30. Singeing the King of Spain’s Beard
In 1585, Francis Drake was put in charge of a fleet which harried Spanish shipping, captured Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands, and plundered Spanish settlements in Florida and Hispaniola. In 1587, with King Philip II of Spain threatening to invade England, Drake led daring preemptive raids against Spanish fleets assembling in Cadiz and Coruna for an invasion of England. He inflicted significant damage, which prevented the Spaniards from sailing that year. As contemporaries described it, Drake had “Singed the King of Spain’s Beard“.
The following year, the combined Spanish fleet, the famous Armada, set sail. Drake played a leading role in its dispersal and eventual destruction. Particularly on the night of July 29th, 1588, when he organized fire ships against the Armada assembled in Calais, forcing its ships out of that port and into the open sea. There, they were scattered by a combination of English warships and adverse weather.