La Herradura will be commemorating the 460th anniversary of the loss of the Armada Española, during Felipe II reign, on the 19th of this month.

The acts will be held in the Castillo de La Herradura and in the bay, explained the First Councillor for the village, Daniel Barbero. The Mayor (also a native of the village) Juan José Ruiz Joya, was also present at the announcement.

The programme on the 19th starts at 10.00h with a guided tour around the 1562 Museum’s exhibits – Furia del Mar. This visit is for school kids from IES Villanueva del Mar. Then from 10.30h to 13.30h there will be free, guided visits for all those interested

Meanwhile, at 11.30h the Guardia Civil launch will sail out to the spot where the fleet of galleys went down, where wreaths will be deposited on the surface of the sea.

At noon (12.00h) as part of the commemoration, there will be a guitar concert performed by Albertus y Deya inside the fort.

The loss of the fleet consisting of 28 galleys (25 foundered on the rocks) left a death toll of 5,000. The fleet had taken shelter from a storm in the bay, in the lee of the wind, but it veered round and instead of providing shelter, the Punta de La Mona rocks became their destruction.

So resounding was this naval disaster that Miguel de Cervantes mentioned it in the second part of El Quijote, according to historian, María del Carmen Calero Palacios.

Then, 26 years later an even greater naval disaster took place with the loss of the Invincible Armada in 1588. Although British school kids (at least in my day) were taught that this was its name, it certainly wasn’t — it was an Elizabethan propaganda piece of the time. It’s real name was the Grande y Felicísima Armada – it was great but it certainly wasn’t happy.

(News: Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)