The losses of HMS Blenheim and HMS Java are just two of hundreds on the world’s oceans in the Age of Sail, and the fate of the two ships is mere speculation. Yet the disaster that took them both is history that deserves to be remembered.
The Reconquista, or Christian reconquest of Iberia, took nearly 800 years. The fighting did not come without great attempts by Muslim powers across the strait trying to reestablish their presence in mainland Europe. The last gasp of that effort came in the 1330s, when the powerful Marinid sultanate of what is modern Morocco invaded in an attempt to reverse Christian gains and secure the perilous position of the Sultanate of Granada.