Singeing the King of Spain's Beard (4/19/1587)

Drake's 1587 expedition took place in the Bay of Cádiz, in April and May 1587. The English privateer, Francis Drake, led a military expedition against the Spanish naval forces assembling at Cádiz. Much of the Spanish fleet was destroyed. There followed a series of raiding parties against several forts along the Portuguese coast. A Spanish treasure ship, returning from the Indies, was also captured. The damage caused by the English delayed Spanish plans to invade England by more than a year. This incident, known to the Spanish as Drake's raid on Cádiz 1587, is known to the English by Drake's phrase “Singeing the beard of the King of Spain”.