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Counter-AH: Drake's Disaster
This is an experiment of mine. Essentially a "what if?" inside a "what if'", or Counter-AH, for shorter. It's easy to understand. Tell me if you like, I have a second one regarding the Revolutionary Spain chapter. Oh, btw, I'm really procrastinating regarding the upcoming battle in the Andes, somehow writing about the wars in America is draggind me down.
After his success in the Panama raid, sir Francis Drake decided to start an adventure to circumnavigate the globe and start a corsair campaign on Spanish ships, primarily trying to attack the Spanish trade in the Pacific, which was expected to be totally unguarded. His fleet of three ships sailed around the southern tip of South America however the strong winds and overall terrible sailing conditions ended up wrecking one of the ships and forcing other to sail back to England, leaving Drake's fleet with a single ship, the Pelican. He insited on crossing into the Pacific and sailing north in search of potential trasure. Some time around October 1578 his ship pased by Mocha Island, where he was seriously hurt by the local Mapuches. He decided to attempt to sack the city of Valdivia at some dozens kilometers to the north. However luck would prove to remain constant during his voyage, as on October 28th he witnessed a fleet coming from the Fernandines. His only ship was fast, but without a proper knowledge of the currents and winds of the region he wouldn't scape. On the night of December 2nd he was finally reached by a single Spanish ship. Drake refused to surrender his ship and tried to fight, but the Spanish cannons proved too powerful for his own ship to hold and the Pelican sank after 40 minutes of bombardment. Drake would survive a bomb almost hitting him, but the explosion left him unconscious and he drowned with the ship. The English would only know about his deceased sailor in 1584.
Initially this had limited impact on the world compared to TATL (This Alternate TimeLine aka "Where the Sun never sets"). However everything changed in 1587. With Drake dead his expedition to Cádiz (April-July 1587) never happens. Without this attack the Spanish fleet doesn't lose a big amount of ships and supplies, enabling the Armada to set sail on 1587 as planned. The fleet, under the command of the unbeaten admiral Álvaro de Bazán succeded in encountering the English fleet in Plymouth and Southampton, scoring two decisive victories that cleaned the channel of English forces. Then he proceeded to sail to Calais to board the Army of Flanders.
I myself made a map regarding a succesful armada which describes the campaign, just change 1588 for 1587 and "Marquis of Medina-Sidonia" for "Álvaro de Bazán".
After his success in the Panama raid, sir Francis Drake decided to start an adventure to circumnavigate the globe and start a corsair campaign on Spanish ships, primarily trying to attack the Spanish trade in the Pacific, which was expected to be totally unguarded. His fleet of three ships sailed around the southern tip of South America however the strong winds and overall terrible sailing conditions ended up wrecking one of the ships and forcing other to sail back to England, leaving Drake's fleet with a single ship, the Pelican. He insited on crossing into the Pacific and sailing north in search of potential trasure. Some time around October 1578 his ship pased by Mocha Island, where he was seriously hurt by the local Mapuches. He decided to attempt to sack the city of Valdivia at some dozens kilometers to the north. However luck would prove to remain constant during his voyage, as on October 28th he witnessed a fleet coming from the Fernandines. His only ship was fast, but without a proper knowledge of the currents and winds of the region he wouldn't scape. On the night of December 2nd he was finally reached by a single Spanish ship. Drake refused to surrender his ship and tried to fight, but the Spanish cannons proved too powerful for his own ship to hold and the Pelican sank after 40 minutes of bombardment. Drake would survive a bomb almost hitting him, but the explosion left him unconscious and he drowned with the ship. The English would only know about his deceased sailor in 1584.
Initially this had limited impact on the world compared to TATL (This Alternate TimeLine aka "Where the Sun never sets"). However everything changed in 1587. With Drake dead his expedition to Cádiz (April-July 1587) never happens. Without this attack the Spanish fleet doesn't lose a big amount of ships and supplies, enabling the Armada to set sail on 1587 as planned. The fleet, under the command of the unbeaten admiral Álvaro de Bazán succeded in encountering the English fleet in Plymouth and Southampton, scoring two decisive victories that cleaned the channel of English forces. Then he proceeded to sail to Calais to board the Army of Flanders.
I myself made a map regarding a succesful armada which describes the campaign, just change 1588 for 1587 and "Marquis of Medina-Sidonia" for "Álvaro de Bazán".
- Drex
- Word Count: 460