The mural depicts the well-known Drake's game painted in a Santa Barbara setting. The figures are adapted from a 19th century British painting, "The Armada Is In Sight."

   In May, 1588, King Phillip II of Spain dispatched his Armada carrying 29,522 soldiers to invade England. Elizabeth I, aware of the approaching danger, prepared her own fleet. The larger part of the main English fleet was sent to Plymouth.

   Captain Thomas Fleming, in his ship the "Golden Hind," sighted the first Spanish sails on July 19, 1588. He raced to Plymouth with the news. Almost simultaneously, the Armada was sighted from land.

   Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh had just finished the seventh end in a tense game with Lord Howard and Sir John Hawkins when the messenger arrived. Traditional lore holds that Drake calmly finished the game before preparing to set sail on the evening tide! Drake's Iaconic Westcountry drawl, "We have time to finish the game and beat the Spaniards, too," echoes down the centuries.........and with it the game of bowls.