailors lounged around, roasting meat, drinking beer, laughing and talking happily. In 1587 Drake left Plymouth, in command of a large fleet, to carry the war into Spanish waters. The Armada...

As a boy, growing up in Devon, I was taught that Francis Drake and John Hawkins were great Elizabethan heroes.  Drake was the first Englishman to sail around the world, to return with untold riches and be knighted by Queen Elizabeth on the deck of his ship, the Golden Hind; Hawkins was the founder of the Royal Navy, the man who designed and built the fast, weatherly galleons which sailed rings around the Spanish Armada. These men were pioneers, adventurers, founders of the British Empire. Everything they did seemed admirable. They had saved the nation once; if England were ever in danger of invasion again all we had to do was to sound Drake’s Drum (which was hidden somewhere in Plymouth) and like King Arthur, he would rise from the dead and sail back to our rescue. As schoolboys, we basked in the reflected glory of these men. The symbol for the county of Devon was an Elizabethan galleon – Drake’s ship - sailing proudly across a blue sea. It’s different today. Look up Devon County C...