Trinidad Valencera
Country: Ireland
Place: Kinnagoe Bay, western side, near the Inishowen Peninsula, North Donegal
Type: Armed troop transport (Venetian merchantman requisitioned for the Spanish Armada); originally the Balanzara
Identified: Trinidad Valencera, formerly the Venetian ship Balanzara
Dated: 1588; lost during the homebound passage of the Spanish Armada
Length Overall: Unknown; described as one of the largest ships of the entire Armada fleet
History of the shipwreck
In February 1587, former Queen of Scotland Mary Stuart (1542-60) was beheaded by order of Queen Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603) (Wormald 2017, 168). This act by the Protestant queen against her devout Catholic cousin sent shockwaves throughout Europe and was one of the final events that prompted King Philip II of Spain (1556-98) to send a grand armada to invade England (Jensen 1988). This armada was supposed to depart Lisbon and sail into the English Channel before escorting the Spanish army in Flanders across the water in an amphibious assault on England.
At the beginning of March, the Venetian ship Balanzara entered the Sicilian port of Palermo; it was possibly carrying a cargo of grain for England (Beltrame 2019, 196). Sicily was well known at the time as a grain basket for the Mediterranean, but it was also a territory ruled by Philip II. After its arrival, Balanzara was commandeered by local officials to transport Neapolitan troops and supplies to Portugal for the invasion of England. After the ship arrived in Lisbon, royal officials decided to confiscate it for the Spanish Armada and began preparations to include the vessel as part of the Levant squadron (Martin 1975, 192). The ship was renamed Trinidad Valencera and was one of the largest ships of the entire fleet.
Spanish naval forces departed Lisbon in May 1588 and engaged the English fleet in a series of skirmishes in the Channel beginning on 20 July. The Battle of Gravelines was the ultimate engagement, which occurred eight days later (Martin 1979a, 15). Although the fleet was damaged and beleaguered, strong western winds prevented the Armada from staying off the Dutch coast, and the fleet began to head north. English forces pursued for several days before abandoning their quarry, while the Spanish began a long journey around the British Isles before heading back to Spain. Many of the ships were damaged from the previous battles, and supplies were running low. Sporadic winds and storms during this homebound passage eventually led to many shipwrecks, some along Scotland, but most off Ireland.
Trinidad Valencera, damaged and carrying survivors from Barca de Amburgo, sought shelter in Ireland and eventually ran aground on a reef along the western side of Kinnagoe Bay, near the Inishowen Peninsula of North Donegal (Martin 1975, 193). Over the next two days the ship broke up and scattered its contents between submerged rock gullies and across the sandy bottom.
In 1971, the City of Derry Sub-Aqua Club was performing a routine dive in Kinnagoe Bay when two divers spotted an exposed bronze cannon (Kelleher 2011, 126). Over the remainder of the day, the group located three additional cannon and three wooden carriage wheels. The divers were convinced they had found the Valencera, due to common knowledge that the wreck was somewhere in the bay. One of the bronze cannons they discovered included Philip II's coat of arms and the gunfounding date of 1556 (Martin 1975, 189-91). Over the next three years, the Club surveyed and mapped exposed objects. Colin Martin of St. Andrews University was recruited as staff archaeologist, which allowed the Club to begin excavation in 1974. Excavators found that the remains of Valencera were scattered over a wide area, and the 6 m deep stratigraphy in parts of the site yielded artifacts buried at different levels (Kelleher 2011, 126-7). The team uncovered many iron nails, rope, wooden bowls, arquebus stocks, leather shoes, fabrics, and ceramic sherds.
Divers found that organic remains in the deeper and more static sediment were well preserved. These included the remains of barrels still full of gunpowder, various blocks and sheaves, and additional carriage wheels (Martin 1979a, 19, 25-6, 35; Martin 1979b, 299-300; Martin 1994, 207). Researchers determined that the largest guns on the wreck were siege weapons capable of firing 40-pound (18.14 kg) shot and were cast at the royal gun foundry at Malines, near Antwerp in modern-day Belgium. They were part of a larger collection brought to Spain and placed on the troop transports to provide additional firepower (Martin 2017, 21-2).
Description of the site
The wreck lies on a reef along the western side of Kinnagoe Bay, near the Inishowen Peninsula of North Donegal, Ireland. The ship broke up over two days after grounding, scattering its contents between submerged rock gullies and across the sandy bottom, with up to 6 m of stratigraphy in parts of the site (Martin 1975, 193; Kelleher 2011, 126-7).
Cargo
As a troop transport, the ship carried armament and military supplies rather than trade cargo: bronze siege guns capable of firing 40-pound (18.14 kg) shot, cast at the royal gun foundry at Malines near Antwerp, along with barrels of gunpowder, carriage wheels, blocks and sheaves, iron nails, rope, wooden bowls, arquebus stocks, leather shoes, fabrics, and ceramic sherds (Martin 1979a, 19, 25-6, 35; Martin 1979b, 299-300; Martin 1994, 207; Martin 2017, 21-2; Kelleher 2011, 126-7).
Hull Remains
Remains of Trinidad Valencera's hull were limited. Timber fragments were scattered throughout the site, while one deposit included 10 elements with better preservation. The remains of two frames and two planks were raised for further analysis.
Frames
Both frames are square, and at least one appears to be a floor timber, based on the three horizontal fasteners and shallow hook scarf present near the wronghead. The shape of the floor timber suggests it was originally positioned around amidships (Martin 1979a, 29-31, fig. 14). Two of the horizontal fastener holes are countersunk on the same side as the shallow hook scarf, while a single fastener was driven from the other face. This fastening pattern suggests two futtocks were attached to the wronghead in a similar manner to the master frame on Mortella III, with only one hook scarf used.
Ceiling, thick stuff and wales
Evidence on both frames suggests that there was ceiling and that an internal layer of pitch was applied to the hull. The planks represent a common strake and a wale. The wale is only 4 cm thicker than the planking; the main difference between these two pieces is that the plank is twice the width (36 cm). Both the plank and wale are fastened with two round iron nails per frame station (Martin 1979a, 28-9, figs. 14-15; Kelleher 2011, 131-2, fig. 5).
Planking
Thickness of the planking (10 cm) suggests a larger vessel that traveled on longer voyages (Martin 1979a, 28-9, figs. 14-15; Kelleher 2011, 131-2, fig. 5).
Caulking
An internal layer of pitch was applied to the hull; no further caulking detail is described in the source text (Martin 1979a, 28-9, figs. 14-15).
Size and scantlings
Frames square. Planking: 10 cm thick, plank width 36 cm; wale 4 cm thicker than the planking. Both plank and wale fastened with two round iron nails per frame station. Guns aboard capable of firing 40-pound (18.14 kg) shot.
References
Wormald, J., Mary, Queen of Scots: A Study in Failure (Edinburgh, 2017);
Jensen, D. L., ‘The Spanish Armada: The Worst-Kept Secret in Europe’, The Sixteenth Century Journal 19:4 (1988), 621-41;
Beltrame, C., ‘Three Venetian ships in the Armada’, Mediterranean Historical Review 34:2 (2019), 195-206;
Martin, C., Full Fathom Five: Wrecks of the Spanish Armada (New York, 1975);
Martin, C., ‘“La Trinidad Valencera”: An Armada invasion transport lost off Donegal. Interim site report, 1971-76’, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 8:1 (1979a), 13-38;
Martin, C., ‘Spanish Armada pottery’, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 8:4 (1979b), 279-302;
Martin, C., ‘Incendiary weapons from the Spanish Armada wreck “La Trinidad Valencera”, 1588’, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 23:3 (1994), 207-17;
Martin, C., ‘Master Remigy's Guns: 16th-century Spanish Armada cannons found on “La Trinidad Valencera”’, Institute of Nautical Archaeology Quarterly 44:3/4 (2017), 19-25;
Kelleher, C., ‘“La Trinidad Valencera” - 1588 Spanish Armada wreck: Results of the Underwater Archaeology Unit's work at the site, 2004-6’, Journal of Irish Archaeology 20 (2011), 123-39.