Spanish Armada, fireship attack. Ninth in a sequence of narrative maps showing the story of the Spanish Armada, an attempted invasion of England by a Spanish fleet in 1588. This map shows an eight fireships from the English fleet (red) attacking the much larger Spanish fleet (black) at Calais on 7 August 1588. This disrupted the Spanish plans to transport troops across the Channel. This series of eleven maps was drawn by Robert Adams, engraved by Augustine Ryther, and published in London in 1590. They were dedicated to the English admiral Lord Howard, who described the events shown, and they include both his coat of arms and those of Queen Elizabeth I. The prevailing wind direction is shown next to the compass rose.