The Lavia was the almiranta, or vice flagship of the fleet and carried the Judge Advocate General, Martin de Aranda, responsible for the discipline of the armada.

After extensive documentary research of over three years, an English salvage team, the Streedagh Strand Armada Group, identified the wrecksite on 6 May 1985.

They were large merchant vessels and intended as transports for the men and equipment required for the invasion of England.

The ships were carracks, which were often some of the largest vessels of their day, and favoured for merchantmen due to their large cargo holds.

La Lavia, a Venetian merchantman from Naples and the vice-flagship of the squadron, mounted 25 guns, displaced 728 tons, had a crew of 71 sailors and transported 271 soldiers.

The number is likely to have been considerably higher though, due to inter-ship transfers from damaged or lost vessels.

Unable to round Erris head against a southwesterly gale, the squadron was driven in towards the coast at Cairbre, now county Sligo, and on 17 September the ships dropped anchor 2 miles offshore and prepared to ride out the storm.

The scene was described by the eyewitness and survivor Francisco de Cuellar ..and not being able to weather round or double Cape Clear, in Ireland, on account of the severe storm which arose upon the bow, he was forced to make for the land with these three ships, which, as I say, were of the largest size, and to anchor more than half a league from the shore, where we remained for four days without being able to make any provision, nor could it even be made.

Over a thousand drowned among them many important people, captains, gentlemen and regular officers....many men drowned inside the ships, while others jumped into the water never to come up againThe site consists of three locations roughly parallel to the shore, marked by the discovery team as sites 1, 2 and 3.

In 2015, storms exposed the wreck-site again and a salvage operation was commenced by the National Monuments Service of the Irish state.

One was a truck type previously unrecorded on Spanish vessels at this time, the other was a trailed carriage in good condition with both wheels still attached.

The site is unique in the world and represents an unparalleled preservation of three late 16th century ships in a coastal location.

Monitoring and surveying continues as the wrecks are in a vulnerable high energy environment that is frequently exposed to storms.

[5] It was subsequently identified as the Greyhound, a coastal trading vessel that travelled regularly between Britain and Ireland.