James Baquet

Believe it or not, there are not one but two naval battles with “Lizard” in their names. The coincidence is not really so great: Both of them occurred in the same place in the English county of Cornwall, a place called “Lizard Point.”

Sadly, neither of them involved fighting lizards or, in fact, any kind of lizard. (England is not known for its warm climate, which lizards seem to prefer.) Instead, the name comes from a misinterpretation of the Cornish word “Lysardh,” meaning “the high court.” The Lizard Point is located at the southern end of the Lizard Peninsula, just south of Lizard Village. The place was of strategic significance: It is the southernmost point on the main island of Great Britain.

Now, for the battles. The first, in February 1637, was called “The Battle off Lizard Point,” and was part of the Dutch War of Independence, in which the nascent Dutch Republic attempted to throw off the power of the Spanish Habsburg rulers. The English had sided with the Dutch; a Spanish admiral took on an important merchant convoy of 44 Anglo-Dutch vessels (with an escort of six warships) and either destroyed or captured 20 of them.

Despite this setback, the war concluded a little over a decade later with a Dutch victory, and the Dutch Republic of the Protestants was free (though Spain retained the southern, Catholic part of the country).

Some 80 years later, the region saw another notable battle, called “The Battle of the Lizard.” This took place during the War of the Spanish Succession, in which rival factions (represented mainly by France on one side and the Holy Roman Empire — call it Austria — on the other) fought for control of a united Habsburg Empire (the outcome was far more complex than that simple aspiration). However, Spain was not involved in this second Lizard battle; it took place between two French squadrons, with the English in support of the Austrians.

Again, an English merchant convoy was attacked and severely damaged, with one of the five warships destroyed, and three more captured — along with about 15 merchant ships.

Lizard Point was not good to the English.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. group of ships traveling together

2. against each other

3. coming to a wrong conclusion

4. reverse, defeat

5. regarding military planning

6. wish, hope

7. unrelated happening(s)

8. extreme

9. protective group

10. being “born”