 In 1602 Frederico Spinola , younger brother of Ambrogio Spinola had distinguished himself greatly as a soldier in the Army of Flanders and had succeeded in 1599 going through the English Channel passing the straits of Dover unmolested ; this led to a panic called the Invisible armada as it encouraged suspicions that the attempt might be renewed and on a larger scale . Buoyed by this achievement he had indulged Philip III of Spain , the Duke of Lerma and Martín de Padilla in a vision of a massive galley @-@ borne invasion of England from Flanders . However the council brought him down to a mere eight galleys , provided at Spinola 's expense . He was on his way from San Lucar to Lisbon but he was defeated by Sir Richard Leveson at Sezimbra Bay which cost him two galleys . 
