The True Story Of The Spanish Armada

May 2024 ยท 1 minute read

At this point, the Duke was just trying to get the remainder of his fleet home. The winds that had plagued the Armada for days intensified further, forcing them north into unseasonably strong winds and a violent sea. Instead of trying straight for Spain, they went with the wind, attempting to round the British Isles. 

They fled toward Scotland, still under regular attack from the Royal Navy, hoping to emerge on the other side of Ireland with a clear path back to Spain. Instead, they found a heavy storm. The already battered fleet and exhausted crews were tossed about by huge waves, heavy rain, and even stronger winds. The floor of the Irish Sea, along with the Scottish and Irish coasts, was littered with the carcasses of Spanish galleons, and over 50 ships had been lost. "A Protestant Wind," as the English would later say, had ended the Catholic Armada. 

To celebrate the Protestant victory over the Catholic Spanish, commemorative medals were struck. One of these coins, minted in the Netherlands, boasted, "God blew, and they were scattered," while the other side shows a Protestant church standing unharmed in a storm. Out of the 130 ships and 18,000 soldiers in the Armada, fewer than 10,000 men on 67 ships returned safely to Spain.

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