Girona (ship) Informations

Coordinates: 55°14′46″N 6°30′15″W / 55.2462°N 6.5043°W / 55.2462; -6.5043

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 Northern Irish coast. The wreck is noteworthy for the great loss of life that resulted, and the treasures recovered.

La Girona had anchored in Killybegs harbour, Donegal, with a damaged rudder. With the assistance of an Irish chieftain, MacSweeney Bannagh, she was repaired and set sail for Scotland on 25 October, with 1,300 men on board, including Alonso Martinez de Leyva.

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) in County Antrim, on the night of 26 October 1588. Of the estimated 1300 souls on board, there were nine survivors. 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 Giants Causeway cliffs overlooking the coast. From there, MacDonnell is also believed to have conducted the first clandestine salvage efforts on the shipwreck.

In 1967-68, off the coast of Portballintrae (Port-na Spaniagh bay), a team of Belgian divers (including Robert Sténuit, the worlds first aquanaut), located the remains of the wreck and brought up the greatest find of Spanish Armada treasure ever salvaged. The underwater site was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 22 April 1993.

The wrecking of La Girona is officially commemorated with a period illustration on the reverse side of sterling banknotes issued by the First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland.

"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 (National Museums of Northern Ireland) in Belfast.

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