Turning the Tide - revealing the past through new eyes!
BACKGROUND
The history of the Spanish Armada and its ruin on the northern and western coasts of Ireland in 1588 is well known. Ships returning to Spain after defeat against the English had to sail the long route home around Scotland and Ireland, where up to 26 ships were wrecked off the Irish coast during Winter storms. Three of these ships were wrecked at Streedagh Beach and up to 1,100 men were lost. One of the few survivors, Captain Francisco de Cuéllar, wrote an extensive account of his escape, during which he spent up to six months in Ireland trying to evade his enemies.
In 1985, the first dive took place on the Streedagh wrecks. Supervised by Colin Martin (speaker at the Armada TIDE conference), this led to the recovery of several cannon. In 2015 another dive mission took place, led by the Underwater Archaeology Unit of the National Museum (two members of which, Fionnbarr Moore and Connie Kelleher will also present papers at the conference). This led to the recovery of 9 cannon and other artifacts - these are currently being conserved at the National Museum in Dublin.
The hosts for the conference are
Spanish Armada Ireland (also known as GADA), a volunteer
group that has, for many years, promoted the Armada heritage of Streedagh and Grange. The aim of Spanish Armada Ireland is that the cannon retrieved by the National Museum be returned to Sligo in the future when a suitable museum has been built here.