On September 21st. 1588, three galleons of a Spanish Armada sank off the coast of Streedagh Strand during a storm, the largest of the three vessels struck on a reef off the island of Dernish, now called "Spaniard's Rock". Some 1100 bodies were washed ashore. Those who made it to land were killed either by the native Irish or by the English cavalry. In 1988 a monument was erected marking the spot and placed to honour the four hundredth anniversary of the tragedy.