Battle of the Bay of Biscay (1592)

Battle of the Bay of Biscay (1592)
Part of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)
Photography of the Bay of Biscay by Tom Bayly.
Date November 1592 Location Bay of Biscay, Atlantic Ocean Result Spanish victory [1] [2]
Belligerents
England	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Pedro de Zubiaur
Strength
6 warships [2] 40 merchant ships [3]	5 flyboats [2]
Casualties and losses
Flagship boarded and burned [2] [3] Several ships damaged 3 ships captured [3] [4]	1 flyboat damaged [4]

The Battle of the Bay of Biscay of 1592 was a naval engagement that took place in waters of the Bay of Biscay, in November 1592, between a Spanish naval force of 5 flyboats commanded by Captain Don Pedro de Zubiaur and an English convoy of 40 ships, supported by a 6-warship squadron, as part of the Brittany Campaign during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) and the French Wars of Religion. ^{[1] [2]} The Spanish force led by Captain Zubiaur, despite being outnumbered, engaged the English ships, achieving a resounding success. ^[3] The English flagship was boarded and burned, causing great confusion among the English convoy. ^{[3] [4]} Shortly after, another English force composed of six warships (sent by Queen Elizabeth I of England to Bordeaux to support the French Protestants), arrived at the battle, and tried to defend the convoy. ^[2] After long and intense fighting, the Spaniards were victorious in battle, and three more English ships were captured, besides several ships seriously damaged. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

The next year, on 18 April, in the same waters, another English naval force, commanded by Admiral Wilkenson, was defeated by Zubiaur's naval forces off the coasts of Blaye, a town besieged by land and sea by Protestant forces in the context of the French Wars of Religion. ^{[5] [6]}

See also

• Bay of Biscay
• Battle of Blaye
• Battle of Cornwall
• French Wars of Religion

Notes

1. Rincones De Historia Española. Arsenal/Prado p.166
2. Extractos de las juntas celebradas por la Real Sociedad Bascongada p.80
3. Arsenal/Prado p.166
4. Rivas p.163
5. Fernández Duro p.86
6. Extractos de las juntas celebradas por la Real Sociedad Bascongada pp.80–81

References

• Arsenal, León./Prado, Fernando. Rincones De Historia Española. Editorial EDAF S.L. Madrid 2008. ISBN   978-84-414-2050-2 (in Spanish)
• Fernández Duro, Cesáreo (1898). Armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón. Vol. III. Madrid. (in Spanish)
• Extractos de las juntas celebradas por la Real Sociedad Bascongada de los amigos del país, en la villa de Bilbao por julio de 1790. Vitoria. 1790. (in Spanish)
• MacCaffrey, Wallace T. (1994). Elizabeth I: War and Politics, 1588-1603. Princeton. Princeton University Press. USA. ISBN   978-0-691-03651-9
• Gracia Rivas, Manuel. En el IV Centenario del fallecimiento de Pedro Zubiaur, un marino vasco del siglo XVI ^{[ permanent dead link ]}. Itsas Memoria. Untzi Museo Naval. San Sebastián 2006. (in Spanish)

External links

• Biografía de Don Pedro de Zubiaur (in Spanish)