Francisco de Cuéllar – Lost Sailor of the Armada
A new digital audio play based on the letter of a Spanish Armada survivor has been written and will be streamed live on the internet on Thursday 4th December at 8pm.
Titled ‘Francisco de Cuéllar – Lost Sailor of the Armada’ it was written by Sligo historian and Armada enthusiast Eddie O’Gorman and features all of the main characters in de Cuéllar’s historical account.
Francisco de Cuéllar was shipwrecked at Streedagh Beach in Sligo on September 21st 1588. He was on board one of three ships that were wrecked there. And while up to 1,100 of his countrymen were drowned or died at the hands of English soldiers, de Cuéllar managed to escape. He crossed the countryside between Benbulben and Glencar Lake until he eventually reached the safety of Irish chieftain Brian O’Rourke’s castle at Dromahair in County Leitrim. From there, he spent up to three months with the clan of another chieftain Tadhg Óg McClancy before eventually escaping from Ireland, writing a lengthy account of his adventures in the Spanish Netherlands a year after shipwreck.
De Cuéllar’s letter disappeared for centuries until it was found in a Spanish archive in 1895 and was published afterwards. An incredible account of 16th century Ireland, de Cuéllar describes in great detail the people he met, the dangers he faced, the help he received and his journey against all hope from shipwreck at Streedagh to eventual safety.
‘Francisco de Cuéllar – Lost Sailor of the Armada’ gives voice to those he encountered. Among the many characters that appear in this digital audio play are Tadhg Óg McClancy, Admiral Bovadilla of the Spanish Armada, Francisco de Cuéllar himself and many others, Spanish sailors, Irish savages, English soldiers, male and female parts that provide texture, warmth and shape to de Cuéllar’s own words.
In his letter, de Cuéllar provided the following descriptive passages – little wonder they make for such wonderful material in this digital audio play:
Of the shipwreck itself, he wrote:
“On the fifth day there sprang up such a great storm on our beam, with a sea up to the heavens, so that the cables could not hold, nor the sails serve us, and we were driven ashore upon a beach covered with very fine sand, shut in on one side and the other by great rocks. Such a thing was never seen; for within the space of an hour all three ships were broken in pieces, so that there did not escape 300 men, and more than 1,000 were drowned, and amongst them many persons of importance—captains, gentlemen, and other officials.”
After shipwreck at Streedagh, he went in search of help at a local monastery.
“At the dawn of day I began to walk little by little, searching for a monastery of monks that I might repair to it as best I could, the which I arrived at with much trouble and toil, and I found it deserted, and the church and images of the Saints burned and completely ruined, and twelve Spaniards hanging within the church by the act of the English Lutherans, who went about searching for us to make an end of all of us who had escaped from the perils of the sea.”
Of the Irish menfolk, he wrote:
“Their custom is to live as the brute beasts among the mountains, which are very rugged in that part of Ireland where we lost ourselves. They live in huts made of straw; the men are all large bodied and of handsome features and limbs, active as the roe-deer.”
Of the women, he wrote:
“Most of them are very beautiful, but badly-dressed. The head-dress of the women is a linen cloth, doubled over the head and tied in front.” He remarks “the women are great workers and housekeepers, after their fashion.”
His overall impression of Ireland is told in this one succinct line:
“In this kingdom there is neither justice nor right, and everyone does what he pleases.”
‘Francisco de Cuéllar – Lost Sailor of the Armada’, a digital audio play, will stream on the Spanish Armada Ireland Facebook page at 8pm on Thursday December 4th. More details at SpanishArmadaIreland.com. This project was funded by Sligo County Council through the Creative Ireland (Sligo) fund 2023-2027.
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