''Revenge'' was an English
race-built galleon
The race-built galleon was a type of war ship built in England from 1570 until about 1590.
Queen's ships built in England by Sir John Hawkins (naval commander), John Hawkins and his shipbuilders, Richard Chapman (shipwright), Richard Chapman, Pet ...
of 46 guns, built in 1577 and captured by the Spanish in 1591, sinking soon afterwards. She was the first of 13 English and Royal Navy ships to bear the name.
[Since she was built and served prior to the ]English Restoration
The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be ...
of 1660, she did not carry the 'HMS' prefix.
Construction
''Revenge'' was built at a cost of £4,000 at the
Royal Dockyard, Deptford in 1577 by master
shipwright
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...
Mathew Baker. His
race-built design was to usher in a new style of ship building that would revolutionise naval warfare for the next three hundred years. A comparatively small vessel, weighing about 400 tons, being about half the size of ''
Henry Grace à Dieu
''Henry Grace à Dieu'' ("Henry, Thanks be to God"), also known as ''Great Harry'', was an English carrack or "great ship" of the King's Fleet in the 16th century, and in her day the largest warship in the world. Contemporary with ''Mary Rose'' ...
'', ''Revenge'' was rated as a
galleon
Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch War ...
.
Armament
The armament of ships of this period was fluid; guns might be added, removed or changed for different types. ''Revenge'' was particularly heavily armed during her last cruise: she carried 20 heavy
demi-cannon
The demi-cannon was a medium-sized cannon, similar to but slightly larger than a culverin and smaller than a regular cannon, developed in the early 17th century. A full cannon fired a 42-pound shot, but these were discontinued in the 18th centur ...
,
culverin
A culverin was initially an ancestor of the hand-held arquebus, but later was used to describe a type of medieval and Renaissance cannon. The term is derived from the French "''couleuvrine''" (from ''couleuvre'' "grass snake", following the La ...
s and
demi-culverin
The demi-culverin was a medium cannon similar to but slightly larger than a saker and smaller than a regular culverin developed in the late 16th century. Barrels of demi-culverins were typically about long, had a calibre of and could weigh up t ...
s on her gun deck, where the sailors slept. On her upper decks were more demi-culverins,
sakers and a variety of light weapons, including swivel-mounted breech-loaders, called "fowlers" or "
falconets".
[
]
Career
Raid on Cadiz (1587)
In 1587, Sir Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...
sailed to the Spanish coast and destroyed much ''materiel
Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context.
In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specifi ...
'' that Philip II had accumulated in preparation for the Armada. In consequence, Spanish plans for the invasion of England were put off until the following year.
Battle of Gravelines (1588)
In early 1588, Drake moved his flag from ''Elizabeth Bonaventure'' to ''Revenge'', which was considered to be the best by far of the new ships. On 29 July 1588 the Battle of Gravelines (named after a Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
town near Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...
), was concluded with a decisive victory over the Spanish fleet. Following ''Revenge'' at the head of the line, the English fleet engaged their broadsides into the Spanish Armada
The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...
, following a fire ships attack the night before which broke up the tight Spanish formation. Many Spanish vessels were severely damaged, although only a few sank or ran aground. Both sides fought until supplies of ammunition was running dangerously low, and the shattered Armada was forced to flee into the North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
. The English fleet shadowed them until they drew level with Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, and then returned to port, ending the threat of a Spanish invasion.
Drake–Norris expedition (1589)
In 1589 ''Revenge'' again put to sea as Drake's flagship, in what was to be a failed attempt to destroy the surviving Spanish fleet at Santander
Santander may refer to:
Places
* Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain
* Santander Department, a department of Colombia
* Santander State, former state of Colombia
* Santander de Quilichao, a m ...
and invade Spanish-controlled Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
. With the ship in an unseaworthy condition, and without any prizes to his credit Drake fell out of favour with Queen Elizabeth and was kept ashore until 1594.
Frobisher expedition (1590)
In 1590 ''Revenge'' was commanded by Sir Martin Frobisher
Sir Martin Frobisher (; c. 1535 – 22 November 1594) was an English seaman and privateer who made three voyages to the New World looking for the North-west Passage. He probably sighted Resolution Island near Labrador in north-eastern Canada ...
in an unsuccessful expedition along the coast of Spain to intercept the Spanish treasure fleet
The Spanish treasure fleet, or West Indies Fleet ( es, Flota de Indias, also called silver fleet or plate fleet; from the es, label=Spanish, plata meaning "silver"), was a convoy system of sea routes organized by the Spanish Empire from 1566 to ...
.
Capture by the Spanish and sinking (1591)
In order to impede a Spanish naval recovery after the Armada, Sir John Hawkins
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
proposed a blockade of the supply of treasure being acquired from the Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
in America by a constant naval patrol designed to intercept Spanish ships. ''Revenge'' was on such a patrol in the summer of 1591 under the command of Sir Richard Grenville
Sir Richard Grenville (15 June 1542 – 10 September 1591), also spelt Greynvile, Greeneville, and Greenfield, was an English privateer and explorer. Grenville was lord of the manors of Stowe, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon. He subsequently ...
.
The Spanish had dispatched a fleet of some 53 ships under Alonso de Bazán
Alonso de Bazán, son of Admiral Álvaro de Bazán the Elder, Marquis del Viso, and brother of the better known Admiral Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, was a Spanish naval commander during the Anglo–Spanish War (1585–1604) and t ...
, having under his orders generals Martín de Bertendona and Marcos de Aramburu. Intent upon the capture of the English at Flores
Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...
in the northern Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
. In late August 1591 the Spanish fleet came upon the English while repairs to the ships caused the crews, many of whom were suffering an epidemic of fever, to be ashore. Most of the ships managed to slip away to sea. Grenville who had many sick men ashore decided to wait for them. When putting to sea he might have gone round the west of Corvo island, but he decided to go straight through the Spaniards, who were approaching from the eastward.
The battle began late on 31 August, when overwhelming force was immediately brought to bear upon the ship, which put up a fierce resistance. For some time he succeeded by skillful tactics in avoiding much of the enemy's fire, but they were all round him and gradually numbers began to tell. As one Spanish ship retired beaten, another took her place, and for fifteen hours the unequal contest continued. Attempts by the Spaniards to board were driven off. ''San Felipe'', a vessel three times her size, tried to come alongside for the Spaniards to board her, along with Aramburu's ''San Cristóbal''. After boarding ''Revenge'', ''San Felipe'' was forced to break off. Seven men of the boarding party died, and the other three were rescued by ''San Bernabé'', which grappled her shortly after. The Spanish also lost the galleon ''Ascensión'' and a smaller vessel by accident that night, after they collided with each other. Meanwhile, ''San Cristóbal'', which had come to help ''San Felipe'', rammed ''Revenge'' underneath her aftcastle
An aftercastle (or sometimes aftcastle) is the stern structure behind the mizzenmast and above the transom on large sailing ships, such as carracks, caravels, galleons and galleasses. It usually houses the captain's cabin and perhaps additional ...
, and some time later, Bertendona's ''San Bernabé'' battered the English warship with heavy fire, inflicting many casualties and severe damage. The English crew returned fire from the embrasure
An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...
s below deck. When morning broke on 1 September, ''Revenge'' lay with her masts shot away, six feet of water on the hold and only sixteen men left uninjured out of a crew of two hundred and fifty. She remained grappled by the galleons ''San Bernabé'' and ''San Cristóbal'', the latter with her bow shattered by the ramming. The grappling manoeuvre of ''San Bernabé'', which compelled the English gun crews to abandon their posts in order to fight off boarding parties, was decisive in securing the fate of the ''Revenge''.
"Out-gunned, out-fought, and out-numbered fifty-three to one",['']The Revenge: A Ballad of the Fleet
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' by Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Go ...
when the end looked certain Grenville ordered ''Revenge'' to be sunk: "Sink me the ship, Master Gunner—sink her, split her in twain! Fall into the hands of God, not into the hands of Spain!" His officers could not agree with this order and a surrender was agreed by which the lives of the officers and crew would be spared. After an assurance of proper conduct, and having held off dozens of Spanish ships, ''Revenge'' at last surrendered. The injured Grenville died of wounds two days later aboard the Spanish flagship.
The captured but heavily damaged ''Revenge'' never reached Spain, but was lost with her mixed prize-crew of 70 Spaniards and English captives, along with a large number of the Spanish ships in a dreadful storm off the Azores. The battle-damaged ''Revenge'' was cast upon a cliff next to the island off Terceira
Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the larger islands of the archipelago, with a population of 53,311 inhabitants in an area of approximately . It is the location ...
, where she broke up completely. Between 1592 and 1593, 14 guns of the ''Revenge'' were recovered by the Spanish from the site of the wreck. Other cannons were driven ashore years later by the tide, and the last weapons raised were salvaged as late as 1625.
''Revenge'' in literature
Her final action inspired a popular poem entitled ''The Revenge: A Ballad of the Fleet
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' by Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Go ...
, which dramatically narrates the course of the engagement.
See also
* ''Dainty'', considered a sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
of ''Revenge''
Notes
References
External links
''La captura del Revenge, 1591''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Revenge
Ships of the English navy
Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean
Ships built in Deptford
16th-century ships
16th-century maritime incidents