For some reason Benbow has always been considered the typical seaman
of the latter part of the 17th century, a distinction which he appears
to owe to his honesty and bravery, together with the fact that he was
almost always actively employed in the service of King William III,
with whom he was a favorite. He was born in 1650, and entered the navy
as a midshipman in the reign of James II.
Queen Anne ascended the English throne on the 8th of March, 1702, and
on the 2d of May declared war against France.
In September, 1701, Vice-Admiral Benbow had sailed to the West Indies
with a squadron of ten sail of third- and fourth-rate ships, under
orders to detain the Spanish galleons, which were to make their yearly
voyage home, with treasure and valuables.
Admiral Chateau Renaud also sailed from Brest, with the same
destination, with fourteen sail-of-the-line and sixteen frigates, to
meet the galleons and escort them to Cadiz. Benbow was very active in
the West Indies, not only in protecting English trade, but in combating
the plans of Chateau Renaud, of which he had managed to become informed.
On the 19th of August, 1702, in the evening, Benbow, with his small
squadron, being off Santa Martha, fell in with ten sail of French
ships, under Admiral Du Casse. His squadron, consisting of four ships,
each mounting sixty or seventy guns, one large Dutch ship, another full
of troops, and the remainder chiefly small vessels, were running down
close in shore, under their topsails.
Benbow immediately gave chase; but his ships being very much separated,
he was under the necessity of waiting their arrival up before
commencing an attack upon the French. At about four o’clock in the
afternoon, his ships being up, the engagement began.
The British squadron consisted of the Breda, of 70 guns, Benbow’s
flag-ship, one sixty-four, one fifty-four, and four forty-eight-gun
ships.
Benbow’s intention seems to have been to overtake the leading French
ship, and as soon as his second astern was abreast of this ship, to
have commenced the action. If these were disabled, the rest would have
fallen an easy prey; but the Falmouth, 48, disobeyed his orders, and,
being in the rear, closed with and engaged the Dutch ship. The Windsor,
48, and Defiance, 64, also engaged the ships nearest to them, but after
an interchange of broadsides, hauled off, and stood out of gunshot,
in a most cowardly manner. The brunt of the action thus fell upon the
Breda, the flag-ship, which was opposed to the two sternmost French
line-of-battle ships, by which she was seriously cut up and disabled.
The fight lasted until night fell, and Benbow continued the pursuit of
the enemy until the next morning, but at daybreak he found he had only
the Ruby, 48, near him, the rest of his ships being five miles astern.
At 2 P.M. on the 20th, the sea breeze having set in, the French
formed line and made sail on their way, followed by the Breda and
two other English ships; the remaining four making no effort to join
in the pursuit of their enemy. The ships with Benbow could only
annoy the enemy’s rear, but he continued to follow them, under every
disadvantage, for the next two days. At 2 A.M. of the 24th the Breda
was enabled, by a change in the wind, to pass close to the sternmost
French ship, and a smart action ensued. Benbow, in person, boarded the
French ship three times, in doing which he received a severe wound in
the face and another in the arm; and shortly afterward the gallant
Admiral had his right leg shattered by a chain-shot, and was carried
below; but he insisted upon being again taken on deck, and there he
remained, lying in his cot and continuing to give orders as to the
engagement.
The Breda’s immediate opponent was in a short time reduced to a mere
wreck, having lost her fore-top-mast, main yard and mizzen-mast, and
having her hull completely riddled by shot. Soon after daylight Benbow
observed the other French ships bearing down to her assistance; and at
the same time he had the extreme mortification of seeing the Windsor,
Pendennis, Greenwich and Defiance, of his own squadron, actually
bearing up, and running away to leeward, in despite of his signal, then
flying, for “close action.”
The French, observing the dastardly conduct of Benbow’s captains,
steered for the Breda, and opened fire upon that ship, which shot away
some of her spars, and otherwise considerably damaged her. They then
sent fresh hands on board the Breda’s late opponent, and taking her in
tow, made sail and went away, without any attempt on the part of the
English ships to prevent it.
One of Benbow’s lieutenants, at this time expressing his sympathy on
the loss of the Admiral’s leg, the brave man replied, “I am sorry for
it too; but I had rather lost them both than have seen this dishonor
brought upon the English nation. But do you hear,” he continued, “if
another shot should take me off, behave like brave men, and fight it
out!”
In spite of his condition and that of his flag-ship, Benbow determined
still to follow the enemy, so he communicated with his captains, and
ordered them to keep their stations in the line, “and behave like men.”
Upon this Captain Kirkby, of the Defiance, came on board the flag-ship,
and told the Admiral “that he had better desist; that the French were
very strong, and from what was passed he might guess he could make
nothing of it.” Upon sending for the captains of the other ships, to
his great disgust, surprise, and chagrin, he found they coincided in
opinion with Kirkby; and although at that time the English squadron
possessed advantages of both strength and position, the gallant Benbow
had to yield, give up the pursuit, and proceed with his squadron to
Jamaica, where he died of his wounds, on November 4th, at the age of
fifty-two.
Before his death a court-martial assembled, to try Captain Kirkby on
charges of cowardice, disobedience of orders and neglect of duty, and
these charges having been most clearly proven, he was justly sentenced
to be shot. Captain Constable, of the Windsor, was tried on the same
charges, but cowardice not being proved, he was only cashiered. Wade,
of the Greenwich, was tried for like offences, which were proven, as
well as drunkenness, and he was shot. Wade and Kirkby were both shot to
death on board the Bristol, at Plymouth, on the 16th of April, 1703.
Captain Hudson, of the Pendennis, died before his trial came on, and
the other two captains were cleared by the court-martial. Altogether,
this was one of the most disgraceful affairs that ever happened in the
British navy.
Shortly before his death Benbow received the following letter from his
late adversary, Admiral Du Casse, which speaks for itself:--
“CARTHAGENA, August 22d, 1702.
“SIR: I had little hopes on Monday last but to have supped in your
cabin, but it pleased God to order it otherwise; I am thankful for
it. As for those cowardly captains who deserted you, hang them up,
for by ---- they deserve it.
Yours, DU CASSE.”
The galleons which poor Benbow was to intercept did not finally escape.
They succeeded in crossing the Atlantic, under convoy of the French
fleet, and put into Vigo. Admiral Sir George Rooke was off Cadiz,
with the English fleet, and as soon as he heard of the arrival of the
galleons and their escort at Vigo, sailed for that place. Arriving off
that bay he sent in a boat to obtain intelligence respecting the force
and disposition of the French and Spanish ships.
This being determined, it was considered that the whole fleet could
not act, in the bay, upon the enemy’s ships; but, on the contrary,
that they would only impede each other. It was therefore arranged that
fifteen English and ten Dutch men-of-war (acting with them), and a
number of fire-ships, should be sent in to destroy the Franco-Spanish
fleet. The frigates and bomb vessels were to follow this detachment,
and the larger ships were to come in afterward, if their services
should be required. Some troops were to be landed at the same time,
and attack a fort at the south of the harbor. All the English and
Dutch flag officers went in the attacking squadron, leaving their
heavy flag-ships outside. Vice-Admiral Hopson led the van, followed
by the Dutch Vice-Admiral Van der Goes. Sir George Rooke himself,
Rear-Admiral Sir Stafford Fairborne, and the Dutch Admirals Callemburg
and Wassenaer, commanded the centre; while Rear-Admiral Graydon and
Vice-Admiral Pieterson brought up the rear, with the mortar vessels
and fire-ships. Seldom has it happened that so few vessels should have
so many officers of high rank in command, but it was done to give
eclat, and to ensure the success of a difficult undertaking.
On the 12th of October, in the morning, the attacking squadron got
under way, and made sail for the harbor, the entrance to which is very
narrow, and was protected by a strong boom, composed of masts and
yards, secured to anchors dropped in mid-channel, and the ends attached
to two of the largest French ships, the Espérance and the Bourbon.
Within the boom five ships of from sixty to seventy guns were moored,
with their broadsides bearing upon the mouth of the harbor.
The van division of the attacking fleet had hardly reached within
gunshot of the batteries when the wind died away, and they were obliged
to anchor. But a strong breeze soon sprang up, and Vice-Admiral Hopson
cut his cable, and, crowding all sail, bore down upon the boom. The
velocity acquired by his ship, the Torbay, broke the boom, and he at
once found himself between the two large French ships. Owing to a flaw
of wind, the other ships could not just then follow, but Admiral Van
der Goes and the remainder of the squadron soon found a way through the
passage Hopson had made, and the Bourbon was captured.
In the meantime the Torbay was in great danger, from a fire-ship, and
owed her preservation to a rather singular circumstance.
The fire-ship was a French merchant ship, which had on board a large
cargo of snuff, which, in the hurry of preparing her for a fire-ship,
had not been removed. When the fire reached the snuff it was so
deadened that the Torbay was saved from otherwise certain destruction.
This ship, however, suffered very severely, as she had no less than one
hundred and fifteen killed and drowned and very many wounded, including
her captain. Her masts and rigging were so injured by fire that Admiral
Hopson had to shift his flag to another ship.
The English ships, Association and Barfleur, then attacked the
batteries on both sides of the harbor, with great success, and the
French Admiral, finding that the English land forces, which had
attacked at the same time, had gained possession of a part of the town
of Vigo, and that more English ships were coming in, gave orders for
setting fire to the shipping. Before this order could be carried into
effect, however, a great many ships were taken possession of by the
English and Dutch.
There were burned or destroyed seven ships, carrying 334 guns and over
2000 men, while the English took four ships of 284 guns and 1800 men,
and the Dutch, six ships of 342 guns and over 2000 men. This was the
French loss.
Three Spanish men-of-war, carrying about 180 guns, were destroyed,
and of fifteen galleons found there, and which had really caused poor
Benbow’s death and this important naval battle, four were taken by the
English, five by the Dutch, and four destroyed. The gold and silver on
board this fleet was computed at twenty millions of pieces of eight
(dollars); fourteen millions of which had been removed previous to
the attack, the remainder being either taken or sunk in the galleons.
Merchandise of nearly equal value was taken or destroyed, besides much
plate belonging to individuals.
The capture and destruction of this fleet was a severe blow to the
French and Spaniards, and was accomplished with a very small loss
to the fleet of the Allies, if we except the Torbay. Hopson was
adequately rewarded for his gallantry.
Sir George Rooke, in leaving Vigo Bay, after this event, entrusted to
Sir Cloudesley Shovel the fitting out of the prizes, and the rescuing
of treasure from the sunken galleons. He also recovered the Dartmouth,
an English 50-gun ship, which had been captured in the previous
war; and took out of the French ships which were lying aground many
very fine brass guns. Every ship which he could not bring away was
completely destroyed.
[Illustration: NORMAN SHIP OF THE 14TH CENTURY.]