Archive Results For: Tudors
Gorgas’ Seafight
This documentary note presents a transcription of one of four works on nautical subjects by the minor Elizabethan writer, Sir Arthur Gorgas (1557-1625). Although not a naval person, Gorgas grew up in a family with substantial senior naval service during the second half of the 16th Century. His father was an admiral in the fleet […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | The Armada | Other (location)
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Navies
Tudor Captains: The Beestons and the Tyrells
In the 16th Century, five naval captains bore the names of the gentry families Beeston and Tyrell. This article discusses the contrasting family documentation on the serving naval officers of the two families. In the case of the Beestons, printed sources on the family connections of the three Captains in the 16th Century navy, namely […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | Other (location)
Subjects include: Biography | Navies
The Voyage of the Jaquet of Falmouth to the West Indies and Newfoundland 1585 – 1586
The destruction of the Jaquet by the French while in a bay in Newfoundland after a profitable voyage to the West Indies, the loss of everything including the ship, and a demand for compensation, complete with a list of all losses. The French while searching for gold destroyed the ship. The captain and master of […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | Other (location)
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration | Manpower & Life at Sea | Navies | Strategy & Diplomacy
Shipwreck and Mutiny in Spain’s Galleys on the Santo Domingo Station, 1583
King Philip II delayed sending galleys to defend Santo Domingo from pirates, due to instability, corruption, and monetary chaos on the island of Hispaniola. The two galleys finally sent in 1582 soon met disaster, as the smaller galliot wrecked and a mutinous crew took over the remaining galley and held it for several months. The […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | Francis Drake | Other (Early Modern) | Pirates | Caribbean | Shipwrecks
Subjects include: Logistics | Manpower & Life at Sea | Pirates, Corsairs & Privateers | Strategy & Diplomacy
Captain John Smith’s Sea Grammar and its Debt to Sir Henry Mainwaring’s ‘Seaman’s Dictionary’
The need for a book on seamanship and nautical terminology was recognized during the early 1600’s to adequately train future seaman and avoid losing England’s nautical pre-eminence of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. This coincided with the appointment of George Villiers as Lord High Admiral after years of neglect, under King James. Captain Sir Henry Mainwaring composed […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | Other (location)
Subjects include: Administration | Miscellaneous
List of Ships in the Royal Navy from 1539 to 1588—the Navy from its Infancy to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada
Prior to c.1535 British naval power was largely an ad hoc affair, with fleets being raised according to prevailing need and then discarded. Henry VIII”s confrontation with the Papacy gave rise to the need for a permanent Royal Navy, and in this article Glasgow details the vessels which made up this force, split out by […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | English Channel | The Armada | Irish Sea
Subjects include: Navies
Maturing of Naval Administration 1556-1564
A study of how eight years of sporadic conflict with France revitalised the Navy after the death of Henry VIII. The author shows how the unlikely agent of reform was Philip of Spain whose marriage to Mary Tudor had created an alliance against the French, and how a surge in shipbuilding continued to serve the […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | The Armada
Subjects include: Administration | Shipbuilding & Design
A Commander for the Armada
This paper explores the reasons for the appointment of the Duke of Medina Sidonia to command the Spanish Armada by Philip II following the death of Santa Cruz. Using a number of contemporary and historical sources the author discusses the complex layers of Spanish aristocracy and the way that titles were earned. The paper includes […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | The Armada
Subjects include: Navies
Drake’s Navigational Skills
Sir Francis Drake’s acquisition of cartography, navigation and cosmography skills began in earnest during his first independent voyage to the Isthmus of Panama (1572-3). Subsequent events including numerous raids against Spanish trade in the Indies, the Armada and the circumnavigation of the world provided Drake with the opportunity to establish his reputation as England’s greatest […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | Francis Drake | The Armada | Caribbean
Subjects include: Biography | Navies | Science & Exploration
The Navy in the French Wars of Mary and Elizabeth I: Part III The Le Havre Expedition, 1562-1564
This article gives a detailed narrative of the English naval activity supporting the occupation of Le Havre (1562-63). Despite this campaign being a disaster for the English military, the Le Havre expedition became vital in maturing the English navy for the Elizabethan Spanish War. An appendix is also included which accounts for Admirals serving Le […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | North Sea
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Harbours & Dockyards | Navies