In what is known as the English Armada, Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Norris undertake a counter-attack in response to the failed Spanish Armada of the previous year. They make an expedition, with 150 ships and 18,000 men to Portugal, in support of Antonio Prior of Crato, rival claimant to the throne which was seized by Philip II of Spain in 1580. They destroy Corunna but fail to take Lisbon, having lost many men to illness, and the attempt to win the Portuguese throne for Don Antonio is ultimately a failure.