Drake singes the King of Spain's beard
1587 · Event
Francis Drake sails into Cadiz harbour and destroys some thirty ships fitting out for the invasion of England, then spends weeks raiding the Portuguese coast and seizing the fleet's barrel-stave supplies. The raid delays the Armada by a full year — and the green-wood barrels it forces on the Spanish will rot their food and water at sea.
On these timelines: The Spanish Armada, England, Master, United Kingdom (combined), Spain
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Around 1587
- Eighty Years' War / Dutch Revolt (1568)
- Thirty Years' War (1618)
- French Wars of Religion (1562)
- William Shakespeare (1564)
- Edo period (1603)
- Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543)
- Reign of Elizabeth I (1558)
- Battle of Sekigahara (1600)
- Shakespeare's Hamlet (1601)
- Scientific Revolution (1543)