La Girona was a galleass of the 1588 Spanish Armada that foundered and sank off "Lacada Point", County Antrim, on the night of 26 October 1588, after making its way eastward along the north coast of Ulster. The wreck is noteworthy for the great loss of life that resulted and the treasures recovered.
Introduction.
"La Girona" (//) was named after the "Girones" family, who at the time had just become Dukes of Osuna and viceroys of Naples (not after "Girona", the Catalan name of the city and province of Gerona). Its captain was Hugo de Moncada y Gralla, knight of the Order of Malta.
Shipwreck.
"La Girona" had anchored with a damaged rudder in Killybegs Harbour in the south-west of Tír Chonaill, a Gaelic "túath" that covered most of the then newly established County Donegal in the west of Ulster. With the assistance of an Irish chieftain, MacSweeney Bannagh, she was repaired and set sail for the Kingdom of Scotland on the 25th of October, with 1,300 men on board, including Alonso Martínez de Leiva, knight and of the Order of Santiago.
After Lough Foyle was cleared, a gale struck and "La Girona" was driven on to Lacada Point and the "Spanish Rocks'" (as they were known, thereafter) near Ballintoy in The Route, a territory on the north coast of County Antrim in the north-east of Ulster, on the night of 26 October 1588. Of the estimated 1,300 people on board, nine survived. 260 bodies washed ashore and were buried in a common grave at the local churchyard.
The survivors were sent on to Scotland by the local clan leader, Sorley Boy MacDonnell of Dunluce Castle, which was situated just to the west on the Giant's Causeway cliffs overlooking the coast. From there, MacDonnell is also believed to have conducted the first clandestine salvage efforts on the shipwreck.
Salvage.
Between 1967 and April 1968, off the coast of Portballintrae ("Port-na-Spaniagh" Bay), a team consisting of local diver and historian John MacLennan, alongside a team of Belgian divers (including Robert Sténuit, the world's first aquanaut) located the remains of the wreck and brought up the greatest find of "Spanish Armada" treasure salvaged up until that time. The underwater site was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 22 April 1993.
Commemoration.
The wrecking of "La Girona" was officially commemorated with a period illustration on the reverse side of sterling banknotes formerly issued by the First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland.
Ulster Museum Exhibit, Belfast.
"Treasures from the Girona".
Gold and silver coins, jewelry, armaments, and utilitarian objects from the Spanish galleass, "Girona", are on permanent display at the Ulster Museum (part of the National Museums of Northern Ireland) in Stranmillis in Belfast.
References.
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