An important reason why the English were able to defeat the Armada was that the wind blew the Spanish ships northwards, celebrated on a medal inscribed ‘God Blew and they were Scattered’.

Evidence

God blew and they were scattered (The National Archives (UK))

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Surviving Cadiz permanently cured English sailors of fearing shore guns, galleys, and fire-ships. — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 243; Medina Sidonia’s leadership enabled rapid reassembly of the scattered Armada — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 749; The Armada could not board the faster English ships even with the weather-gauge — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 673 (+10 more)

Related

• The Armada could not board the faster English ships even with the weather-gauge (similarity 0.85)
• The weather of 1588 appears to have been extraordinary; the Spanish were prevented from putting to sea for some weeks by contrary winds. (similarity 0.84)
• Ships lost their anchors, and drifted out to sea to avoid catching fire, causing the Spanish ships’ formation to be completely broken. (similarity 0.82)
• Though not a single Spanish ship was, in fact, torched by the attack, the fireships caused many to cut their anchor cables in panic to avoid… (similarity 0.81)
• The English sent fire ships into the Spanish anchorage at Calais, and prevailing winds and storms ultimately scattered and destroyed the Spanish fleet on its retreat. (similarity 0.81)
• No Spanish ship was lost other than the eight fire ships; the fireships’ main effect was forcing the Spanish to scatter. (similarity 0.80)
• Medina Sidonia’s leadership enabled rapid reassembly of the scattered Armada (similarity 0.80)
• On the night of 7 August, English fireships broke the Spanish formation, and Medina Sidonia’s ships ‘scattered in a…’ (similarity 0.80)
• The Spanish lost 44 ships and estimates suggest that between 10,000 to 20,000 people were killed or went missing. (similarity 0.79)
• Spanish historians preferred a sparer version of Philip’s reaction to the Armada’s defeat (similarity 0.79)
• The English captains saw fireships as the only way to dislodge the Armada. (similarity 0.79)
• No Spanish ships were burnt, but the crescent formation had been broken, and the fleet found itself too far leeward of Calais in the rising southwesterly wind. (similarity 0.79)