79 THE ROSARIO
Peter Sissons is an author and writer. His first mystery thriller, The Rosario, is published by Lulu and is currently available on Amazon, Apple Books and
Lulu.com.
The Rosario – a present-day mystery thriller – is interwoven with the historical facts surrounding the taking in 1588, of the Spanish Armada’s Nuestra Señora del Rosario, the flagship of the Andalusian squadron, by Sir Francis Drake. The ship had been left helpless after a collision and is regarded as the richest prize taken from the Armada. She was towed into Torbay and the crew were held prisoner in Torre Abbey barn. Later the ship was towed round to Dartmouth, where many prisoners were held on board for several months in very poor conditions until ransomed by the Duke of Parma.
“L
aden with treasure-trove including gold coins, diamond-hilted swords, wine and munitions, the
galleon was severely damaged when it collided with another Spanish vessel. The commander of the crippled ship, Don Pedro de Valdes, surrendered without a fight when challenged by the feared captain of the Revenge. ‘El Draco’ trained his cannon on the sitting target and delivered a chilling ultimatum, ‘I am Francis Drake and my matches are burning’. Crowds from Brixham, Paignton and Torquay gathered along the coastline as the Rosario was towed into Torbay and 397 captive mariners and soldiers brought ashore. They were imprisoned temporarily in the Old Barn at Torre Abbey (now known forever as the Spanish Barn). There were angry demonstrations against the would- be invaders and local people resented sharing their harvest with the enemy. George Cary of Cockington, who had organised the defence of South Devon, ordered many of the prisoners to be returned to the Rosario ‘to live upon such victuals as do remain in the said ship, which is very little and bad, their fish unsavoury and bread full of worms’” (source: Maritime History - The Spanish Armada published by Torbay Council Library Services). Many prisoners were held on board for several months in these very poor conditions until ransomed by the Duke of Parma.
Below: Drake takes De Valdes Galleon; the Lord Admiral pursues the enemy
From this historical event, Peter Sissons has woven a present-
day narrative as he explains, “Apart from purloining the fortune discovered within The Rosario’s holds, Drake removed the admiral’s bed, belonging to Don Pedro de Valdés – still seen at Drake’s house in Devon. Using this last fact, I brought fiction into play, by adding Valdés’s portable writing desk and two of his elaborately carved cabin doors to Drake’s haul. The novel weaves an adrenaline-charged story
Sir Francis Drake by Marcus Gheeraerts (Buckland Abbey, Devon
around the discovery of historically far-reaching documents, found within the desk. The documents are deciphered by Katie Stubbs, an expert in 16th- century Tudor and Spanish history, suggesting that Valdés’s doors hide a special secret. Katie’s employer, Xavier Nathanial Sinclair and owner of the desk, is a fabulously rich but obnoxious Englishman living in a large villa in the Catalonian mountains. Being obsessed with collecting Tudor and Spanish 16th-century artefacts, the document discoveries encourage Sinclair to jet Katie and Max Kraemer, his architect, to Dartmouth and Devon to
© The Armada Paintings Palace of Westminster
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