When I saw the above I couldn’t but think ‘Time heals all wounds?’
Why?
There’s no mention in the blurb above of the deep irony of a replica Spanish merchantman of the 17th Century making it to Ayr without it having been captured and plundered on the way by one of England’s piratical heroes of the day like Drake or Raleigh.
How much in ships and booty did Elizabethan England steal from Spanish ships?
Elizabethan England (under Queen Elizabeth I, 1558–1603) conducted widespread privateering against Spanish shipping as a mix of state-sponsored warfare, economic strategy, and profit-seeking. Privateers like Francis Drake operated with “letters of marque” (official commissions), allowing them to attack Spanish vessels and share spoils with the Crown and investors. This was not outright piracy but often blurred the lines, especially as tensions escalated into the Anglo-Spanish War. https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/thirst-for-treasure/
Privateering weakened Spain by disrupting its treasure fleets from the Americas (which funded its empire and military) while enriching England, funding naval growth, and building experienced seafarers who later aided colonization. It contributed to the defeat of the 1588 Spanish Armada (where England captured a few ships outright, like the Nuestra Señora del Rosario, though most Armada losses were from storms). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada
In summary, while no single “grand total” exists, English privateers stole hundreds of ships and millions of pounds‘ worth of treasure over decades, with peak annual hauls in the low-to-mid hundreds of thousands of pounds. This was transformative for England’s economy and naval power
Sources:
Kenneth R. Andrews, Elizabethan Privateering: English Privateering During the Spanish War, 1585–1603 (Cambridge University Press, 1964)
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The 'Unstoppable' Talking-up Scotland 
Our daughter studied French and Hispanic Studies at university and one of the places she had to go for an extended stay (funded under Erasmus) was Vigo in Galicia. We went out to visit for a week and stayed in a small village, called Panxon, to the south of the city. Just off the coast was a string of small uninhabited islands – they were nature reserves.
In conversation with a local she said that ‘the terrible English PIRATE Drake used to hide his ships in these islands to be able to attack Spanish vessels’.
This was the first time we had heard such a description of the man of whom we had been taught in school history was a great BRITISH (sic) hero, who had ‘singed the King of Spain’s beard’.
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Good one!
When was that?
John
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it was about 20 years ago.
Our daughter now lives in the London borough of Lewisham, and to the south there is the district of Deptford, which was, at the time of Drake, a separate town. It was a slaving port. People like Drake and others lived there and were licensed as ‘privateers’ by Elizabeth to prey on Spanish ships.
A few individuals in the area made fortunes from piracy and slaving. Deptford Town Hall (now part of Goldsmith’s University) is decorated with carvings of Drake and others.
Deptford is a multiethnic place and has been since Elizabeth’s time because of the slaves. Over the years other groups have come to live in the area. It has some of the materially poorest districts in London. For many years, right wing groups like the National Front have organised there. In the 1980s, in nearby New Cross h there was the Battle of Lewisham when local people opposed a major right wing march in the area.
There was a fatal fire in a flat in the area where there was a party attended by young black people. It might have been started deliberately. Several young people died. The investigation held under the Thatcher government was ‘inconclusive’. The Metropolitan Police with its notorious history of racism, obstructed local demonstrations, inventing fantasy rules that demonstrators were not allowed to cross the Thames. One demonstration which crossed the river went down Fleet Street and right wing hacks in the media shouted racist abuse from the safety of newspaper offices windows.
The film maker Steve McQueen made a series of films – “Little Axe” – dramatizing events such as the Brixton riots which black people in London suffered but also resisted from the 1960s.
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Spanish-Welsh comedian Ignacio Lopez was a contestant on Series 8, Week 10 of Richard Osman’s House of Games. He gained widespread attention and fan comments for his hilarious reaction to a question about the Spanish Armada. There was another one the following year, he said.
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