Congratulations to Bideford Town Council maintenance team who won first prize in the Bideford Carnival float competition for their impressive replica of Revenge, the ship Sir Richard Grenville famously defended to his death off the island of Flores in the Azores. 

Grenville’s reputation as one of Elizabeth I’s fiercest and bravest commanders is derived from accounts of the sea battle against the Spanish, famously celebrated in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s memorable poem. 

The Revenge was a ship of some 500 tons. She was well armed and could carry 250 men, though by the time of the battle she probably had fewer than 200 aboard, of whom nearly half were out of action through sickness. Some, perhaps many, of these would have been from Bideford or Northam, unnamed and uncelebrated.

The Revenge formed part of a fleet of 20 or more ships under the command of Lord Thomas Howard that had been attacking shipping off the coast of Spain and Portugal throughout the spring and summer of 1591. Grenville was Vice Admiral. In August they gathered off the Azores ready to plunder Spanish treasure ships arriving from the New World. 

However, when the Spanish arrived, it was not from the Caribbean but from Seville. A huge fleet sailed out to combat the threat to the treasure ships. When Howard saw them coming, he wisely sailed away but Grenville delayed, ostensibly to await some of his men who had gone ashore to buy – or steal – supplies. We can imagine some locals being among this group. The Spanish were almost upon them, and the master urged Grenville to give the order to get away while they could, but Grenville refused, considering it a sign of dishonour. Superhuman courage? Or a lack of judgement and care for his men?  A gruelling 15-hour battle ensued and 40 of those fit for action were killed. Many others were killed on the Spanish side. 

The Revenge was in a sorry state and taking in water by the time our hero, severely wounded, accepted defeat. But still he would not surrender, demanding that the ship be blown up with all its crew rather than be handed over to the enemy. 

The master, the captain and many of the crew disagreed. They weren’t ready to die. Instead, they negotiated their freedom and handed the leaking hull over to the Spaniards along with the injured Grenville. In his last breath, Grenville reportedly called them ‘traitors and dogs’.