| Battle of Sesimbra Bay | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theAnglo-Spanish War | |||||||
 Illustration of the battle byHendrick Cornelisz Vroom | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| England | Spain Portugal | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Richard Leveson William Monson | Álvaro de Bazán Federico Spinola | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 5 galleons | 1 carrack 11 galleys 1 fort | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 12 killed 30 wounded[3] | 800 killed or wounded 1 carrack captured 2 galleys sunk[4] | ||||||
 | |||||||
TheBattle of Sesimbra Bay was a naval engagement that took place on 3 June 1602, during theAnglo-Spanish War. It was fought off the coast of Portugal (then within theIberian Union) between an English naval expeditionary force sent out with orders byQueen Elizabeth I to prevent any further Spanish incursions againstIreland or England itself. The English force underRichard Leveson andWilliam Monson met a fleet of Spanishgalleys and a largecarrack atSesimbra Bay commanded byÁlvaro de Bazán andFederico Spinola. The English were victorious in battle, sinking two galleys, forced the rest to retreat, neutralized the fort, and captured the carrack. It was the last expedition to be sent to Spain by orders of the Queen before her death the following year.[5]
After the defeat of theSpanish invasion of Ireland in 1602, QueenElizabeth I decided to fit out another fleet. SirRichard Leveson was chosen for this command as he had defeated the Spanish underPedro de Zubiaurat Castlehaven and successfully blockadedKinsale from any further reinforcement later leading to thevictory there early in 1602. He was to command a fleet of nine English and twelveDutch ships, which were "to infest the Spanish coast." The Dutch ships were, however, late in joining. Leveson left hisvice-admiral SirWilliam Monson to wait for the Dutch while he put to sea with only five ships on 19 March.[6] Within two or three days the queen sent orders to Monson to sail at once to join his admiral, for she had word that "the silver ships had arrived at Terceira" but they had in fact arrived and left again.[2][3]
Federico Spinola, younger brother ofAmbrogio Spinola, had distinguished himself greatly as a soldier in theArmy of Flanders and, in 1599, had successfully voyaged through theEnglish Channel passing theStraits of Dover unmolested. Buoyed by this achievement he had indulgedPhilip III of Spain, theDuke of Lerma andMartín de Padilla in a vision of a massive galley-borne invasion of England from Flanders. However the council brought him down to a mere eight galleys, provided at Spinola's expense. He was on his way fromSan Lucar toLisbon but was diverted by theViceroy of Portugal to see to the protection of the richly-laden Portuguese carrackSão Valentinho anchored in the bay at Sesimbra.[3]
It was not until the end of May that the two English squadrons met each other. On 1 June the English were off Lisbon with two captured Spanish prizes when word reached them that a large carrack and eleven galleys were in the vicinity of Sesimbra Bay. Some of the English ships had been sent home, mainly due to disease and/or unseaworthiness; others had separated and they too went back home. There were now only five ships in total with Leveson.[4]
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On the morning of 3 June, Monson and Leveson found the Spanish ships strongly posted under the guns ofFort Santiago of Sesimbra and the old but armedmoorishSesimbra Castle further inland on a hill. The Spanish fleet consisted of eight galleys under the command of Spinola and another three underÁlvaro de Bazán which had just recently arrived.[5] At mid-morning Monson with the shipGarland, Leveson withWarspite, Edward Manwaring withDreadnought, followed byNonpareil,Adventure and two capturedprizes, entered the bay of Sesimbra.[2] As well as the Portuguese carrackSão Valentinho, the Spanish galleys consisted of de Bazán'sChristopher, Spinola'sSt Lewis,Forteleza,Trinidad,St John,Leva,Occasion,San Jacinto,Lazar,Padilla, andSan Felipe.[7] The galleys had large cannons of sixty pounders in their bows and formed a tight defensive formation in the shallows around the carrack.[1]
As the English entered the bay, without hesitation they fired with everything they had at the anchored and secured galleys but made sure they were out of effective range of the Spanish 60-pounder (27 kg) cannon. Monson'sGarland was able to bombard the Spanish galleys with her sixteenculverins forcing them to break formation. Much damage was caused but soon the galleys began to row side to side in the harbour in an attempt to avoid fire fromGarland, which was now anchored. Leveson inWarspite however had problems with the wind and was soon being blown out of theroadstead despite efforts to keepWarspite in one position. Once out of effective range Leveson then rowed in alaunch under fire and went on boardGarland to join Monson and the rest of the fleet.[4][2]
When Bazán's galleys did break formationDreadnought with her shallowdraught sailed into the confusion and took them all on at close range with her elevendemi-culverins and tensakers. Bazán had suffered significant losses with all three of his galleys damaged and was himself soon so badly wounded that there was much disorganization. Monson decided to concentrate his fire on Spinola's galleys. Within a few hoursGarland andNonpareil pounded them to the point that two of his galleys,Trinidad andOccasion, were soon burned and sunk, the captain of the latter being taken prisoner.[7] The galley slaves swam (if they could) to the English ships and Bazán's battered galleys managed to flee the action heading North.[1][3]
The great carrack itself was surrounded and the remaining galleys under Spinola decided that the only sensible option was to retreat out of range from the bay. The rest of his galleys were already badly damaged, the galley slaves had been exhausted to the point of near death.[3] To the surprise of the English the fire from Fort Santiago de Sesimbra began to slacken.Nonpareil,Adventure, and occasional fire fromWarspite had poured enough accurate fire into the fortress to put most of the guns out of action within an hour. With the destruction and retreat of the galleys it became clear that the carrack was lost.[5]
Under closer inspection the English realized that the carrack was a huge 1,700-ton vessel,São Valentinho, recently returned from thePortuguese Indies laden with goods. The castle and the various shore defences could not fire for fear of hitting their own ships as a result ineffectual fire continued throughout the battle. The English ships though kept up enough fire to silence the rest of the shore defences.Garland andDreadnought sailed to port and starboard respectively ofSão Valentinho. She was soon boarded and within minutes the top deck had been secured with only a few losses and Monson wanted no more bloodshed.[2][8]
A parlay was offered by Monson which the Spanish reluctantly accepted and the battle was now effectively over. After Monson boarded the carrack, he was soon recognized by several Spanish officers as being their former prisoner. It turned out the galleyLeva, which was present at the battle but had fled, was the same galley present atBattle of Berlengas Islands which had taken Monson prisoner. For Monson this was revenge.[7] At first the Spanish and Portuguese under Don Diego Lobo wanted to give the English just the cargo and leave the ship with their colours flying but Monson was adamant and wanted the whole ship but would release all the prisoners under terms.[3] He also forced the Spanish to cease firing and allow the English to leave unmolested. The Spanish could not burn the ship without being fired upon by the English and hadSão Valentinho surrounded by which two were powerful galleons.[2][6]
In this position the Spanish agreed to the English terms, to allowSão Valentinho to be taken and the castle and shore defences to cease firing. The next day after a celebratory evening meal with the Spanish and Portuguese officers on boardGarland, the English vessels towed outSão Valentinho and with the victorious English sailing back to Plymouth unmolested.[1]
Casualties were heavy amongst the Spanish; around 800, most of which were from the galleys. The Portuguese carrackSão Valentinho was a great prize in itself. The cargo on board totalled over a million ducats, about £44,000 which just about covered the costs of the summer campaigning.[8]São Valentinho was very similar in design toMadre de Deus whichhad been captured atFlores in 1592. English casualties were only twelve killed and thirty wounded, chiefly aboardGarland. William Monson was very nearly killed. He had fought in armor and had hisdoublet carried away by a ball.[7]
Monson and Leveson were both received as heroes on their return by Queen Elizabeth and the booty was given to the crown.[9] Leveson and Monson in return each received £3000 from the Queen and soon after their services were recommended toKing James I both becoming admirals of the English Channel.[6] The Spanish viceroy of Portugal was incensed with the defeat and the loss of the carrack, he had Don Diego Lobo condemned to death but he escaped through a window with the aid of his sister and fled to Italy.[3]
Bazán would recover from his wounds and went on to command galleys in theKingdom of Naples and later in life was to win fame in theRelief of Genoa. Spinola would suffer another defeat, this time at the hands of SirRobert Mansell and a Dutch fleet in October of the same year in theBattle of the Narrow Seas in which his remaining six galleys that had escaped were intercepted and destroyed with only Spinola's escaping.[9]