Technique includes etching. This early 19th-century print is interesting as an example of how great events of natiional history are absorbed and represented for later audiences. The ships shown are 'antiqued' versions of those of the Napoleonic period, carrying them back more to around 1700 than the 1580s. The Spanish royal ensign on that at centre is realistic for both the late 16th and early 19th centuries, and the red ensign at left the pattern used in the late 17th century. The priest or monk holding aloft a cross as the boat carrying him sinks reflects both the anti-Catholicism of the Armada period and that still current at the time of the print, the Armada rightly being remembered as repulsing Philip II of Spain's attempt to overturn the Protestant reformation that the reign of Elizabeth I had seen firmly established in England. The image was published while the Peninsular campaign against Napoleon's domination of Spain was nearing completion, with Spanish patriots firmly allied with Britain. Other than a reminder of traditional ant-Catholic enmity with Spain, and of the comtemporary dominance of British seapower, it is unclear what the other reasons for publishing the image at the time it appeared were. [PvdM 2/18]