Spanish Armada Philip expressing grave doubts about the planned campaign, but this was prevented from reaching the King by courtiers on the grounds that God would ensure the Armada's success. Prior to the undertaking, Pope Sixtus V allowed Philip II of Spain to collect crusade taxes and granted his men indulgences. The blessing of the Armada's banner on 25 April 1588, was similar to the ceremony used prior to the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. On 28 May 1588, the Armada set sail from Lisbon and headed for the English Channel. The fleet was composed of 130 ships, 8,000 sailors and 18,000
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