The Battle of the Downs against the Spanish Armada, 21 October 1639

In September 1639 a Spanish fleet bound for Flanders, carrying thousands of soldiers for the war against the Dutch, was caught in the Channel by Admiral Maarten Tromp. After a running fight it took shelter in the Downs, the anchorage off the Kent coast between Dover and Deal. England was neutral, and an English squadron under Sir John Pennington lay close by to make the point. For five weeks the Spanish stayed at anchor while the Dutch Republic sent Tromp every ship it could, until he had close to a hundred warships and a squadron of fireships. On 21 October he attacked anyway, inside English waters.

Van de Velde drew the battle in ink 20 years later, in 1659. The fireships and the boats full of sailors in the foreground were the weapons that decided the day. On the left the great galleon Santa Teresa is burning. She carried Admiral Lope de Hoces, who died aboard her along with much of her crew.