Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1895 — The Spanish Armada Expedition. [ARTICLE]

The Spanish Armada Expedition.

The invincible Armada was a famous naval expedition sent by Phillip II of Spain against England in 1518. It consisted of 180 vessels, 2,430 great guns, 4,575 quintals of powder, nearly 20,000 soldiers, above 8,000 sailors and more than 2,000 volunteers. It arrived in the English channel on July 19, and was defeated the next day by Admiral Howard, who was seconded by Drake, Hawkins and Frobisher. Eight fire ships having been sent into the Spanish fleet they bore off in<great disorder. Profiting by the panic the English fell upon them and captured or destroyed a number of their ships, and Admiral Howard maintained a running fight from July 21 to July 27, with such effect that the Spanish commander, despairing of success, resolved to return home and, as escape through the English channel was prevented by contrary winds, he undertook to sail around the Orkneys, but the vessels which still remained to him were dispersed by storms or shipwrecked among the rocks and shallows on different parts of the Scottish and Irish coast, and upward of 5,000 men were drowned, killed or taker prisoners. Of the whole Armada fifty-three ships only returned to Spain, and these in a wrecked condition. The English lost but one ship.