In addition to the blockade and bombardment of Cadiz, with which Lord
St. Vincent was carrying on an active warfare against the Spaniards, he
detached two expeditions against Santa Cruz, in the Canary Islands, in
the more important of which Rear-Admiral Nelson was not only repulsed,
but lost his arm, a model of which is still among the trophies and
_ex-votos_ to be seen in the Cathedral of that place.
On May 28th, 1797, Captain Hallowell, of the Royal Navy, in command of
the Lively frigate, with the Minerve frigate in company, stood into the
bay of Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, and discovered at anchor in the road an
armed brig, which, as the frigate approached, hoisted French colors.
The two commanders deeming it practicable to cut her out, the boats
of the frigates were next day manned, and placed under the orders
of Lieut. Thos. Masterman Hardy (who afterwards much distinguished
himself, and became an Admiral). At about half-past two in the
afternoon, Hardy, with three other naval lieutenants, and one of the
Lieutenants of Marines, in the boats of the Lively, and two lieutenants
of the Minerve, with her boats, and their respective crews, made a very
resolute attack upon the brig, as she lay at anchor, and, in the face
of a smart fire of musketry, boarded, and almost immediately carried
her.
This alarmed the town, and a heavy fire of musketry and artillery was
opened upon the brig, not only from every battery, but from a large
ship which lay in the road.
The lightness of the wind at the time retarded the weighing of the
brig’s anchor, and then made it necessary for the boats to take the
brig in tow. During nearly an hour an unremitting fire was kept up from
the shore and ship. At length, at a little before four o’clock, they
succeeded in getting the vessel out of gun-shot. She was the French
national brig, Mutine, mounting fourteen guns, twelve of them long
6-pounders, and the remaining two brass 36-pounder carronades.
She had on board 113 men, the rest of her ship’s company, with her
captain, being on shore at the time of the capture.
Hardy, in effecting this handsome capture, did not lose a man, but had
fifteen wounded.
The Mutine was a remarkably fine brig, and was put in commission by
Earl St. Vincent; and the command of her given to the officer in
command of the party that cut her out. Lord St. Vincent set an example
which was not followed by all other commanders in-chief, in those
stirring times. “He appointed, and gave out that he would always
appoint, to the command of any of the enemy’s armed vessels the senior
lieutenant of the party that captured her.” This “win her wear her”
plan was a better way to multiply Nelsons, than by filling up the
vacancies with the oftener high-born than deserving gentlemen sent out
by the Admiralty.”
So ended the first small and successful expedition. Let us now look at
the second. This was of a much more serious character.
The rumored arrival at Santa Cruz, on her way to Cadiz, of a
richly-freighted Manilla ship, the Principe d’Asturias, and the
represented vulnerability of the town to a well conducted sea attack,
induced Earl St. Vincent to attempt another enterprise.
Accordingly, on the 15th of July, 1797, his lordship detached upon that
service a squadron of three sail-of-the-line, the Theseus, Culloden,
and Zealous, 74s; the Seahorse, Emerald, and Terpsichore, frigates, the
Fox, 10-gun cutter, and a mortar boat. The whole were under the orders
of Rear-admiral Nelson, in the Theseus.
In about five days the squadron arrived off the island. Every
arrangement that sound judgment could devise having been completed, two
hundred seamen and marines from each of the line-of-battle ships, and
one hundred from each of the three frigates, exclusive of commissioned
officers and servants, and a small detachment of Royal artillery, the
whole together amounting to about 1050 men, were placed under the
command of Captain Trowbridge, of the Culloden. Each captain, under his
direction, commanded the detachment of seamen from his own ship; and
Captain Thomas Oldfield, of the marines, as senior marine officer, the
entire detachment from that corps.
On the night of the 20th of July the three frigates, accompanied by the
cutter and mortar-boat, and most of the boats of the squadron, stood in
close to the land, to debark the shore party.
A strong gale in the offing, and a strong current against them,
near the shore, prevented them from reaching the intended point of
debarkation. At about half-past three on the morning of the 22d the
squadron bore up for Santa Cruz, and soon after daylight was joined by
the frigates and small craft. The unavoidable appearance of the latter
off the coast gave the islanders the very warning it was so desirable,
for the success of the expedition, they should not have. A consultation
of the principal officers of the squadron now took place, and decided
that an attack should be made on the heights immediately over the
fort at the northeast part of the bay; and then, from that commanding
position, to storm and carry the fort itself. At nine o’clock on the
night of the 22d the frigates anchored inshore, off the east end of
the town, and landed their men; but the latter finding the heights too
strongly guarded to be attempted, re-embarked in the course of the
night, without loss. The three line-of-battle ships had meanwhile kept
under way, to batter the fort, by way of diversion; but, owing to calms
and contrary currents, were unable to approach nearer than three miles.
Nelson, not being one to abandon an enterprise until after a stout
struggle to accomplish it, resolved to give his seasoned men a chance
at the Santa Cruz garrison as soon as possible. On the 24th the 50-gun
ship Leander joined the squadron, having been sent to reinforce it, by
Lord St. Vincent. Her captain had considerable experience as a cruiser
in those parts, and his local knowledge was therefore valuable; while
the additional force was very acceptable and added to the hopes of the
attacking party.
On the afternoon of the 24th, at five o’clock, everything being in
readiness, and secrecy no longer possible, the whole squadron anchored
to the northeastward of the town: the line-of-battle ships about six
miles off, and the frigates much nearer. At eleven o’clock at night,
about 700 seamen and marines embarked in the boats of the squadron, 180
more in the Fox cutter, and about 75 on board a large boat that had
just been captured; numbering altogether, with the small detachment of
Royal artillery, about eleven hundred men. The different detachments
of seamen, under the immediate command of their respective captains,
the marines under Captain Oldfield, the artillery under Lieut. Baynes,
and the whole force under command of the Rear-Admiral, in person, then
pushed off for the shore.
Every precaution had been taken to keep the boats together, in order
that the attack might be simultaneous; but the rough state of the
weather, and the extreme darkness of the night, rendered it almost
impossible for them to keep each other within sight or hearing. At
about half-past one in the morning, the Fox cutter, with the Admiral’s
boat, those of Captains Fremantle and Bowen, and one or two others,
reached, undiscovered, within half gunshot of the head of the Mole,
when, suddenly, the alarm bells on shore began to ring, and a fire was
opened by many pieces of artillery and by infantry stationed along the
shore.
Two shots raked the Fox, and another struck her between wind and water;
so that she sank instantly. Of those on board no less than ninety-seven
were lost; and among them her commander, Lieut. Gibson.
Another shot struck Rear-Admiral Nelson on the elbow, just as he was
drawing his sword and stepping out of his boat. The wound completely
disabled him, and he was carried back to his ship at once. Another shot
sank the boat in which Captain Bowen was about approaching the Mole,
and seven or eight seamen of her crew perished.
In spite of this very spirited and determined opposition, the British
effected a landing, and carried the Mole, although it was defended by
about three hundred men and six 24-pounders. Having spiked these guns,
the English were about to advance, when a heavy fire of musketry and
grape-shot from the citadel and from the houses at the Mole head began
to mow them down by scores. Captain Bowen, of the Terpsichore, and his
first lieutenant were almost immediately killed, and the whole party
which landed then were either killed or wounded.
Meanwhile, Captain Trowbridge, of the Culloden, being unable to hit the
Mole, the spot appointed for landing, pushed on shore under a battery
close to the battery to the southward of the citadel.
Captain Waller, of the Emerald, and a few boats with him, landed at
the same time, but the surf was so high that many of the boats put
back; and all that did not were filled with water, which spoiled the
ammunition in the men’s pouches.
Captain Trowbridge advanced as soon as he had collected a few men,
accompanied by Captain Waller. They reached the great square of the
town, the appointed rendezvous, in hopes of there meeting the Admiral
and the rest of the landing party; but we have seen already how these
were disposed of.
Captain Trowbridge now sent a sergeant, accompanied by two citizens of
the place, to summon the citadel to surrender. No answer was returned,
and the sergeant is supposed to have been killed on the way. As the
scaling ladders which had been brought were lost in the surf, there
was no way of storming the citadel, and after waiting there an hour,
Trowbridge went to join Captains Hood and Miller, who, with a small
body of men, had landed to the southwest. At daybreak it was found that
Trowbridge was in command of about three hundred and forty survivors,
consisting of marines, pikemen, and seamen with small arms. Having
procured a small quantity of ammunition from some Spanish prisoners
whom they had taken, Trowbridge resolved to try what could be done
with the citadel without ladders, and then found that the streets
were commanded by field-pieces, while an overwhelming force was
approaching them by every avenue. The boats being all stove, there
was no possibility of getting any reinforcements; they were short of
ammunition, and their provisions had been lost in the boats.
Trowbridge now sent Captain Hood, with a flag of truce, to the
Governor, expressing a determination to burn the town if the Spanish
forces advanced, and proposing terms of capitulation, to the following
effect: that the British should be allowed to re-embark, with their
arms, taking their own boats, if saved, and if not, to be provided with
others. And Captain Trowbridge engaged, in case of compliance, that the
ships then before the town should not molest it, nor attack any one of
the Canary Islands.
The Governor, Don Juan Antonio Guttierez, received Captain Hood and his
message, being considerably astonished at receiving such a proposal
from men whom he considered already in his power. Nevertheless, he
accorded the terms, and Trowbridge marched to the Mole head, where he
and his officers and men embarked, in boats furnished by the Spaniards.
The Governor supplied each of the retreating invaders with a ration
of bread and wine, and directed that the British wounded should be
received into the hospital. He, moreover, sent word to Admiral Nelson
that he was at liberty to send on shore for, and purchase, fresh
provisions.
This was a most disastrous defeat for Nelson, independent of the
melancholy loss of life, which was almost as great as in the battle off
Cape St. Vincent.