In addition to the raising of a fleet, an army of 10,00 men converged on the port town of Plymouth, strengthening the already strong garrisons in all of the Southern English harbors. While all of this was going on, the Spanish fleet was already doing battle with an even stronger enemy, the elements. As the Armada sailed past Lisbon, they were hit by a terrible thunderstorm that knocked the Real Capitana and a large part of the vanguard into the port city of Coruna. The ships, knocked off course, were delayed for several days while they performed repairs. When the fleet finally reorganized, they once again set sail for the English channel and England. On their way, they made a unfortunate mistake; the Spanish did not travel up the French side of the channel. If they had stayed out of sight, the English would not have known the Armada was there until it was too late. In the first skirmish the English were able to damage the royal flagship which held a large sum of the kings treasure. Even though as a whole, the English fleet was unable to get close enough to cause any serious cannon damage, they found other ways to inflict damage on the Spanish. They sent in fire ships, vessels covered in tar and loaded with explosives, which were set on fire and sent towards the enemy fleet. This tactic was successful in driving the Spanish away. The fire ships had done their job, causing confusion among the commanders of the Spanish fleet. As they were retreating, the Armada traveled past Holland to the North Sea then, west to the British Isles, around Northern Scotland, and down the coast of Ireland. The defeat of the mighty Spanish Armada by the supposed "weak" English forces was a turning point in European history. The roles of domination switched hands from the Spanish to the English. The English control of power paved the way for the Elizabethan Age, a time of great works of literature from Shakespeare, colonization by Sir Walter Raleigh, and naval...
