Spanish Armada Wreck On Streedagh Beach, Co. Sligo, Ireland

[@jjoanmmas]

I am Spanish and I don't know why, many times when I listen to Irish music, see its green landscapes and hear its ancient stories, I cry inconsolably like a child. I don't know the reason.

[@bastogne315]

To our shame some of those poor devils were murdered by Irish men.

[@seancassidy4812]

I was told in school that Irish people were prohibited from living near the sea shore.

[@seanohare5488]

True but then again they were already fighting against a foreign invader they didn't need another one and no guarantee the Spanish be nice and just to the Irish

[@renatewest6366]

I saw the monument on 1992 with my late husband. We were visiting.from.Australia A distance relative.now passed showed us around.Very sad about the Spanish sailors. May they rest in peace.

[@glocca254]

I lived on Streedagh in 1987 , beautiful place full of history , still don't know why I left it

[@lamontcranston3177]

I lived in Galway City and the Aran Islands for two years (1993-94). Still don't know why I left.

[@robcallaghan738]

Fantastic soundtrack Who is playing that music ??

[@irelandinsideandout]

The song is called Shipwrecked by The End of Times, Nothing, a project of the musician Sven Karlsson.

[@grahamyates2490]

I wonder if there were many Spaniards who were wrecked but survived, helped and lived out the rest of their lives in Ireland?

[@irelandinsideandout]

Very few if any. There may have been a handful from some of the other Armada wrecks, but most of the survivors, like Francisco de Cuellar, were just trying to get back to Spain and as far away from the British as possible

[@nagolhayze9366]

2:01 That Spanish Armada memorial is inarticulate and crude, it lacks style and empathy. Terrible.

[@madzen112]

Would love to take a drive round Ireland some day

[@seanohare5488]

Do really spectacular scenery

[@sheikhboyardee556]

I assumed that my DNA test would show me to be 100% Irish. I was mostly Irish, but also 24% Scandinavian, I assume from the Viking influence. I also had 6% from the Iberian Peninsula which I assumed came from one of these ship wrecks so some of the sailors survived & settled in Ireland. Most of my family has black hair & brown eyes & my Dad said we were the "black Irish" & came from Western Ireland. It became more clear to me when I visited Ireland & drove around the island. In Western Ireland near the ocean I happened upon a graveyard & decided to take a look. I saw a number of Spanish names of men buried there & I remember the name "Garcia" on one of the gravestones.

[@gallowglass2630]

Very much doubt it.Don't doubt that you have iberian blood ,but its probably the result of thousands of years of contact between ireland and iberia not through one event.I live locally and as far as i know of the thousand sailors 700 were washed on the beach dead of the remaining 300 most were killed or captured and a small number escaped back to spain.They were other shipwrecks along the irish coast,but i think streedagh is fairly typical.With all due respects Ireland and iberia have been in contact for millenia so to put down the dark features of many irish people to just one event is silly.

[@antseanbheanbocht4993]

Unlikely, we had a relationship with Spain for millenia.

[@gallowglass2630]

@@antseanbheanbocht4993Look at the legends the milesians were said to be from spain. Not proof as such ,but there is genetic evidence going back at least 4000 years to the beaker folk.

[@antseanbheanbocht4993]

@@gallowglass2630 Sorry, I probably wasn't very clear. I agree we had a connection with Spain for Millenia. I don't think the original posters spannish features came from the Armada survivors but stem from much earlier. I think the connection with Spain or Northern Europe is confirmed through Cloney Cavan Man, he was found with an oil in his hair thought to be imported from one of these area's. Radiocarbon dating has placed his death to between 392 BC and 201 BC, during the Iron Age of western Europe, making his remains around 2,300 years old. This would mean pre Roman trading links between Ireland and Europe. More evidence needed of course.

[@gallowglass2630]

@@antseanbheanbocht4993 You were clear enough ,I misread your post sorry

[@justinneill5003]

De Cuellar’s story is fascinating. At one point, his clothes were stolen and he was hiding in a forest eating berries etc. A sympathetic local took him to the stronghold of Brian O’Rourke who gave him food and shelter. Many of the locals were aware of the Armada’s purpose and the religious faith they shared, so it was a lottery whether survivors were robbed or welcomed. De Cuellar became popular with the ladies whilst staying with O’Rourke, they believed him to be a fortune teller and clamoured after him to have their fortunes told, so he obliged them until it became too tiresome and he asked O’Rourke if he could stay outside the main dwelling. Eventually he made it back to Spain. Does anyone know if any original artefacts from the ships that were wrecked off the coast of Ireland have been recovered and preserved? Wouldn’t it be amazing if they could be? Some of the heavier iron items (cannons, anchors etc) must still be down there somewhere.

[@gallowglass2630]

There is avideo from the divers of a dive in 2015kzbin.info/www/bejne/ql67n6p_rdF4a68

[@cathaltwomey]

Was part of the team that worked on this in 2015 kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5CZn6uvltelpck

[@66Bunn]

How we got some of the "Black Irish" 🙂 At least that's the myth passed down in some Irish households (including my own). My mother had jet-black hair and could easily pass for Italian or Spanish, yet she was 100% Irish American. No one can really say for sure, however it's unlikely that it came from the few Spanish sailors who may have stayed in Ireland. Also - I was in Ireland this past Sept. (My first time ever) - Greatest trip of my life. Unfortunately, I did not make it to Co. Sligo. I definitely will next time - thanks for posting

[@gallowglass2630]

That look is typical of the west of ireland , i look that way myself as did my parents and most of my family bar one.Yes the armada would have very little to do with it for example 700 died before reaching the beach and 300 were captured and executed or died of exposure.Francisco De Cuellar a spanish captain survived and even was offered the hand of a chieftains sister but refused,he eventually made it back to spain via scotland.They were several shipwrecks ,but streedagh was very typical not to say that some sailors survived and intermarried but i mean a few swarthy sailors could not have made anything other than an negligible effect on the local genetics. They are ancient connections between ireland and spain /iberian peninsula and even at that time intermarriage with spanish sailors ,but that would have been through trade links particularly in galway city,nothing to do with the armada

[@66Bunn]

@@gallowglass2630 Great stuff. Just an FYI, my mother's family comes from County Louth (not necessarily the west), but definitely not from Spanish sailors 🙂

[@gallowglass2630]

@@66Bunn The Armada wouldn't have gone down that side anyway after the battle in the channel they were blown up towards scotland around the north and west coasts of ireland.People in louth would have a bit of viking ancestry,but nevertheless they would be similar to the rest of the country.Even Looking eastward to our celtic cousins the welsh those features are not unusual for example the Actors Catherina Zeta Jones and Timothy dalton look very mediterean yet as far as i know totally welsh.

[@Sean-jc6cu]

@@gallowglass2630 It's not even just west of Ireland, which further disproves the myth. My family is from Monaghan and has "darker features"

[@gallowglass2630]

@@Sean-jc6cu Exactly and your family wouldn't be in the least unusual for monaghan

[@andrewheaney6858]

It sometimes feels that there was a curse put on Ireland, there's not many happy endings in her historical stories

[@andrewheaney6858]

@@doloresaquines1529 I reckon your right there, because the Anglo- Norman’s came to Ireland through Irish infighting, and 800 years later when the English left you had the Irish civil war

[@arfermo853]

No curses just stubborn stupid choices and its still the same today. God had plans for Britain in the world and so bye bye invasion

[@andrewheaney6858]

@@arfermo853 ?

[@antseanbheanbocht4993]

@@andrewheaney6858 🙄

[@davekeating.]

@@arfermo853 And hello Liz Truss

[@thomascooney6644]

Similar happened in Ulster but the O ‘Neill organised his men went out onto the wrecks & rescued the Spanish soldiers & sailors they became the backbone of his army . Further down the coast it was treacherous place with a huge price paid by the Crown for each Spanish head

[@sheikhboyardee556]

You didn't just "hop on a plane & fly home" in those days. The survivors were stuck there & that's where they spent the rest of their life.

[@antseanbheanbocht4993]

@@sheikhboyardee556 No, a lot made it to Scotland and home.

[@AngJ1234]

Survivors existed in Sligo and became assimalated into the existing Catholic population. Fit men are always wanted on farmland. DNA proves this. Elizabeth the First may have been told that all the Spanish sailors drowned or had been hung by her Advisors. They were economical with the truth/ Very wise!!! Your head is valuable. Always remember history is written by the victors, Many of us with that fragment of North African DNA, a hop and a skip away from Lisbon in Portugal where the Armada set off from, will want to see the Sligo monument to our ancestors.

[@yankorusev]

R.I.P 🙏🙏

[@johngraham8893]

I saw a doco years ago and it said this was how the potato came to Ireland.Potatoes from the wrecks washed up on thew shore.Then the local people started growing them. Also fine Spanish horses came ashore and improved the local breeds a great deal

[@tommercury3349]

That is not the truth

[@Cobe1976]

Such a shame that the Spanish didn’t get to invade England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and defeat perfidious Albion.

[@seanohare5488]

True would have benefited since both were Catholic

[@MC14may]

No chance...it was called the British Empire for a reason

[@chrishilton3626]

More like perfidious Espana and Erin Catholics are heretics

[@stephenoneill2844]

Yes but what about the gold? WHAT ABOUT THE GOLD?

[@seanohare5488]

Good point

[@renewklear]

They should have been taken as prisoners of war - poor lads were defenceless and after surviving a shipwreck all they probably wanted to do was just go home.