As a result, the English suffered almost no damage at Gravelines, and the Spanish relatively little. Towards seven o'clock in the evening, the English broke off the fight, probably because of the worsening weather and the apparently inexorable drift of the Armada towards the shoals.
The following day, however, said the official Spanish account, 'From this desperate peril we were saved by God's mercy. The wind shifted. The Armada escaped northwards, essentially intact and effectively undefeated, scotched but not killed, bloodied but unbowed.
The English commander thought he had 'plucked its feathers'. The Spaniards, though apprehensive about how long their fleet could remain battleworthy, were willing to renew the fight.
Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience.
Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving. Previous Back to index image 5 of 8 Next. Moored in Calais awaiting the arrival of Spanish troops led by the Duke of Palma, the Spanish Armada was first attacked on 6 August by unmanned English fire-ships which were set alight and sailed towards the Spanish fleet. Drake had used this tactic successfully in his raid on Cadiz and the effect at Calais was similar - creating panic and fear amongst the Spanish.
Whilst the fire-ships didn't significantly damage the Spanish ships, the effect was to break-up the Armada's battle formation as ships took avoiding action and cut their anchors to move out of the way. The following day saw a prolonged battle with the English fleet, which had the advantage of lighter, better-armed ships, able to fire on the Spanish Armada without having to get too close.
An eight-hour battle raged in poor weather conditions until ammunition was exhausted. Wind was another problem for the Spanish fleet. The wind was driving them towards shallow water, increasing the risk that the entire fleet could have been grounded.
Then the wind changed, and the Spanish were able to escape to the north-east. However, this trapped them in the North Sea, and forced them to return to Spain by sailing around the north coast of Scotland and then down the west coast of Ireland - a perilous journey in which the fleet suffered the loss of many ships and men. Company Reg no: VAT reg no
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