So many myths and stories have attached themselves to the Spanish Armada, like barnacles to the hull of a galley, that we feel we know it almost by association.
The whole tale may be hazy in our minds, but there are flashes. The Armada is a portrait of Elizabeth I, decked out in pearls and bows, seated in splendour in front of a graphic recreation of the Spanish fleet’s destruction.
It is Sir Francis Drake, taking time to ‘finish his game of bowls’ on Plymouth Hoe when
