Girona (ship)

La Girona (/lɑː xɪˈrɔːnɑː/) was named after the Girones family, who at the time had just become Dukes of Osuna and viceroys of Naples[1] ( not after Girona, the Catalan name of the city and province of Gerona). Its captain was Hugo de Moncada y Gralla, knight of the Order of Malta.[1]

Don Alonso Martinez de Leyva, El Greco c.1580

La Girona had anchored in Killybegs harbour, Donegal, with a damaged rudder. With the assistance of an Irish chieftain, MacSweeney Bannagh, she was repaired and set sail for Scotland on 25 October, with 1,300 men on board, including Alonso Martínez de Leyva, knight and trece of the Order of Santiago.[1]

After Lough Foyle was cleared, a gale struck and La Girona was driven on to Lacada Point and the "Spanish Rocks'" (as they were known, thereafter) near Ballintoy in County Antrim, on the night of 26 October 1588. Of the estimated 1300 souls on board, there were nine survivors. 260 bodies washed ashore and were buried in a common grave at the local churchyard.

The survivors were sent on to Scotland by the local clan leader Sorley Boy MacDonnell of Dunluce Castle, which was situated just to the west on the Giant's Causeway cliffs overlooking the coast. From there, MacDonnell is also believed to have conducted the first clandestine salvage efforts on the shipwreck.[2]

Between 1967 and April 68, off the coast of Portballintrae (Port-na Spaniagh bay), a team of Belgian divers (including Robert Sténuit, the world's first aquanaut), located the remains of the wreck and brought up the greatest find of Spanish Armada treasure salvaged up until that time.[3][4][5] The underwater site was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 22 April 1993.

First Trust Bank, Northern Ireland, 10-Pound Banknote (back side)

The wrecking of La Girona is officially commemorated with a period illustration on the reverse side of sterling banknotes issued by the First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland.[6]

"Treasures from the Girona" Gold and silver coins, jewelry, armaments, and utilitarian objects from the Spanish galleass, Girona, are on permanent display at the Ulster Museum (National Museums of Northern Ireland) in Belfast.

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  Ulster Museum, Belfast
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  Girona cannons
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  Girona cannon
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  Iron cannon of Duquesa Santa Ana
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  Iron cannon of Duquesa Santa Ana
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  Girona cannons
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  Girona cannon
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  Salamander pendant
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  Gold coins from Girona
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  Gold cross of a knight of Saint John of Jerusalem (Order of Malta), most probably Hugo de Moncada y Gralla who was the only knight of the Order on board[1]
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  View over Port-Na Spaniagh toward Lacada Poin, c.1888.
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  A 19th-century engraving, Spanish Rocks in the background
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  A Spanish Armada treasure chest, considered to be early salvage from the wreck of the Girona.

• Spanish Armada in Ireland
• List of Ships of the Spanish Armada

• Culture Northern Ireland
• Annual Report of the Advisory Committee on Historic Wrecks, 2006

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Galleass Girona.

• Girona Tribute
• Gold of the Girona
• Photograph of Lacada Point where the Girona foundered
• Girona's shipwreck(In Catalan) Revista de Girona 214/2002