The Wreck of the ‘Apostle’ San Bartolomé (1597)

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Notes

1 Fernández Duro, Armada española v. III, 166; Graham, Spanish Armadas, 235–36; Tenace, ‘Strategy of Reaction’, 875.

2 The nautical league used by the Spanish in the sixteenth century was the league of 17.5 per latitudinal degree that was equal to 7,558.57 Spanish varas (6,349.2 metres). Serrano Mangas, Tres credos, 109–11. Archivo General de Simancas (hereafter AGS) Guerra y Marina (hereafter GYM) Legajo (hereafter Leg.) 491 Documento (hereafter doc.) 73

3 Fernández Duro, Armada española v. III, 167.

4 AGS GYM Leg. 253 doc. 39.

5 AGS GYM Leg. 459 doc. 73. The ‘apostles’ which took part in the 1596 Armada were the San Pablo (1,200 tons), San Pedro (1,200 tons), San Bartolomé (900 tons), and Santiago (900 tons); García, ‘Forgotten Armada’, 56; Kamen, Philip of Spain, 308; Tenace, ‘Strategy of Reaction’, 866.

6 AGS GYM Leg. 481 doc. 3.

7 AGS GYM Leg. 490 doc. 431; AGS GYM Leg. 491 doc. 138. The San Bartolomé and the Ragusan Santiago de Galicia were chosen to transport 120,000 ducats.

8 Bartholomew Ledges (NHLE) http:// list.historicengland.org.uk/resultsingle. aspx?uid=1000066 (accessed 13 Sep. 2015). Other finds included Iberian-type anchors and Spanish wrought-iron breechloading swivel guns similar to those found in sixteenth-century Spanish shipwrecks in the New World. Six silver coins were also found: one half-reale of Emperor Charles (1521–5), four two reale coins of Ferdinand and Isabella (1474–1504), and a thaler of 1555. Larn, Shipwreck Index, vol. 1, section 3.

9 Frías, ‘Algunas noticias’, 89–90; San Claudio, ‘Carta arqueológica’, 37; Abilleira, ‘El San Bartolomé’, 62. This letter is mentioned by the XVIII Duque de Frías in an article published in 1970.

10 Monson, Naval Tracts, 73; According to Monson, the San Bartolomé sank off the coast of Biscay in 1597 when returning from Falmouth with the Adelantado although he does not provide the exact location of the wreck.

11 AGS GYM Leg. 491 doc. 138; AGS GYM

Leg. 492 doc. 79.

12 AGS GYM Leg. 492 doc. 79. The captain of infantry Pedro de Guevara, who was on board the San Bartolomé, describes the journey of the galleon since it missed the port of Ferrol until its arrival to the inlet of Viveiro, where he disembarked with 80 soldiers, 60 of whom were sick.

13 AGS GYM Leg. 491 doc. 136.

14 AGS GYM Leg. 492 doc. 79.

15 AGS GYM Leg. 491 doc. 60.

16 AGS GYM Leg. 491 doc. 329.

17 AGS GYM Leg. 492 doc. 41.

18 O’Scanlan, Diccionario Marítimo, 407. Patache was a two-masted vessel specialized in dispatch carrying and communication within the fleet, exploring the coast, and guarding ports’ entrances.

19 AGS GYM Leg. 492 doc. 41.

20 Ibid.

21 AGS GYM Leg. 511 doc. 112; AGS GYM Leg. 511 doc. 113.

22 AGS GYM Leg. 511 doc. 111; AGS GYM Leg. 511 doc. 113; AGS GYM Leg. 511 doc. 115.