''La Juliana'' was a merchant vessel launched in 1570 near

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain. King

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commandeered her on 15 December 1586 at Sicily,Birch & McElvogue (1999), p.267-8. and had her armed with 32 guns for 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 ...

. In 1985, local divers found the wreckage of three vessels of the Armada that had been driven ashore in autumn 1588 at Streedagh Strand, north of the

Rosses Point Peninsula The Rosses Point Peninsula () is a small peninsula in the centre of Sligo Bay, County Sligo, Ireland. The peninsula shares its name with the village of Rosses Point, a popular seaside resort located on the peninsula's southern coast, roughly wes ...

on the west coast of Ireland. Two were identified as '' La Lavia'' and the '' La Santa Maria de Vison''; ''La Juliana'' was probably the third, but that identity was less certain. The three vessels had been part of the Levant squadron, which had been under the command of Don Martin de Bertendona in ''La Regazona''. ''La Lavia'' was the vice flagship. In spring 2015, after storms sent some artifacts onto Streedagh Strand, Ireland's

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sent divers to recover what the storms had uncovered. One particular find was a bronze cannon decorated with the image of Saint Matrona of Barcelona, which bears the initial "D" on its touchhole – the mark of the Genoese gunfounder Gioardi Dorino II. Other pieces with this mark recovered from the wreck indicate that he cast most of what became ''La Juliana''s bronze ordnance. The cannon is dated 1570, which corresponds to the date of ''La Juliana''s construction; according to the Irish government, this puts the identity of the third wreck "beyond doubt"."Relics from Spanish Armada discovered in Sligo"
''Irish Times''. 16 August 2014.

Citations

References

*Birch, Steven; McElvogue, D. M. (1999
"La Lavia, La Juliana and the Santa Maria de Vison: three Spanish Armada transports lost off Streedagh Strand, Co Sligo: an interim report"
''International Journal of Nautical Archaeology''. Vol. 28. Issue 3. pp. 265–276. *Ridella, Renato Gianni (2004)
"Dorino II Gioardi a 16th-century Genoese gunfounder"
''Journal of the Ordnance Society''. Vol. 16. pp. 27–41. {{DEFAULTSORT:Juliana (1570 ship), La Age of Sail ships of Spain Galleons Spanish Armada 16th-century maritime incidents 1588 in Ireland 16th-century ships Shipwrecks of Ireland