La Isla Blanca

By Jack Tindale

The Spanish Armada is today regarded with faint embarrassment. In Spain, it is often limited to a little more than a footnote about a somewhat foolhardy endeavour, whilst in Britain, its defeat has gone from being a sign of divine salvation to a serious threat saved by a combination of luck and weather. Had it been successful, there is little doubt that it would have posed a genuine threat to Elizabeth I – with the ill-prepared English army having little chance of success against a vast Spanish force from the south and the prospect of a Catholic uprising in the North. The Armada's success may well have nipped England's fledgling superpower status in the bud.

But what if things fell somewhere in between?

In La Isla Blanca, Jack Tindale considers the cultural, economic and political consequences of a foreign occupation of the Isle of Wight and the effects of a humbled England and a strengthened Spain.

Any similarities to Gibraltar are, of course, entirely coincidental.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sea Lion Press
• Release date: Oct 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386876199

Book preview

La Isla Blanca

Jack Tindale

Part One | The Armada

(Taken from ‘The Journal of Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz’ cited in Spain in the Era of Felipe II by Gerardo Smyth-Dorrien, Arkham, 2003)

February 1st, 1588

Arose from bed - still feverish and sweating profusely - to receive an Emissary from His Majesty. The herald, a young man of some twenty-three summers, did then present his credentials to me and requested my attendance at Court as soon as my humours returned. I did question him most ardently at this point, believing myself to still be out of favour (a matter of affairs that I currently felt to be responsible for much of my current precarious physical condition.)

The Emissary assured me of my present position within the court having recovered somewhat, and that His Majesty did accept his haste in accusing me of wilful inaction during the events at Cadiz the previous spring, wherein I had been chastised to such an extent as to cause me to be laid low with pleuritis. Upon hearing the summons, I did call for Don Hernandez, who hath given me a new concoction of his own devising. At sundown, I thus return’d to bed, much rested.

[...]

April 4th, 1588

To La Coruña, and to make a fuller inspection of the flotilla currently in anchorage there - much enlarged by the recent addition of the fleet recently arrived from New Grenada. I did say as much to Don Alonso - who seems little angered by his reassignment to as Command-in-Chief of the Demarcation Forces - indeed, his good humour did carry us both well through into the evening, though I took ill around nine, and left for my quarters to recuperate ahead of the Pope’s Blessing.

[...]

May 21st, 1588

Provisions for embarkation continue to be so garnered, including those additional ones so required to accommodate the forces currently assembling at Gravelines - some one-hundred-and-fifty hundred score in total, a host that I have ever confidence of being able to strike the English asunder. Following Vespers, a late message from the Court arrived, detailing the irrevocable end to negotiations between His Majesty and The Queen of the English. I did inspect the São Martinho and marvell upon the odyssey awaiting - the die cast, our Great Armada must sail!

[...]

July 18th, 1588

At twilight, the coast of England was duly sighted by the lead vessel - the promontory known as ‘The Lizard’ - upon hearing the news, I did request that the Great Crescent of the fleet be scattered somewhat, so as to impede the risk of fire-ships causing havoc. My caution did thus play out as the night drew in, as our easternmost flank did report flames approaching the horizon. Although much a-feared, the men did later note the flames to be those of beacons upon the mainland - no doubt warning of our arrival to The Queen’s Court in London. I chose to do little to beguile our intentions, our course being expected, and our vast size being impossible to avoid.

July 19th, 1588

Awoke to cannonfire! Having taken advantage of favourable winds upon the weather-gage, the English Fleet did harry the external ships of the Great Crescent - our current arrangement being unsuited to defence of our supply vessels. Upon the order, our central formation did close in, limiting the damage from the attackers. Ill-tempered manoeuvres within the Squadron of Castile forced the abandonment of La Asunción - yet little directed damage had been taken - I did order a pursuit of the flankers back towards the English coast by three Galleass’.

[...]

July 22nd,