Charles Howard, the son
of Sir William Howard, 1st Baron of Effingham, was born in 1536. In
the House of Commons he represented Surrey and in 1569 was named General
of the Horse.
Howard succeeded to his
father's title in 1573. Closely related to Elizabeth
I he also became Lord Chamberlain of the Household.
Howard was appointed Lord
High Admiral in 1585. The following year he was commissioner at the
trial of Mary, Queen of Scots and afterwards
was a strong advocate of her execution.
In July 1588 131 ships
in the Spanish Armada left for England.
The large Spanish galleons were filled with 17,000 well-armed soldiers
and 180 Catholic priests. The plan was to sail to Dunkirk in France
where the Armada would pick up another 16,000 Spanish soldiers.
On hearing the news Charles
Howard held a council-of-war. Lord Howard decided to divide the fleet
into squadrons. Howard was commander-in-chief and John
Hawkins, Francis Drake and Martin
Frobisher were chosen as the three other commanders of the fleet.
Howard went in his flagship,
the Ark Royal (800 tons and a
crew of 250). Frobisher was given command of the largest ship in the
fleet, the Triumpth (1,110 tons
and a crew of 500 men) whereas Drake was the captain of the Revenge
(500 tons and a crew of 250) and Hawkins was aboard the Victory
(800 tons and a crew of 250).
Lord Howard decided that
the Spanish Armada should be attacked at both ends of the crescent.
The Ark Royal attacked the right
wing and the Revenge and the Triumph
attacked Juan Martinez, de Recalde, commander of the Biscayan squadron
on the left. Recalde on board the San Juan
de Portugal decided to come out and fight the English ships.
He was followed by Gran Grin and
the two ships soon got into trouble and had to be rescued by the Duke
of Medina Sidonia on board the San Martin.
At the end of the first
day's fighting, only one ship was sunk. This was Spain's San
Salvador when a tremendous explosion tore out its stern
castle and killed 200 members of the crew. It was later discovered
that a gunner's carelessness resulted in a spark reaching the gunpowder
in the rear hold.
The following morning Francis
Drake and the crew of Revenge
captured the crippled Rosario.
This included Admiral Pedro de Vales and all his crew. Drake also
found 55,000 gold ducats on board.
That afternoon Medina Sidonia
announced that if any Spanish ship broke formation the captain would
be hanged immediately. He also told his captains that they must maintain
a tight formation in order to prevent further attacks from the English
ships. This decision meant that they could only move towards Dunkirk
at the speed of the slowest ship.
Constantly harassed by
the English ships the slow moving Spanish
Armada eventually reached Calais without further loss. The English
fleet now dropped anchor half a mile away. Soon afterwards they were
joined by Lord Henry Seymour and his squadron of ships that had been
controlling the seas off Dunkirk. This increased the English fleet
by a third and was now similar in size to that of the Spanish fleet.
The Duke
of Medina Sidonia now sent a message to the Duke
of Parma in Dunkirk: "I am anchored here two leagues from
Calais with the enemy's fleet on my flank. They can cannonade me whenever
they like, and I shall be unable to do them much harm in return."
He asked Parma to send fifty ships to help him break out of Calais.
Parma was unable to help as he had less than twenty ships and most
of those were not yet ready to sail.
That night Medina Sidonia
sent out a warning to his captains that he expected a fire-ship attack.
This tactic had been successfully used by Francis
Drake in Cadiz in 1587 and the fresh breeze blowing steadily from
the English fleet towards Calais, meant the conditions were ideal
for such an attack. He warned his captains not to panic and not to
head out to the open sea. Medina Sidonia confidently told them that
his patrol boats would be able to protect them from any fire-ship
attack that took place.
Medina Sidonia had rightly
calculated what would happen. Charles Howard and Francis
Drake were already organizing the fire-ship attack. It was decided
to use eight fairly large ships for the operation. All the masts and
rigging were tarred and all the guns were left on board and were primed
to go off of their own accord when the fire reached them. John Young,
one of Drake's men, was put in charge of the fire-ships.
Soon after midnight the
eight ships were set fire to and sent on their way. The Spaniards
were shocked by the size of the vessels. Nor had they expected the
English to use as many as eight ships. The Spanish patrol ships were
unable to act fast enough to deal with the problem. The Spanish captains
also began to panic when the guns began exploding. They believed that
the English were using hell-burners (ships crammed with gunpowder).
This tactic had been used against the Spanish in 1585 during the siege
of Antwerp when over a thousand men had been killed by exploding ships.
The fire-ships did not
in fact cause any material damage to the Spanish ships at all. They
drifted until they reached the beach where they continued to burn
until the fire reached the water line. Medina
Sidonia, on board the San Martin,
had remained near his original anchorage. However, only a few captains
had followed his orders and the vast majority had broken formation
and sailed into the open sea.
At first light Medina Sidonia
and his six remaining ships left Calais and attempted to catch up
with the 130 ships strung out eastwards towards the Dunkirk sandbanks.
Some Spanish ships had already been reached by the English fleet and
were under heavy attack. San Lorenzo,
a ship carrying 312 oarsmen, 134 sailors and 235 soldiers, was stranded
on the beach and was about to be taken by the English.
With their formation broken,
the Spanish ships were easy targets for the English ships loaded with
guns that could fire very large cannon balls. The Spanish captains
tried to get their ships in close so that their soldiers could board
the English vessels. However, the English ships were quicker than
the Spanish galleons and were able to
keep their distance.
The battle of Gravelines
continued all day. One of the most exciting contests was between Francis
Drake in the Revenge and Duke
of Medina Sidonia in the San Martin.
Drake's ship was hit several times before being replaced by Thomas
Fenner in the Nonpareil and Edmund
Sheffield in the White Bear, who
continued the fight without success.
All over the area of sea
between Gravelines and Dunkirk fights took place between English and
Spanish ships. By late afternoon most ships were out of gunpowder.
The Duke of Medina Sidonia was now forced to head north with what
was left of the Spanish Armada. The English
ships did not follow as Charles Howard was convinced that most Spanish
ships were so badly damaged they would probably sink before they reached
a safe port.
That evening Francis
Drake wrote to a friend: "God hath given us so good a day
in forcing the enemy so far to leeward, as I hope in God the Duke
of Parma and the Duke of Sidonia shall not shake hands this few days".
John Hawkins was also pleased with his
day's work: "All that day Monday we followed the Spaniards with
a long and great fight, wherein there was great valour showed generally
by our company... Our ships, God be thanked, have received little
hurt."
Hawkins also showed concern
for his men: "The men have long been unpaid and need relief."
Charles Howard was also angry that his men had not received their
wages. He was also disturbed by the condition of his men. The lack
of fresh water caused an outbreak of disease. As they were still waiting
for their wages to be paid they were even unable to buy fresh food
for themselves. Howard wrote bitterly: "It is a most pitiful
sight to see, here at Margate, how the men, having no place to receive
them into here, die in the streets. I am driven myself, of force,
to come a-land, to see them bestowed in some lodging; and the best
I can get is barns and outhouses. It would grieve any man's heart
to see them that have served so valiantly to die so miserably."
After the Spanish
Armada rounded Scotland it headed south for home. However, a strong
gale drove many of the ships onto the Irish rocks. Thousands of Spaniards
drowned and even those who reached land were often killed by English
soldiers and settlers. Of the 25,000 men that had set out in the Armada,
less than 10,000 arrived home safely.
Howard led the expedition
with Robert
Devereux, 2nd
Earl of Essex, that sacked Cadiz in 1596. The following year he was
created the Earl of Nottingham and given command of both land and
sea forces. In 1601 he led the forces that defeated the Earl of Essex's
rebellion.
Howard remained Lord High
Admiral during the reign of James I. Charles
Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham and 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham,
died in Halling House, Surrey, on 14th December, 1624.
(1)
Charles Howard, letter to Francis
Walsingham (July, 1588)
I will not write unto
her Majesty until more be done. Their force is wonderful great and
strong; and yet we pluck their feathers by little and little.
(2)
Charles Howard, letter to William
Cecil
(20th August, 1588)
It is a most pitiful sight
to see, here at Margate, how the men, having no place to receive them
into here, die in the streets. I am driven myself, of force, to come
a-land, to see them bestowed in some lodging; and the best I can get
is barns and outhouses. It would grieve any man's heart to see them
that have served so valiantly to die so miserably.
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