Spanish Armada, arrival off Cornwall. First 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 the Spanish fleet (lower left) off the coast of Cornwall on 29 July 1588. The dotted lines show a Spanish ship capturing a fishing boat, and the Golden Hind returning to Plymouth to raise the alarm. 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.