Spanish Armada in Ireland Spanish Armada in Ireland The Spanish Armada in Ireland refers to the landfall made upon the coast of Ireland in September 1588 of a large portion of the 130-strong fleet sent by Philip II to invade England. Following its defeat at the naval battle of Gravelines the Armada had attempted to return home through the North Atlantic, when it was driven from its course by violent storms, toward the west coast of Ireland. The prospect of a Spanish landing alarmed the Dublin government of Queen Elizabeth I, which prescribed harsh measures for the Spanish invaders and any Irish who might
Spanish Armada in Ireland south, in 1853, an anchor was recovered from another unknown Armada wreck. In the summer of 2014, a new initiative to locate the remains of "San Marcos", commences dive operations. The initiative called the San Marcos Project has assembled a group of academics, scientists and divers, employing cutting edge search and survey techniques. www.sanmarcos.ie "The Grainuaile Suite" (1985), an orchestral treatment of the life of the Irish sea-queen Gráinne O'Malley by Irish composer Shaun Davey, contains a lament on the Spanish landings in Ireland, sung by Rita Connolly. The wrecking of "La Girona" was commemorated in illustrations of the Armada