Armada Sinking Anniversary

The 19th October saw the anniversary of the sinking of 25 ships in the bay at Marina del Este back in 1562. A long time ago maybe, but this was a huge event in Spain, and saw the loss of 5,000 souls, and having spent a goodly part of my younger years at sea with the Royal Navy, regardless of nationality or the passing of time, I feel a real ‘gut wrench’ when I think of those people tumbling into a raging sea.
The ships were the bulk of Philip II’s Armada, and were sailing between Malaga and Naples when a storm hit causing all 28 ships to make for the shelter of Punta de la Mona. On entering the bay the ships were taken by surprise when a complete change in wind direction took hold, pushing them towards the rocks, panic ensued causing the boats to collide in the small space. Lets face it, it can get a bit busy in that bay with a dozen pleasure craft bobbing around, imagine trying to manoeuvre 28 huge ships away from the rocks, all vying to get some sail up, and even the smaller galleys had 20 odd oars sticking out on each side, which would have been more of a hindrance than a help in such a confined area and if the wind was directing them onto the rocks they would have had to tack out… impossible, and in 1562 they didn’t have the option of popping an outboard in the water.
Over 2,000 people survived, mostly crammed on to the remaining 3 ships which managed to extricate themselves from the chaos, and quite a few galley slaves managed to make it ashore… most of whom were recaptured later and put back in chains.
As a footnote, amongst the 5,000 dead (more than the current population of La Herradura!), was Fleet Captain Don Juan de Mendoza along with his family who were travelling with him. He was a well-respected sailor and knew the area well, but it was he who was in command of the Armada and Spain’s doomed flagship on that fateful Monday morning.. A long time ago maybe, but this was a huge event in Spain, and saw the loss of 5,000 souls, and having spent a goodly part of my younger years at sea with the Royal Navy, regardless of nationality or the passing of time, I feel a real ‘gut wrench’ when I think of those people tumbling into a raging sea.
The ships were the bulk of Philip II’s Armada, and were sailing between Malaga and Naples when a storm hit causing all 28 ships to make for the shelter of Punta de la Mona. On entering the bay the ships were taken by surprise when a complete change in wind direction took hold, pushing them towards the rocks, panic ensued causing the boats to collide in the small space. Lets face it, it can get a bit busy in that bay with a dozen pleasure craft bobbing around, imagine trying to manoeuvre 28 huge ships away from the rocks, all vying to get some sail up, and even the smaller galleys had 20 odd oars sticking out on each side, which would have been more of a hindrance than a help in such a confined area and if the wind was directing them onto the rocks they would have had to tack out… impossible, and in 1562 they didn’t have the option of popping an outboard in the water.
Over 2,000 people survived, mostly crammed on to the remaining 3 ships which managed to extricate themselves from the chaos, and quite a few galley slaves managed to make it ashore… most of whom were recaptured later and put back in chains.
As a footnote, amongst the 5,000 dead (more than the current population of La Herradura!), was Fleet Captain Don Juan de Mendoza along with his family who were travelling with him. He was a well-respected sailor and knew the area well, but it was he who was in command of the Armada and Spain’s doomed flagship on that fateful Monday morning.

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