Alonso Perez du Guzman,
the son of the 6th Duke of Medina Sidonia, was born in Spain in 1550.
He came from one of the wealthiest families in Spain and was appointed
captain general of Andalusia. After the death of his father he became
the richest feudal landowner in Spain.
He served in several military
campaigns and Philip II considered him
the best administrator in the country. In 1586 the king placed him
in charge of preparing the invasion of England. After the death of
Alvaro de Bazan, the Marques de Santa Cruz in 1588, the Duke of Medina
Sidonia was given command of the Spanish Armada.
In July 1588 the Duke of
Medina Sidonia and 131 ships left Spain. 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 that were under the command of
Alessandro Farnese, the Duke of Parma.
Charles
Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, 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.
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 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
of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, was convinced that most Spanish ships
were so badly damaged they would probably sink before they reached
a safe port.
After the 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.
Alonso Perez du Guzman,
the 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, died in 1615.
Spanish
Armada Activities
(1)
King Philip
II, letter to Duke of Medina Sidonia
(May 1588)
You should see that your squadrons do not break battle formation
and that their commanders, moved to greed, do not give pursuit to
the enemy and take prizes.
(2)
In Lisbon, the Duke
of Medina Sidonia
gave instructions to the Spanish captains (8
May, 1588)
It is of great importance that the Armada should be kept
well together... Great care must be exercised to keep the squadron
of hulks always in the middle of the fleet... No ship belonging to
the Armada shall separate from it without my permission... Any disobedience
of this order shall be punished by death.
(3)
After he arrived in Corunna from Lisbon, the Duke of Medina Sidonia
sent a letter to King Philip
II of Spain (24 June 1588)
Many of our largest ships are still missing... on the ships
that are here there are many sick... these numbers will increase because
of the bad provisions (food and drink). These are not only very bad,
as I have constantly reported, but they are so scanty that they are
unlikely to last two months... Your Majesty, believe me when I assure
you that we are very weak... how do you think we can attack so great
a country as England with such a force as ours is now?
(4)
Duke of Medina Sidonia, letter to King Philip
II of Spain after the battle of Gravelines
(July, 1588)
This Armada was so completely crippled and scattered that
my first duty to
your Majesty seemed to save it, even at the risk which we are running
in undertaking this voyage, which is so long and in such high latitudes.
Ammunition and the best of our vessels were lacking, and experience
had shown how little we could depend upon the ships that remained,
the Queen's fleet being so superior to ours in this sort of fighting,
in consequence of the strength of their artillery and the fast sailing
of their ships.
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