274 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



depths wherein she has so long lain buried. 

 Driven gradually into the shallows by the successive 

 tides of years, she at length became so placed as to 

 be shaken and shattered by the furious waves. 



Every county on the western seaboard of Ireland 

 saw the wreck of one or more of the war-ships 

 forming part of the boastful Spanish Armada. 

 What a shore to fall foul of, with its terrific seas 

 and perpendicular cliffs of a thousand, and almost 

 two thousand, feet high ! At " Spanish Point," 

 co. Clare, carronades with the crest of Spain yet 

 discernible, have been cast up by the waves. This 

 must have been a terrible stretch of coast to weather, 

 that lying between the Bay of Galway and Loup 

 or Leap Head, to ships anxiously striving for the 

 shelter of the Shannon's mouth. It was here that 

 the admiral's three-decker was driven ashore. His 

 cabin furniture and other valuables were floated 

 to land, to be seized and kept for centuries by the 

 coast men. 



To this day chairs and tables, chests and plank 

 doors, formed of old mahogany, are to be met with 

 in fishermen's hovels, black with age and smoke, 

 rickety with constant mending, wear and tear, but 

 yet sound in the wood. The admiral's table, large 

 and massive, with the Royal arms and its chasing 

 in perfect preservation, I have seen ; and it is 

 stored as a curiosity in the hall of Dromoland 

 Castle. This was washed up at the time the flag- 

 ship was wrecked, as well as a small and curious 

 musical instrument, which is now in a Dublin 

 museum. Some of the crew of the ill-fated fleet 

 here and there escaped the waves ; and those of 



