The Spanish Armada - From the Lizard to the Rocks (Part 2)
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- Опубліковано 8 сер 2023
- Today we take continue the voyage of the Spanish Armada of 1588, as it sails up the Channel and ultimately heads home, with two more supplementary videos to come.
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Pinned post for Q&A :)
why did cargo ships during ww2 choose to go slower but have some deck guns rather than just outrun the u boats
Is it fair to say that the missile did what the Jeune École hoped the torpedo would do, i.e. make heavily armoured gun ships too vulnerable to be cost effective? Or did battleships disappear because their role was largely superseded by planes?
@@randomthings7898 Most cargo ships simply weren't that fast.
My mothers big Irish Catholic family looks Spanish. Now I know why my grandmother had so many bull fighting paintings in her house.
We hear a lot about Spanish defeats like the loss of the armada but what are some spectacular Spanish victories?
So anyway, we came up upon this Spanish Galleon with 52,000 ducats aboard. Since there were 50,0000 ducats aboard, I felt it was a good idea to capture her rather than sink her. So after discussing the situation with the captain of the other ship, he surrendered the 40,000 ducats to me, and I dutifully delivered all 25,000 ducats to the crown.
This is fucking gold lol.
_27,000 ducats worth to be exact._
It would seem that the gist of Tom Lehrer's "New Math" was already well known in the 1580s, well before Dr. Lehrer penned the lyrics in the 1960s. 😏
😂
@@tallboy2234one 😂-face equals one Ducat🥇
Now sir, THAT is goldsmanship.
Drake and the Spanish captain splitting the treasure and surviving the campaign with bulging pockets sounds like a naval version of the ending of Kelly's Heroes 😂
Brilliant comparison!
You win the comments section. lol. *Plays "Burning Bridges song"*.
Drake is Oddball, Frobisher is Crapgame?
Who was the guy making negative waves?
@@TerryDowne I would say Sir Drake is Kelly. The captain of the Rosario is the German tank commander. Lord Howard is General Colt.
" A blob is not a very effective fighting formation."
Admiral Nelson has entered the chat.
Never mind maneuvers!
@@gherkinisgreat "Always go at 'em!"
Is this before after Nelson’s apotheosis from a boy to a frigate?
"No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy."
-- Admiral Horatio Nelson
But notice that he doesn't say _how_ those ships should arrive alongside the enemy.
"Presumably backwards, with both middle fingers in the air" 😂
I keep expecting the Spanish Admiral to start flinging Binoculars overboard left and right...as the supply ship "El Kamchatka" brings up the rear...
If I ever get to own a boat. Now I have a name.
@@JasperKlijndijk Do not do that! It will only bring bad luck and insanity. And torpedo boats!
@@yumazster El Kamchaka reported Japanese fire ships in the English channel.
It was such a sad sight that even the Japanese torpedoboats refused to get involved.
in my current Kerbal Space Program game, the largest freighter I've created so far is called Kamchatka 🙂
"Welp, I guess I'm irish now."
---Spanish Sailor
The image of the gunnery expert backflipping off the deck is an amazing one. Someone needs to draw this and/or put it on a t-shirt.
I'm imagining something akin to Starlord giving the salute to Thanos as he back jumps into the portal. Lol
Got to admit, that gunner had balls.
@@merafirewing6591 he killed hundreds of fellow sailors over a dispute with management.
@@mikehimes7944 well at least it was with a good reason.
I'd buy from that T from Drach..... Front: diagonal split; threat and gunners match to throw. Back: Double back flip off; Up Yours Capitano and KABOOM ;D
This is by far the best presentation of the battles and follow up of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Kudos Drach, you've outdone yourself yet again.
The saddest part of the story thus far is how badly the brave sailors were treated after quite literally saving the kingdom. To think that the crown and the nobility would with hold their pay, whilst simultaneously shelling out vast sums for lavish banquets, parties and other festivities to commemorate the sailor's victory, is the ultimate in petty greed.
Much today as it was then I fear.
Of course they stole the sailors wages. The Monarchy are evil bastards, always have been. How do you think they amassed such immense wealth? The Royals should be reviled and shunned.
Obviously the progenitors of the Conservative Party
But I'm sure the aristocracy all had a yellow ribbon (or the old timey equivalent) because they all "support the troops". Hasn't changed a bit.
plus ca change
45:26 I never knew the Spanish had two battleships join them, no wonder it devolved into chaos from that point
Nobody expects the Spanish battleships from 1588!
USS Olympia wants to know your location.
@@jimtalbott9535but thanks to todays sponsor, NORF VPN FOR KEEPING MY LOCATION HIDDEN FROM USS OLYMPIA, I don’t have to worry about it… yet.
It's like the movie The Final Countdown except instead of USS Nimitz vs the Combined Fleet it's Hiei and Kirishima plucked from time while steaming to Guadalcanal... and apparently choosing the Spanish because f it...
@@SwankySpitfire Our chief weapon is surprise... surprise and galleys... galleys and surprise...
I like the “Kelly’s Heroes” style deal the Drake made with the Spanish captain
The Crown was rewarded as is proper, both captains were rewarded for their "bravery." Everybody goes home happy. Win, win, win.
In the words of one English medal: "Venit, Vedit, Fugit"
He came, He saw, He fled
Almost an example of bathos. 'He went away' is better: 'abiit'.
"Venit, Vedit, Sodomit" He came, he saw, he buggered off.
37:38 SPANISH LAND-GOING-TORPEDO BOATS!
It was a lot of fun working on this project with you Drachinifel! I’m looking forward to more!
Thanks for your efforts
👏👏👏👏👏 thank you!
Thank you so much for your work!
Kamchatka: "Torpedo boats?"
@@nickierv13never been a better embodiment of Russia than the story of the kamchatka, its a shame the Japanese didn't see its glory for what it was and spared it
The graphics used for the land masses, ships and formations really helped to propel the narrative. Kudos!
I hope drach does more of these, it's brilliant and gives a very good idea of what is going on.
One branch of my family comes from County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland and goes by the name of Golden. Legend has it that the progenitor of this branch was a survivor of the Spanish Armada who was shipwrecked, subsequently settling near the coast and whose surname was given to him by the locals because of his tanned skin.
I'm sorry to burst that bubble, but it's actually an anglicised form of O'Goillin. The Anglo Normans did introduce the names Goulding and Golding after the 1100's, which over the centuries became Golden ( I live in Mayo, and there are many Golden families), but the majority of the names comes from O'Goillin, or "of Gall".
Sorry!
@@paulkirwan3431 "I'm sorry to burst that bubble, but ..." Thanks, I think I'll survive, but I did very specifically say that "Legend has it".
@@rosbif4960 That does not eliminate the possibility that he had a Spanish ancestor. Many Spanish sailors were adopted by the Irish, and they created families there. They had the same Catholic religion.
I'd love to see videos about all the other armadas. It's something that gets, perhaps conveniently, left out of most histories.
Same here. Some Spanish fellow once commented about an anglo-dutch expedition to spain that bombed just as hard but is never heard of. Quite curious about that one.
Yes the chap at Historic Dockyards who guided me round the Armada section made the point that we don't really talk about our failed armada the year after this, and perhaps we should.
Yes, the Drake-Norris disaster no one ever hears about!
@@Thomas_Namething is people ALWAYS bring up the English armada as something that is ignored, conveniently enough ignoring themselves the second Spanish and the third English Armadas
@@nicktrains2234 lol
I have read a number of books on this battle, some very detailed. But this first two hours with the wonderful graphics has brought this battle to a whole new level of understanding. I never realized what a giant chess match this battle was. Or the number of traps each side tried to lay for each other. Or how closely run this battle was, really the Spanish came really close to pulling this off. Not sure how a land invasion would have actually gone. But the naval aspect was very close.
you are right glen. it was beautifully described.
Well, sinking a ship with the size and sturdiness of those galleons was difficult. Which means that actually getting rid of all the Spanish fleet was a rather complicated affair. Guess that what was achieved (forcing it into the North Sea) was the best realistic outcome.
Now, actually Drake acquitted himself rather well as a squadron commander, keeping his calm and fulfilling his duty, and having the sense to know when to retreat to resupply and repair his ships.
@@cesarsalas8506 I think that could be said for the whole leadership team on the English side. Howard, Hawkins, Frobisher all did an amazing job through out crisis.
@@glenchapman3899 Howard, in my opinion, did more or less the right thing overall, but for going after a galleas that was neither a risk nor an interesting target, thus wasting time and loosing the control of the fleet at a critical moment. That meant his own squadron didn't take part in the engagement for quite a while, also.
@@glenchapman3899 It is appropriate that Hawkins and Frobisher were "knighted in the field". This tradition of successful admirals and generals being knighted while combat still raged around them, continued until 1917. I think General Sir John Monash may have been the last one?
My school is over 500 years old and the school houses are, Hawkins, Drake, Howard, Frobisher, Grenville and Raleigh and in the great hall where we ate lunch, they have huge stained glass windows along the side of the hall with each of them doing famous things they did, so Drake is bowling etc. And then at end is a central stained glass window of Elizabeth 1st and her court, it's very impressive and looks quite like the dinning hall in Harry potter. We also had different ties for each house, with different coloured stripes gold and red for Hawkins, Drakes was green and red etc. You wore those when you were in Junior school and high school and didn't wear them when you were in 6th form though. The only thing they were relevant for was inter-school sports and academic competitions, they have a list of all the winners going back over 200 years or so and my house Hawkins has never won either of the cups. Our house leader would always talk about the Hawkins conspiracy as to why we never won.
What does the Hawkins conspiracy entail?
Dude, you copy and pasted from the coment section of the part 1 video.
@@carlossaraiva8213 yeah why would I Rewrite the same sentiment when I can just copy and paste... also I added some other things I thought of.
@@Alex-cw3rz You're a wizard, Alex!
@@wellwell7950
Something to do with gravity compressing time no doubt. 😉
I’ve played a lot of strategy games. Such as “Imperial: Total War”.
Naval battles using ships that are dependent on which direction the wind blows became so intriguing to me that I actually started studying some basic tactics on how to properly maneuver a big fleet around.
The answer is: it’s unbelievably complicated. Not in the game per say but understanding that all your tactics and strategies are dependent on an uncontrollable factor brings a whole other dimension to the fight.
Trailing and stalking a ship, like some examples on this video, being able to get an angle within range to open fire and simultaneously keeping out of the firing line of the enemy ship is almost an art form. Taking into account they were using and depending on the elements
All the best to everyone
The best account of the Armada battles I've heard although there are a few details missing.
The most famous of which is a question often asked, Did Drake say “there is time to finish the game and still beat the Spaniards”?
While planning on of a series of paintings about Drake, I'm a marine Artist as you can see via my website, I checked with the help of Plymouth Uni Planetarium, the state of the moon (thus the tides) for the day and time the Armada was sighted.
Accounts written by those present tell us there was a calm that day in Plymouth and the Uni Planetarium staff confirmed a flood tide.
I used to keep my engine-less yacht “Music Maker” moored at the mouth of The Cattewater, river Plym, Plymouth, where the English fleet were moored awaiting the Spanish Armada.
From my own considerable experiences with my yacht moored off Mount Batten on The Cattewater I can assure you there is no way that in light airs with a flood tide that an engine-less vessel can leave The Cattewater, not even with towing by oared boats or warping out.
There was time to finish the game and Drake, a Plymouth man and one of the all time finest navigators, knew that.
This is the drach content I love. A play by play interjected with interesting information and anecdotes.
This took me by surprise, Part 2 appearing in the same lunar cycle as Part 1.
I wanted to say this is a brilliant compilation of the Spanish Armada. Facts interspersed with tidbits of humor: OUTSTANDING and I’m not even half way through. ❤
I appreciate this. It demonstrates that the English did in fact do the critical damage that either sank some ships outright or caused the damage which caused the leaking to become critical when the storms hit. The narrative I always heard and read about was that the English barely survived and that the Spanish essentially 'could have defeated them any time they wanted'. The reality was that the English clearly acquitted themselves well. The Spanish were even fortunate that the English had logistical problems of their own feeding enough ammunition to their guns as the situation unfolded over the days.
The English achieved a lot with a much smaller defensive fleet of largely race-built galleons ('fast galleons') Like you pointed out, the Spanish found it convenient to pin it on acts of God rather than admitting that they had been soundly defeated tactically and strategically by the English. It isn't just about Gravelines. Sure, the English were close to being invaded and the English themselves were very clear on it being a chancy predicament where the odds clearly favoured the invader at such strength as the Spanish Armada was. The English knew they were the underdogs.
However, the fact the storms claimed more ships than the English is somewhat moot, in my view. Once the Spanish were forced into the North Sea, in a tactical move by the English, then that was that. The Spanish had to go around the British Isles and the damage sustained to the fleet plus the logistical problems, combined to produce not just a military defeat, but a humanitarian catastrophe. And that is exactly how it should be seen. The Spanish wanted to burst through English naval and landward defences and massacre the ruling faction of the land, and inflict upon England one of the worst inquisition-style purges imaginable (even for that time)
Spain was fully-gunning for Queen Elizabeth I Tudor and wanted to behead her, outright. For her, it was all a matter of life and death as well, whichever way it is spun. If England lost, then she was not long for the world either. Whether or not Spain could truly conquer England and control the constantly rebelling populace of justifiably intensely anti-Spanish English resistance fighters (in that scenario), is more dubious in itself - both militarily and logistically.
No matter how brutal such a Spanish occupation attempt became, even in the scenario where it all goes their way and the English are defeated at sea, the chances of them having an easy occupation were next to nil. Make no mistake of that. The English would never settle down it'd be a constant state of tension with resistance fighters ambushing Spanish troops from small ambushes in towns to larger ones out in the countryside.
Even if the majority of these failed, it'd turn into a very messy situation. Spanish reprisals would have been utterly horrendous with public executions, public torture (as seen in the 'New World' against English sailors, lest we forget; something which angered Drake a lot) and mostly poorly equipped rebels/resistance fighters would of course suffer a larger rate of death (most likely) But that is before we remember the weather and climate itself would probably be taking it's own toll on the Spanish. The Spanish would not enjoy their stay in England the longer that theoretically went on.
Even if Scotland got involved to 'help the Spanish' I'm not sure all the Scottish themselves would even be too happy about that, concerned about the Spanish doing to them what they were actively doing to the English (and in that line of thought, the Spanish recently bullying the Scottish Navy wouldn't have been that encouraging to the Scots) Of course, plenty of Scots at the time would turn a blind eye to it to blatantly jump on the F England bandwagon, true to form, but that would still not necessarily prevent a factional dispute emerging in Scottish ranks over the wisdom of feeding the Spanish invader on their own doorstep. The opportunism of the Spanish exploiting the Anglo-Scottish rivalries would soon wear off, I think.
The Scottish would also doubtlessly find tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of English moving into Scotland (whether either side liked it or not), swamping their Southern borders and continuing their fight against the Spanish, should things go that badly in England itself. What would the Scottish do? Attack the people fleeing from overzealous tyranny they full-well knew was going on to the South? If they did, it would not reflect well on Scotland. At all. And the population disparity between England and Scotland should be remembered. Even if they did attack the English doing that (if the English ended up doing that, at all, which they might not) then the English might well fend them off anyway and decide to stay in Southern Scotland in the Lowlands, regardless.
Similarly, the English and Welsh would probably see eye to eye on resisting the Spanish occupation in Wales, with long-running resistance campaigns there, from Welsh valleys, uplands mountainsides and from old Medieval Castles like Harlech Castle. There may well be complexities in that too, with some Welsh vengefully siding with the Spanish for the time being. It'd be much like the confusion of the guerrilla war seen in Spain and Portugal (or the Iberian Peninsula in general) in the later Peninsular War within the Napoleonic Wars) There'd be many different factions springing up and falling down as the occupation continued.
Tens of thousands of Spanish troops would have to be expensively sent to permanently man the British Isles (not just in England, but everywhere else the English had a presence there, such as in Wales and on the island of Ireland) and their attrition rate, to resistance action and the illnesses and diseases that would likely be just a serious if not worse than the losses sustained during fighting, would be a huge setback in my view. This would also burden the Spanish military forces of the time, also attempting to continue occupying the provinces of the Netherlands.
The Eighty Years War, witnessed the Dutch freedom fighters (sometimes marginally supported by the English, such as in Queen Elizabeth I Tudor's time; she did send English soldiers to help the Dutch, though of course, the Dutch did by far most of the fighting in the Eighty Years War), fight against the Spanish for the better part of a century of course. The Dutch would certainly be finding it easier to do what they were doing in resisting the Spanish, if the Spanish then burdened themselves with trying to do the same thing to a much larger scale, to England.
If Spain ultimately failed to control the Netherlands, I do not see their so-called occupation of England lasting very long (and in the grand scheme of things, 'very long' could be as much as a decade or even a couple of decades - because even 20 years would be a fraction of what the Dutch had to put up with) And by no means do I believe it would last even 20 years in England.
It'd become an unprofitable nightmare and the Spanish would not, as I think is sometimes implied in old TV documentaries, consolidated that power using England as a giant naval base and tax source. This wouldn't likely have much of a chance to happen. The Spanish would be overstretched with many other commitments around the world. The 'what if?' scenarios for what would happen if the Spanish successfully invaded, regarding the occupation to immediately follow, would likely point to a failed occupation, defined by widespread resistance movements and ambushes on Spanish forces whenever they tried to hunt the English down. Thousands or even tens of thousands of resistance fighters and civilians in general would die, variably, depending on how long it all lasted. Spain would have to spend a lot of money just to hold onto London let alone the rest of England.
I don't think I've ever seen a detailed breakdown of the battles of the Spanish Armada.
My sincere thanks, this was fascinating.
The Spanish strategy as they sailed along was to try and trick the English into being the pirates that the Spanish knew they were and the English tried (with mixed success) to avoid falling into the obvious trap baited with Spanish gold.
@15:25 "...to which the gunner who had apparently been putting up with this for quite a while, apparently threw a slow match into some nearby powder barrels and hurled himself over the side, presumably backwards with both middle fingers in the air."
Absolutely brilliant.
That was one of the best pieces of work I've listened to, thank you
"...and then work out what they were going to do from there."
Ah, planning by MIUAYGA: Making It Up As You Go Along. How the Spanish expected to beat the Brits at their own game is beyond me.
To be fair, there is almost no one who can beat the English when it comes to making the Mad and Suicidal work for them
I can attest the depth of water in places around th Isle of Wight, having crewed for a Prout 43' (catamaran) owner out of the Solent, Our voyage was to the Baltic, I was leaving the boat in Holland, Peter the owner wanted to beach the boat on a sandy beach to clean her hull, which we achieved, with a Spring tide due nobody expected a problem to re-float a catamaran, Learning curve for sailors 101, Just because it say's so in your Almanac doesn't mean it's true, 😂 after a little excavation work with spades nicked off kids on the beach, 24hrs later we were on our way again,
One of your best videos, Drach. I didn't realize the Armada had such nonstop action! What a great movie it would make if the producers could get together 160 16th century ships on a side and more or less authentic replicas of the guns. (The modern replicas, firing reduced charges, wouldn't have to blow up in the gunners' faces, I think the actors' union would veto that in no uncertain terms). the other key element in the story is the terrible fates awaiting so many of the Spanish sailors (and a number of the British crews, too) as the stormy sea, starvation, disease, and the opportunistic looters took their toll. Quite a spectacular story!
Wow. Realizing how much a disservice my Christian-based homeschooling did me. When the history text talked about the Spanish Armada, it almost exclusively went on about the storm and God's providence. The very vital and influential efforts of the men of the English navy, and all the consequences of those actions for the Spanish fleet, was hardly acknowledged at all. Without seeing videos like this I'd never have realized an accurate and unbiased understanding of history.
"Conga lines."
Now I have an image of ships in line ahead, moving forward in fits and starts, punctuated by pointing their stern castles at the enemy, all to a musical beat.
See my comment.
The Girona (1:03:25) which went down off the Antrim coast was discovered in 1967. Many of the items recovered can be seen in the Ulster Museum in Belfast.
I remember from a history class the impact that the badly made " green " water barrels had on the health of the Spanish sailors and soldiers. That stuck in my mind all these years as to how something as simple as fresh water and food can affect the outcome of battles and wars.
The San Juan de Sicilia ended up in Tobermory Bay which is on the North East tip of the Isle of Mull. For centuries the sunken Spanish Armada ship was simply known as the ‘Tobermory Galleon.’ It was a 26-gun, 800-ton carrack armed merchant vessel requisitioned from Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik) for use as a cargo carrier and troop transport. There are some interesting stories about how the English pressured the Scots to 'eliminate' the survivors.
Thanks. I was familiar with much of this but there were a lot of details I was not aware of.
One thing about storms ... they'll do a job on whatever is in their area based on how strong the storm is and how resilient the ships ... regardless of how many ships are in that area. Most storms only claim a few ships - but - one of the risks of getting a large group of ships together - was that if they hit a bad storm - they'll all have to deal with it.
There are any number of storms throughout History that have sunk entire fleets.
.
We tried to identify the cannon wreck site on Frenchmans rocks Rhinns of Islay as an armada one but no proof found after 8 weeks survey. The map shows a wreck on Ila. For detailed accounts of the wrecking of many and recent dive recoveries surveys etc see Full Fathom Five by Colin Martin. Also Tresures of the Girona by Robert Stenuit( his team found the site)
This was fantastic. I watched parts 1 & 2, knowing a little about sailing battles from my living on a traditional wooden schooner for 25 years and by reading Barbara Tuchman & Roger Crowley. This, however, is a real eye opener. This channel is legitimate footnote quality source of quotable information. My hat is off to you!
Drachinifel, these two videos on the Spanish Armada, where you subscribe the battle blow by blow, remind me of your old "Storytime With Uncle Drach" series. You, sir are a great story teller. You should write a book. If you do write one, let it be about H.M.S. HOOD. As good as your videos were about her, that book (hopefully lavishly illustrated) would be EXCELLENT!
One of the possibly true old stories about some of the the Armada survivors who reached land alive in very remote parts of Ireland, was that they were viewed by the locals as just one more warring tribe showing up uninvited on their turf. The ancient penalty for this transgression offered a choice: Either "marry" one of their women or be killed.
That sounds like a wonderful legend. But these men did not speak the language and were penniless without any possessions. They were also fugitives wanted by the government. So what family would want a penniless fugitive who can't communicate, marrying their daughter? Almost any other man in the country would be a better marriage prospect.
Another consideration in that bargain ŵould be that the survivor wouldn't be offered one of the pretty ones, I'll wager.
God: I will sink as many of your fleets as I need to until the pair of you KNOCK IT OFF!!
Really enjoyed the modelled elements, one of the things that Drach habitually does is try to show the battlefield, either through war gaming models, collars with other channels or commissioned models. Fine work all round and a subject I’m aware of but not overly familiar with the details.
Fun fact: the French cider Calvados got its name from the area of Normandy which in turn got its name from a Frenchified name of a Spanish Armada galleon San El Salvador, that got wrecked there.
I'm nearly apoplectic with rage at my history teacher in the 1980s skimming over this subject with a few broad sweeping statements....Thanks Drac. This has enthused me to move my naval history focus back 200 years.
@~18:30, Drake and the Captain of the Rosario definitely passed the vibe test here. Lol
Excellent storytelling as always, and I really love the 3D model setup here; the "lightsaber" colours and glow effect, paired with the black backdrop look amazing.
Quite possible one of the best Drach videos ever (and one of the best history videos on YT, full stop). Stuff like this should be a TV show. Heading to Patreon now, long overdue to throw you some beer money.
42:33 The illustration of the approaching English fire ships is quite compelling.
Thank you very much Drachin for a most interesting and entertaining tale. I enjoyed both videos very much.
Hence we have a village called Spanish Point here in Ireland
Great work on this fascinating subject. I remember reading From Merciless Invaders: The Defeat of the Spanish Armada by Alexander McKee when it came out in 1988 and one of many things mentioned was the horses meant for the invasion by the Spanish being thrown overboard because they could not feed them. Always stuck in my mind!
I mean, assuming any of the horses survived the English bombardment. I would have thought they would have tried to slaughter the horses for food when rations started running out, but it's just as likely having thousands of dead horses onboard is a major source of disease too
@@weldonwin Lots of questions arise from that, was every ship in the Armada heavily damaged, including the transports, or did they all take off en-mass before the English managed to hit them all? Were the horses below deck so raking fire would miss them? Did they have the means to cook that amount of horse flesh before as you say they became a source of disease? Or a combination of all those factors?
57:09 that's so cool
I'd just like to mention that these red and blue ships are a great help. The modelships you used in previous videos were nice, but hard to distinguish on a phone screen.
I must say, I love this style of tactical illustration!
Thank you for your very fair and balanced accounts of the battle. I’ve read many, many accounts of the battle from both sides, and I find that you did an excellent job. Although I know that this is not your field, I would like to see an account of those crews or individuals that did make it to safety. Once again, congratulations.
Wonderful video(s)! I have heard stories of the Spanish Armada all my life, and I think there have been a few movies that supposedly told the story, but this is the first time in 70+ years I have actually heard the real story. American schools tend not to dwell a lot on European history, so THE Armada is something of a footnote. But having you go into detail, limited though I am sure it was for all the research you must have done, made it worth the wait, and I THANK YOU.. I also wish to thank you for all the work and time you invest in your videos and all the research that goes into them, your efforts are much appreciated. You do excellent work!!
Part two of these videos is exactly what I needed right now 😊 thank you very much Mr Drachinifel .
Has anyone else noticed that the bow sprit of Ark Royal in this video is aircraft carrier Ark Royal?
I was about to post a comment myself!
So that's what it was! I couldn't tell from the silhouette which carrier it was, I thought maybe Wasp based on the shape of the island.
Great stuff; really enjoyable and one finishes with a much clearer picture of proceedings. 🙏🙏
15:52 Oh man, that mental image was just exquisite.
Once again, a brilliant video. The amount of research you must have put into these is just stunning.
I'm been genuinely glued to this series and it's not as if we don't know the outcome.
Another outstanding presentation. Thank you.
😏 and no, I was not expecting the Spanish Armada this morning. Nobody expects them.
...especially the Spanish 😁
Their chief weapon is surprise, after all.
Surprise and fear, I mean, two.
Armadas, inquisitions.. never know what to expect with the Spanish
Isn't it "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"?
@@jona.scholt4362 Yes, but like in horse shoes. Close works...
The amount of work in research, chronology, merging multiple accounts into a cohesive narrative, and visual presentation is astounding. You keep getting better and better at this. First class, Drach!
Excellent! A great deal of substance in a very short time.
Stunning presentation and full of detail. Thankyou for the effort
The story about the gunnery expert throwing a slow match into the gunpowder in response to BS leadership reminds me of Milton from Office Space.
Well Drach this two part video has to be your best I've seen! To say that your research was detailed only goes to show the paucity of the language! And told with your usual dry humour! I've never seen a better and more detailed explanation of the Spanish Armada! Very well done indeed!
This was very good. Well done to you and to Awesome as well. Good on you for doing this and making it benefit your contributors!
I hope you'll produce a video about either the failed anglo-dutch expedition (I want to see if the spanish were able to do better than this tactical and strategical fiasco) or the anglo-dutch wars. Great work. Love both videos.
Great series of videos so far, can't wait for the next two!
Thank you so much, that was fantastic. When I was in Grade 10 I read The Armada by Garrett Mattingly, wow it was so good.
Thank you very much, for these in-depth documentaries on older technology. I can only imagine how much work went into that series.
12:47 I think it would've been funnier if the Spanish, in keeping with tradition, allowed a crewman from Disdain aboard to issue the challenge directly and let him return to his own ship so they can all begin to fight.
Be gentlemanly about it, lads XD
Absolutely superb with so much concise detail.
Fantastic video, well written, perfectly presented. Funny, and with some good visuals. Thankyou 10/10
Arc Royal, Victory, Revenge, Dreadnought..... names that will surely be immortalised.
Wonderful. Excellent presentation. And Awesome is awesome.
Great narration with just the correct amount of humor. Thanks
I watched this presentation with great pleasure. Thx Drach and cheers!
2 things:
1) "Reduced to a colander," what a turn of phrase @Drachinifel (one "n") 😅 ;
2) Going to school in the U.S. during the late 1970s through the early 1990s -- the battle aspect of the Armada, just wasn't taught. We were taught that only "The Storm" wiped out the Armada, with the British sighing in relief for not having to fight. Thank you for correcting the deficiencies of the U.S. education system.
Nobody expects the part 2.. Fetch the comfy chair!
*(Dramatic Music Sting)* THE COMFY CHAIR?!?
Lovely work. 👍
Bravo! The outlines of the story are well known, but the details, engagingly presented and so well illustrated, are very welcome.
Obe of the best videos you have done, very enjoyable.
That seems like such a strange painting of King Philip. You've got a very ornate armor, but only above the waist, leaving your legs clad in nothing but very thin stockings.
Two great video presentations on the Armada. I don't know whether they're from the period or a century later, but the maps made a great visual aid and locating each movement of the fleets as they sailed through the Channel. It was interesting to note the English high command recognising the vulnerability of the Isle of Wight and forcing the Spanish past it!
As always, an outstanding and entertaining smorgasbord of detail that fleshes out the overly-simplistic historical version from my youth. Thanks so much!
Outstanding lecture, excellent overview of the "accident", which will be difficult to surpass. Thanks for a job well done.👍👍👍
Brilliant Video. I learned a lot about the Armada and some misconceptions I had were corrected. Thx
Wait, part 2 already? Wasn't expecting that before Christmas!
Nobody expects the spanish inqu.... i mean the new episode so doon.
This was a pretty amazing description of the history of the Spanish Armada. My history classes barely covered it. Well done. I learned a great deal about it.
Wow! My previous knowledge of this invasion could have filled a paragraph. Thank you so much for the detailed and entertaining presentation of this critical portion of naval history.
Such confusion. "Sir, the Spaniards have ships made of iron, our sailors swear to it!" "Bah, lunatics. Those are Dreadnaught class, we barely have pre-Dreadnaughts, and even those are pre- the earlier Dreadnaught."
An interesting alt history, thing, what if, by change, by decision, by some miracle, much of the Spaniards that ended up in Ireland, manage to gather into a somewhat cohesive force, realizing the fear of the local governors. Irish rise up, emboldened, and....
Wonderful video sir, I would love to see a video on the Battle of Lepanto by you.
Most enjoyable episode, thank you ever so much.
The models were awesome, I can see where he got his name. Really add a nice clean professional image to the commentary.
An impressive display of negotiating skill by Cap. Drake.
6:28 You mention that the English would try to go "for a long range duel 'to smash the hulls of their enemy near the water line' "; is this later part of the sentence the actual quote of Philip's warning/ instruction/meddling? I was aware of the first part, but not necessarily of the second (or is it rather an interpretation of yours?) You also mention- with a tad bit of irony - that the Spanish "had only one solution", boarding. But was it really this ludicrous from a Spanish perspective (and also in hindsight)? Requiring a solution would mean that the Spanish actually expected the long-range bombardment to be effective, which it wasn't and which the Spanish do not seem to have assumed to be, and most importantly that it was ... decisive. The indecisiveness of long range gunnery seems to be factual however, given several mentions among the English captains of the first days being "a waste of powder and shot", and the enduring debates on the actual decisiveness of artillery as primary weapon up into the 1630s (see NAM Rodger)! Enduring the bombardment unless you can board or shoot back at short range was therefore a sound tactical choice, not a default mode. Furthermore, another component of the tactics was that the attacker had the weather gauge, as you correctly mention. That means that given the tilting of the ship, the guns of an attacking ship would be easier to fire at the enemy hull, while the defender has his guns more likely to shoot over the enemy at longer range.
9:20, the carriage-argument is one of the preferred arguments Martin&Parker, but has been disproved in recent research (and parts of the huge gun carriages found in wrecks and earlier erroneously attributed to naval ordnance by Parker were in fact siege trains that had been embarked for the England campaign but were not used in naval fighting). Admittedly, the Spanish two-wheel carriage was longer than the 4 wheel carriage, but far from similar to the land-based one (much shorter) and not decisively more difficult to charge than the English one (the famed experiment in various documentaries having been disproved by more recent ones- NAM Rodger would have been a good source on naval gun fighting). More interesting is the argument by NAM Rodger that the English carriage allowed for a better quartering (i.e. position the guns located under the forecastle forward instead of 90 degrees to the hull, i.e. sideways), and therefore to pack a heavier punch on the offensive.
10:45 Medina Sidonia was not at all content about the pacing, and even wrote to Philip that the slow pacing was due to the slow transport ships. Rather, pacing was due to Medina Sidonia's scrupulous observation of orders, and advice from convoy expert Diego Flores de Valdés. The disagreement between Recalde and Medina Sidonia is not pacing, but strategy.
32:45 While 4 pounds were indeed low calibre (but not very low, which were 1-3), 10 pounds at that time was a commonly-used medium caliber (~7-15 = medium, with 10-12 being the most commonly encountered used for medio culebrinas): Yes, Corbett who first mentioned the presumed "low-calibre armament" of the Spanish, seems to assume that galleons and other ships should have been armed with 32 pounders as SOLs were later... Overall, the ammunition of 7 pounds up to 15 would be the most common armament for cannon-type and culverin-type guns for both fleets on the broadside: however, it is difficult to exactly compare those strengths: Gomez Beltran points out that based on shot-weight, English culverins (presumably long-range and heavier) could be classified in Spain as medio-canion (presumably short range) or medio-culebrina (long range and implicitly lighter than the English Culverins, though not necessarily in reality)! The idea that the English had big Culverins that fired long range (longer guns culverins = longer range, which is not true but seems to have been believed at that time, as NAM Rodger points out) mostly derives from an interesting study by IAA Thompson, but which does not go into the details and wrongly equates Spanish terms to English terms, in a time when, as you mention, types of guns were varied, and then draws up a nice chart ignoring the individual armament of ships and the details of each equipment. Also, as you mention repeatedly, the English may have avoided part of the Spanish heavy guns (though they would have suffered from the even heavier stern chaser, which faced them). In conclusion, given that the guns fired most frequently (due to their numbers alone) were low- to medium size, Medina Sidonia's request seems logical from a purely material point of view... unfortunately, we don't know the English supplies made throughout the campaign, as with a lot of reliable data regarding the English.
43:32 As far as I know, the exact number of ships is more controversial than the clear-cut 32 ships: According to Gomez Beltran, there a huge translation error by Martin&Parker, and an original Spanish text mentioning 16 ships is doubled to 32 due to a misunderstanding of tactical terms used by the source (Mattingly mentions also 16, as does Spanish Cpt. Venega...). Overall, there are three phases during the day: 1) in the morning at 8 am, the San Martin and 2/3 warships close are alone with other warships / big ships relatively close; 2) at about 9:30/10 am, while falling back as being attacked (they are windward compared to the rest of the fleet), they are rapidly 'joined' by other ships forming a screen of 16 up to 20 warships/major ships plus smaller messenger ships (pinnaces) which in total end up fighting for 9/10 hours and 2) during the protracted fight, all fall back toward the rest of the rest of the fleet, which is leeward, and are thus slowly "reinforced" by other ships, up to reaching a certain number of ships (around 40/50). However, the main combatants on the Spanish side are rather at about 20 ships at maximum simultaneously as the warship and big ships remain at the frontlines. This 'share of combat' in favour of a few ships also has an interesting implication for the firing rate: the estimated firing rate of the San Martin that day is 2 shots per hour (number of shots (which were recorded) divided by time of engagement). However, this assumes that 1) all guns fired at the same rate and 2) that all guns actually fired... Finally, 2 shots per hour is a good average for the 1500s, even for the English who might have reached 3 shots/hour. As a reminder, some authors, including Colin&Parker / Hutchinson based on Corbett's estimates (gross estimates, which lack any context) calculate that Spanish ships were able to fire a gun... once a day, hence the often mentioned slowness of Spanish gunnery. There is also another interesting consequence of the numerical inferiority of the Spanish ships during the combat: Brass guns heat up, and have to be cooled after 2 to 3 subsequent shots at short interval unless they blow up. There is therefore a physical limit to firing rate, which increases the advantage the English have if they can attack one single ship one after another and retreat in between: the necessary firing rate is less limited by material, as the guns cool down naturally during the retreat and loading.
44:38 : unfortunately, all research disagrees with the direct causality between battle damage and home voyage/survival (and this is sadly known to Martin&Parker, who again are main proponents of this causality link, while the detailed analysis was made around 1980s by Casado Soto): the ships that made it home were mostly the galleons (17/18 arrived) and the naos from the Cantabrian shipyards (21/25 made it = 16% losses)... which were paradoxically the ships that fought most (except for the giant Rata Encoronada, a mediterranean grain merchant heavily involved in combats). The ships that didn't make it were the hulks (15/26 = 45 % losses, arrived somewhere) and the mediterranean naves (4/12 arrived=66% losses(!)). The stats do speak for themselves.
What were the actual English casualties (besides assuming based on English sources that they were low / negligible, a point-of-view echoed without proof apart from official / biaised English sources by Martin&Parker)? It seems that the actual data on English damage is very unreliable, as 1) no detailed account was provided and 2) no communication was allegedly allowed by the government (See Gomez Beltran, who mentions eye witness accounts that corroborate such claims). The 800-1,200 deaths on the Spanish ships during Gravelines have to be relativised: the galleass, the San Felipe and the Maria Juan accounting for an estimated half (600). The estimates for deaths on the San Martin (which fought during 9/10 hours) lie at about 30 deaths, after the ship having received 107 shots in her hull/mast/rigging ! As a comparison, Cerezo Martinez mentions for the Elizabeth Jones alone 200 deaths (which could however also include deaths from other ships / after crews have been reassigned). Overall, there is a huge lack of transparency on the English damage, both material and human, an opacity that has rarely been admitted by some researchers who have preferred to rely on the English Admirals'/ Captains' accounts and propaganda by Elizabethan officials - a more thorough discussion could have been interesting.