New Irish/Spanish joint publication reveals the fascinating story of Captain Cuéllar, 1588 Spanish Armada shipwreck survivor
- Published on: 3 December 2025
- Last updated on: 3 December 2025
The Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government’s National Monuments Service, in partnership with the Spanish Ministry of Culture, has launched a new publication called “The Letter from Captain Cuéllar – Shipwrecks of the Spanish Armada in Ireland”, exploring Captain Francisco de Cuéllar’s vivid account of his survival following the loss, in Streedagh Bay, Sligo, of three ships of the 1588 Spanish Armada.
The publication comprises specialist contributions from both Ireland and Spain, explores and reinterprets Cuéllar’s extraordinary journey and is supported by contemporary historical accounts and recent archaeological discoveries in County Sligo. A facsimile of Captain Cuéllar’s letter ‘La Carta’ is also published with an accompanying translation in English.
Captain Cuéllar’s Carta is a fascinating document, narrating in the first person the extraordinary adventure of one of the captains of the Armada. His story is peppered with descriptions of Ireland in the late 16th century – its geography, inhabitants, language and social conditions. Cuéllar was stranded in an unfamiliar land and grappling with the loss of his crew and ships. His journey home is a saga of endurance against the socio-political backdrop and extreme weather of Ireland at the time. After surviving the wreck, Cuéllar spent several months travelling through the northwest of Ireland, moving between Gaelic chieftains, hiding from English forces and attempting to secure passage to Scotland, then to the Netherlands, and eventually back to Spain. He wrote a detailed narrative of his experiences in a letter to King Philip in 1589. This account provides one of the most vivid and valuable first-hand descriptions of life in the late-16th century.
Minister of State for Heritage, Nature and Biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan TD said:
“Our National Monuments Service team’s work to investigate, protect and raise awareness of the heritage of the Armada is to be commended. Through Ireland’s recent ratification of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, we are strengthening our commitment to the protection of underwater archaeology on the international stage. I look forward to continuing this very close cooperation with Spain – as demonstrated through this wonderful book – on our remarkable shared heritage, which lies in Irish waters.”
The archaeological remains of the Armada lie on the seabed at Streedagh. In response to the impacts of severe winter storms in 2015, the National Monuments Service (NMS) recovered nine bronze guns and a bronze cauldron from the wreck of La Juliana, and recorded carriage wheels and the ship structure. The material recovered from the wreck of La Juliana comprises the largest collection of guns from one Armada wreck in the world to date. The publication launched today honours the shared heritage between Spain and Ireland and importance of the story of the Spanish Armada to our mutual histories.
The Spanish Ambassador to Ireland, Her Excellency Teresa Lizaranzu emphasised:
“This publication honours the shared history of Ireland and Spain and the bonds that tie our countries together. Moreover it honours the courage and memory of Captain Cuéllar and his fellow countrymen of the Armada, bringing to life his direct testimony of the wrecking event and his onward travels. It shows the excellence of our bilateral cultural cooperation and the joint efforts of our experts to preserve Heritage.”
Collaboration between Ireland and Spain to protect underwater cultural heritage
The National Monuments Service and the Spanish Ministry of Culture are working closely on the protection of this underwater cultural heritage. Under a strengthening cooperation framework, Ireland and Spain are now developing joint projects and sharing information and knowledge. Engagement with communities, particularly those in Sligo and Donegal, where Armada ships and those on board were lost and are remembered in annual commemoration events as an important component of the cooperation framework.
Senior Archaeologist Dr. Connie Kelleher with the National Monuments Service said:
“Shipwrecks capture the imagination, ships lost in mere moments and sealed by sand and time. The Armada story is a human story, vividly told by Captain Cuéllar in his account. This tale has travelled to us through the centuries and reflects a collective cultural heritage that we share today. Sharing ideas and knowledge, collaborating on research and engaging in areas of mutual interest is key to future management and protection. The publication of Captain Cuéllar’s Carta is a wonderful example of this emerging partnership.”
Assistant Deputy Director for the Management and Coordination of Cultural Heritage for Spain’s Ministry of Culture, Carmen Cabrera said:
“The story of the Spanish Armada and the ships that were lost around the Irish coast, along with the stories of those involved is but one aspect of the shared heritage that exists between Ireland and Spain. We hope this publication will raise awareness of the uniqueness of Captain Cuéllar's letter, foster interest in underwater cultural heritage, and further strengthen collaboration and future projects between our two nations in honour of our shared past.”
The National Monuments Service and the Spanish Ministry of Culture acknowledge the contributions of all authors, institutions and professionals of both countries involved in the project.
The book is available to purchase from www.wordwellbooks.com
ENDS
Notes for editors
La Juliana, a vessel from Barcelona, was wrecked at Streedagh along with the other two ships, La Lavia from Venice and Santa Maria de Visón from Dubrovnik, on the 21 September 1588, with the cumulative loss of over 1,100 lives. The three ships formed part of the Spanish fleet of 130 ships, 26 of which were in total lost around the coast of Ireland.
At 860 tons, La Juliana carried 325 soldiers and a crew of 70 mariners. A noteworthy survivor of La Juliana was Pedro Blanco who subsequently entered the service of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone. The most famous survivor of Streedagh is Captain Francisco de Cuéllar, who served on the ship La Lavia, and who wrote his detailed account of the sinking and of his time in Ireland thereafter, thereby giving a wonderful insight into the living conditions that prevailed in the northwest of Ireland at that time.
The collection of 12 cannon from Streedagh, in such excellent condition and representing foundries from Genoa to Sicily to Constantinople, is a truly unique survival from this period and has garnered much attention from international scholars as well as from media, especially in the Spanish-speaking parts of the world.
Captain Cuéllar was on board a ship that was part of the Spanish Armada which was wrecked off the coast of Streedagh beach in Co. Sligo on the 21 September 1588. After surviving the wreck, Cuéllar spent several months travelling through the northwest of Ireland, moving between Gaelic chieftains, hiding from English forces and attempting to secure passage to Scotland and eventually back to Spain.
He later wrote a detailed narrative of his experiences in a letter to King Philip in 1589. This account provides one of the most vivid and valuable first-hand descriptions of life in the late-16th century.
Captain Cuéllar’s letter has long been regarded as a significant source for understanding the history and archaeology of the northwest of Ireland, and it continues to inform research into our shared underwater cultural heritage between Ireland and Spain.
Captain Cuéllar’s Letter
In the months following the shipwreck in Sligo, Captain Cuéllar made an arduous journey across the north-west trying to make his way home. His adventures were immortalised in his famous’ Carta’, or letter, written by him in 1589, a copy of which is now held in the Spanish Royal Academy of History, Madrid.
In his Carta, a copy of which is included in the new book, Cuéllar tells of the wrecking of his ship, La Lavia, amid ferocious storms at Streedagh. Two other vessels were also stranded that night in Sligo - La Juliana, and the Santa Maria de Víson. Cuéllar’s ‘Carta’ has left an enduring social account of that time, from when he came ashore clinging to flotsam and was met with hostility by the local population and Crown force soldiers in the area, who proceeded to put to death most of the survivors. In all some 1,100 crew perished on the beach in the shipwrecking and in the days that followed.
Having survived the sinking and escaping the aftermath, Cuéllar’s journey through Ireland was interspersed by encounters with both friend and foe. He travelled across north Sligo and into Leitrim where he met with other survivors from the ships, and where they found refuge under the Gaelic ruling lords of O’Rourke and MacClancy, including defending the MacClancy castle of Rosclogher on Lough Melvin. He made it to Derry, from where he secured passage on a vessel to Scotland and onwards to Antwerp in what was then the Spanish Netherlands. He eventually found safe passage home to Spain, ending a remarkable journey, an adventure he put to paper in his Carta.
“The custom of these savages is to live as the brute beasts among the mountains, which are very rugged in this part of Ireland where we lost ourselves. They live in huts made of straw. The men are all large bodied, and of handsome features and limbs; and as active as the roe-deer. [ ] The most of the women are very beautiful, but badly dressed up…wearing no more than a chemise, and a blanket, with which they cover themselves, and a linen cloth, much doubled, over the head and tied in front.”
Captain Cuéllar, Antwerp, October 1589