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Book Review: Spanish Armada Prisoners: The Story of Nuestra Señora del Rosario and Her Crew, and of Other Prisoners in England, 1587–97

that the wheeled gun carriage found on the wreck of La Trinidad Valencera was a sea carriage cannot be proved since, as the authors admit, the ship was one of those especially embargoed to carry the Armada's siege train and was particularly capacious. The supposed knowledge of these defects allowed the English at Gravelines to come close enough to the Spaniards to deliver real~ effective ship-smashing broadsides without risking serious retaliation. The authors refute the alleged great size of the Spanish ships, pointing out that most of the biggest ones were invasion transports. Still, after some comparisons with the English ships they finally have to admit that the rivals used quite different formulae for calculating tonnage and that it was probable that the Spanish method gave a rather higher figure. Without a full knowledge of the differences between the two measures, it is a bit daring to attempt to refute contemporary accounts. The homeward journey of the fleet is very well-analyzed and gives new information with an intelligent interpretation of the facts. Several aspects need to be underscored. First, the Armada apparently made a concerted second effort to go back to the Channel to pick up Parma's forces; this argument stands in stark contrast to the usual accounts of a "confused fugue." Second, the authors are convincing in their argument that the passage from the North Sea to the Atlantic was frequently adopted and therefore known by the Spanish sailors. Finally, Martin and Parker show that the ships which were wrecked were those that lost contact with the main body of the fleet. The last two chapters are interesting studies of the consequences of the campaign and are anchored by a piece of speculation from Professor Parker--"if the Armada had landed"--in which he leaves aside reality facts to study the intriguing possibilities. Although it is not definitive and we will have to wait for other publications to complete the few aspects of this fascinating event that still need clarification, there is no doubt that this volume is the most important, complete, scientific, and objective publication on the Armada thus written.