In two years' time, when all the fuss about the millennium is over, Cork will come into its own. It will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Battle of Kinsale - that is, if one ought to "celebrate" a battle lost. In any event, in preparation for this big occasion, John R. Thullier has written a pamphlet called Kinsale 1601: the Last Armada; it is short, authoritative and concise, and will tell you all you need to know of the fiasco. It will also tell you something of the weather.
You will recall that 400 years ago the Hughs O'Donnell and O'Neill, Earls of Tyrconnell and Tyrone, found the interference of their would-be overlords in Dublin Castle irksome. The Spaniards, always happy to help an enemy of England, lent a hand, but chose perhaps the most inconvenient spot in Ireland to effect a landing.
It was not their first attempt. In October 1596, 100 ships under Don Martin de Padilla sailed for Ireland, but were scattered by a violent storm off Finisterre. The following year, de Padilla tried again, but foul weather obliged him to return to Spain. And of the 35 ships that sailed with Don Juan D'Aquila in 1601, only 20 made it to Kinsale; the rest were victims of another storm just south of Ireland.
When Don Juan arrived in Cork, our Ulster heroes had to march 300 miles to meet him. Meanwhile, the new Lord Deputy, Mountjoy, put D'Aquila and his fellow Spaniards under siege, and stood between them and the approaching earls. In the end, Mountjoy defeated the Ulster chieftains on the outskirts of Kinsale, and Don Juan surrendered shortly afterwards - 398 years ago today, in fact, on December 21st, 1601.
One of the mysteries of the tale, however, is how the Spaniards managed to obtain such favourable terms. Don Juan demanded that his forces be allowed to leave "with ensigns flying and their arms in hand" - in short, with all the honours of war and none of the disgrace attending a defeated army. And Mountjoy agreed.
It may be that the weather played a part. The winds around these islands, as we know, are mainly westerly, and the winds in December 1601 blew particularly steadily from this direction. In addition, Mountjoy was running very short of victuals. The persistent westerly winds not only precluded speedy relief for him in this respect from Bristol, but were also favourable to any reinforcements for Don Juan that might be on their way from Spain. Wisely, Mountjoy did not want to gamble on a change of wind - and hence his agreement to the Spaniards' rather cheeky terms.