Newfoundland expedition (1585)
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| Newfoundland Expedition (1585) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Anglo–Spanish War | |||||||
 A 1563 map of the North Atlantic with Newfoundland top center | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 England | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Unknown | Bernard Drake | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Numerous Spanish & Portuguese ships[4] | 10 ships | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
23 ships captured, burned, or sunk[4] ~600 prisoners[5] | Light | ||||||
The Newfoundland Expedition also known as Bernard Drake's Newfoundland Expedition was an English naval expedition that took place during the beginning of the declared Anglo-Spanish War in the North Atlantic during summer and autumn of 1585.[6] The area of conflict was situated mainly in an area known as the Grand Banks off present day Newfoundland.[7] The aim of the expedition was to capture the Spanish and Portuguese fishing fleets.[8] The expedition was a huge military and financial success and virtually removed the Spanish and Portuguese from these waters.[9] In addition the raid had large consequences in terms of English colonial expansion and settlement.[4][10]
War had already been declared by Philip II of Spain after the Treaty of Nonsuch in which Queen Elizabeth I had offered her support to the rebellious Protestant Dutch rebels.[11] On 26 May the Spanish enforced an embargo on English shipping in Bilbao harbour, and then all over Spain. The armed merchant ship Primrose fought her way clear and brought the news to London.[12] English anger responded with the release of a large number of privateers in reprisal and took precautions against other merchant ships’ being caught in Spain.[11] The Queen through Francis Walsingham at the same time had also ordered Sir Francis Drake to lead an expedition to attack the Spanish New World in a kind of preemptive strike.[9]
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, provided with patent letters from the Queen, had landed in St John's in August 1583, and formally took possession of Newfoundland for England.[13][14] Bernard Drake (distant kinsman of Sir Francis Drake), had become associated with Gilbert, through his relatives Richard Grenville and Walter Raleigh.[citation needed] In 1585, Drake had joined with Raleigh and Gilbert’s brother, John, in activities connected with the Roanoke Island Colony, in present-day North Carolina.[citation needed]
On 10 June Raleigh was authorized by the privy council to press ships for a voyage to be made to the Newfoundland fishing grounds.[6] The expedition was to warn English fishing vessels there not to take fish direct to Spain or Portugal (trade being already well established), and to seize any vessels belonging to subjects of the king of Spain they could find.[6] Commissions to lead such expeditions were issued to Carew Raleigh and to Bernard Drake on 20 June, and the latter was ordered about 27 June to launch an expedition against the Newfoundland fisheries.[15] They dropped plans for a privateering voyage to the West Indies en route for Roanoke, where a colony was to be settled by Sir Richard Grenville who had left Plymouth in April.[4]
Drake's sweep
Drake left Plymouth for Newfoundland in July with a fleet of ten ships, including his flagship Golden Riall. Many of the ships were funded by investors hoping to receive a share of any plunder.[16] The venture soon hit success with the capture of a large Portuguese ship laden with Brazilian sugar and other commodities.[3]
Drake arrived off Newfoundland in early mid-August, and landed at St John's, re-establishing England's claim on the country. St. John's became a base for his operations, where his ships gathered supplies and fresh water.[17] While there, he alerted the English fishermen to the danger of heading directly to markets in Spain and Portugal. Instead of heading home, many of them joined their ranks and Drake's ships soon increased in number to ten, many of them armed. As the English then established themselves they then intercepted, captured, plundered, and even burned many Spanish and Portuguese fishing ships.[3][10] A few armed flyboats protecting them met the same fate. Small in number, they were no match for the heavily armed English ships, and most either fled or were captured.[18]
As news spread of the raid, Spanish fishing ships then tended to frequent the island’s south coast, mainly on the Avalon peninsula, away from the English area of dominance. By the end of September, Drake had cleared this area of any Spanish and Portuguese ships and then sent some of his own ships back to England escorting the prizes.[7] His force raided a Spanish whaling and fishing base on the Burin Peninsula, capturing or burning all the stores. Other smaller locations in Placentia Bay were destroyed too.[18] Soon the lack of prizes in the region became more apparent and Drake met up and joined forces with another of Raleigh’s associates, George Raymond in the Red Lion, who had sailed with Grenville on the way to Roanoke.[19] Leaving Newfoundland, the force then headed to the Azores in the hope of seizing Spanish ships from the West Indies.[4] More success followed with captures of ships with cargos of sugar, wine, and ivory, and a French ship carrying some gold. With disease starting to take its toll, Drake's ships headed home, but not before running into a storm that caused the loss of two prizes.[18]
In all they probably took more than twenty ships, though not all reached England safely; many of the prizes were sunk in storms, burned, or destroyed in battle.[9]