Episode Information

In 1588, five Spanish Armada ships rounded the coast of Donegal, Ireland. Only three of them made it home. In 2010 American diver Liam Miller discovered the hull of an ancient shipwreck off Rutland Island in north Donegal. It’s rare that the hull of a 400 year old shipwreck is found almost intact. Connie Kelleher, underwater archaeologist, leads a team to excavate and preserve the wreck, and also to try to determine its origin. Could the shipwreck be one of the lost ships of the Spanish Armada fleet? We take this opportunity to follow the ship’s trail into the past: the golden age of naval conquest. The Rutland Island wreck acts as a living, breathing prism through which the story of the great maritime conflicts off Irelands shores can be told.