Battle of Castlehaven

On 6 December 1601, Richard Leveson forced four English warships through a Spanish gun battery at Castlehaven, breaking Pedro de Zubiaur's convoy before the larger fleet could reinforce it. Five Spanish ships sank, grounded or fell into English hands while the English lost no vessels, though one hundred and fifty men bled on the deck. The bay that looks peaceful now still holds the weight of that sudden violence, where towed ropes and rowing oars carried steel through fire instead of waiting for the wind.