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I'm surprised by your first line. In the UK it's been considered that a combination of the sea and weather has saved us on numerous occasions including with the

I'm surprised by your first line. In the UK it's been considered that a combination of the sea and weather has saved us on numerous occasions including with the Spanish Armada, the Napoleonic Wars and WW2. "The waters of the Channel are notoriously treacherous, which could have posed problems for the smaller boats" - https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/52808043 https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/52808043

gerdesj 6y ago
That's what I grew up on too. However a bit of thought shows that to be not quite but close to bollocks. People even swim the Channel! Fast shallow draught boats, well navigated can whizz over by oar and or sail in a few hours or a day or two at worst. Top Gear sent some pretty dodgy aquavans over in one program. Even I've sailed a 28 footer over to France. Compare that to trying to walk say from Yeovil to Exeter in the SW of England. It's about 40-50 miles. Nowadays you drive via the A303/A30 or A303/A358/M5 and it takes an hour or so. Back then you have the Blackdown hills to get over and a lot of muddy tracks. I think you'd hope to get to Crewkerne or Ilminster on day one. Then Honiton on day two and then Exeter on day three. That's on foot. On horseback you could probably do it in one day and with a mule or cart probably two days. All of those towns existed back then and earlier. The Armada was something else - huge galleons outmaneuvered by our smaller boats - once the formation was broken it was a bit horrid for them. The Spaniards had a professional admiral who knew his stuff but a wanker of a noble put in charge who made some daft decisions. Also they were supposed to meet up with a land force in Flanders to transport over to England and that did not go well. The weather did favour the English as well. Once the formation was broken they tried to go around the British Isles anti-clockwise to try and get back to Spain, which as you say means seeing some of the nastiest weather and conditions we have to offer. Quite a few spaniards who managed to make it ashore in one piece settled here and there and improved the local genetic diversity 8) QE1 refused to pay our navy, despite they had saved the nation. Back then the navy was quite heavily privatised - Sir F Drake was known as a pirate in the Caribbean or a good English patriot depending on your point of view.

gerdesj 6y ago

That's what I grew up on too. However a bit of thought shows that to be not quite but close to bollocks. People even swim the Channel! Fast shallow draught boats, well navigated can whizz over by oar and or sail in a few hours or a day or two at worst. Top Gear sent some pretty dodgy aquavans over in one program. Even I've sailed a 28 footer over to France. Compare that to trying to walk say from Yeovil to Exeter in the SW of England. It's about 40-50 miles. Nowadays you drive via the A303/A30 or A303/A358/M5 and it takes an hour or so. Back then you have the Blackdown hills to get over and a lot of muddy tracks. I think you'd hope to get to Crewkerne or Ilminster on day one. Then Honiton on day two and then Exeter on day three. That's on foot. On horseback you could probably do it in one day and with a mule or cart probably two days. All of those towns existed back then and earlier. The Armada was something else - huge galleons outmaneuvered by our smaller boats - once the formation was broken it was a bit horrid for them. The Spaniards had a professional admiral who knew his stuff but a wanker of a noble put in charge who made some daft decisions. Also they were supposed to meet up with a land force in Flanders to transport over to England and that did not go well. The weather did favour the English as well. Once the formation was broken they tried to go around the British Isles anti-clockwise to try and get back to Spain, which as you say means seeing some of the nastiest weather and conditions we have to offer. Quite a few spaniards who managed to make it ashore in one piece settled here and there and improved the local genetic diversity 8) QE1 refused to pay our navy, despite they had saved the nation. Back then the navy was quite heavily privatised - Sir F Drake was known as a pirate in the Caribbean or a good English patriot depending on your point of view.