A new book which charts the history of the battle of the Spanish Armada off the Isle of Wight coast in 1588 is now available to buy.
The Isle of Wight Armada Coast 1588 is jam-packed with 50 years’ of research, charts, maps, photographs and more, outlining this important battle that the author, David Baldwin MVO RVM, believes should result in the designation of ‘The Isle of Wight Armada Coast’ in the same way as Dorset has the ‘Jurassic Coast’.
Baldwin: Every part of the Island had a role to play in 1588
David Baldwin told OnTheWight,
“Virtually every part of the Island had a role to play in 1588 and some long before the threat surfaced in fleet form.
“There are spies a plenty, all manner of secret missions and voyages, underwater discoveries that present slants on what we would call today commando missions by the Spanish that have been unrecorded, local Island unsung heroes, an unacknowledged Island Fire ship, courtiers acting piratically with the nod of the sovereign, repercussions for pioneering settlements on the American seaboard with ships restricted to English shores in 1588 (but some of which managed to defy this royal command), reinterpretation of charts, and much that will require major revision of received opinion to date about tactics, objectives and particular engagements at sea.”
Designation: ‘The Isle of Wight Armada Coast’
David went on to add,
“I hope this endeavour will turn out to give a major and permanent boost to the Island’s tourist industry, as well as for its educational value for schools colleges and scholars.
“In particular I had it in mind that our Island’s coastline should be accorded the official designation of ‘The Isle of Wight Armada Coast‘ in much the same way as the Dorset has the ‘Jurassic Coast‘ – all part of the developing ‘King Charles III Coast Path‘.
“Given the urgent challenges faced by the South Wight occasioned by geological landslips along coastal sections and the dire effect this has on tourism, this endeavour would serve to inject much need interest into this area – as well as across and around the Island too.”
Given all this, David says, it’ not surprising as has taken him fifty years, on and off, to write ‘The Isle of Wight Armada Coast 1588’, amidst various employments having visited many overseas locations and sources, from the Venetian Arsenal to the Archivio Segretto in the Vatican, and from obscure local to national archives and museums across the British Isles and America.
Background
Resident of Ventnor, David Baldwin, postgraduate of Durham University, worked from 1974 at Lambeth Palace Library, St Paul’s Cathedral and Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal St James’s Palace before being appointed 2016 Gilbert Lecturer and Fellow at Princeton University.
Conferred with Life Membership of the National Museum of Bermuda, he served with the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy Reserve, specialised in amphibious warfare aboard HMS Fearless and was engaged as a freelance historian with the Royal Navy Chaplaincy Service at HMNB Portsmouth Harbour.
The book is available for £20 from the Longshoreman’s Museum on Ventnor seafront.
