Battle of Cape Spartel
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The Battle of Cape Spartel was an indecisive naval battle between a Franco-Spanish fleet under Admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova and a British fleet under Admiral Richard Howe. The two groups of ships met on 20 October 1782 during a successful British campaign to maintain supply routes to Gibraltar, then under siege by the Bourbon armies as part of the American War of Independence.
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[edit] Battle
A tempest on 10 October, damaged, but did not sink some of the ships of the Franco-Spanish fleet blockading Gibraltar, then anchored off Algeciras. Howe's fleet, escorting a Gibraltar-bound merchant convoy, appeared the next day and owing to the storm, were pushed into the Mediterranean. That day, taking advantage of a WNW wind, De Córdoba's fleet started to pursue the convoy, while the Spanish Admiral sent his smaller vessels to shadow the British. After several days of fighting westerly winds and currents the convoy, having evaded the Spanish, managed to enter Gibraltar on the 17th.
Meanwhile, around sunrise on the 20th, both battle fleets sighted each other some 18 miles off Cape Spartel. De Córdova signalled 'general chase', disregarding division places. The British line of battle was to starboard of the Franco-Spanish. At around 1 pm, and after Cordova's flagship, the 120-gun Santísima Trinidad reached the centre of the combined line, both fleets were about two miles apart. The British reduced sail in order to tighten their line of battle. At 5.45 the van of the Franco-Spanish fleet opened fire. The British returned fire, while Howe signalled 'retreat all sail', making at least 14 Franco-Spanish ships redundant, among them two three-deckers. No British ships were really engaged, despite the efforts of de Córdoba's ships, which chased the fleeing British fleet. On the 21st, both fleets were some 12 miles apart. De Córdova made repairs and was ready to resume the action. However, no battle took place the next day as Howe had sailed back to Britain in line with his orders.
[edit] Aftermath
Gibraltar had been under long-standing siege by the Franco-Spanish ships and needed supplies badly. Howe succeeded in his main aim, ensuring that the convoy arrived safely, and returned to England. The successes in resupplying the hard pressed garrison at Gibraltar ensured its survival at a time British forces were suffering a demoralising succession of losses at Minorca, Florida and the Bahamas.
The sailing qualities of their ships enabled the British to decline an action and from then-on the Spanish Navy struggled to build faster ships to avoid these situations such as that of the Battle of Cape St. Vincent – the Moonlight Battle - two years before, when Rodney's "coppered" 18-ship fleet chased down and engaged de Lángara's 11-ship fleet. The Spanish navy had been slow to begin coppering its own vessels. It was also limited by the slow speed of some its heavier ships, like the Santisima Trinidad.
[edit] Fleets
[edit] British (Howe)
34 ships of the line (according to Schomberg)
| Admiral Richard Howe's fleet | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Van - First division | ||||||||
| Ship | Rate | Guns | Commander | Casualties | Notes | |||
| Killed | Wounded | Total | ||||||
| HMS Goliath | Third rate | 74 | Captain Hyde Parker |
4
|
16
|
20
|
||
| HMS Ganges | Third rate | 74 | Captain Charles Fielding |
6
|
23
|
29
|
||
| HMS Royal William | Second rate | 84 | Captain John Carter Allen |
2
|
13
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15
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| HMS Britannia | First rate | 100 | Vice-Admiral Samuel Barrington Captain C. Hills |
8
|
13
|
21
|
Flagship of the van | |
| HMS Atlas | Second rate | 98 | Captain George Vandeput |
2
|
3
|
5
|
||
| HMS Ruby | Third rate | 64 | Captain John Collins |
6
|
0
|
6
|
||
| Van - Second division | ||||||||
| HMS Panther | Fourth rate | 60 | Captain Henry Hervey |
3
|
15
|
18
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||
| HMS Foudroyant | Third rate | 80 | Captain John Jervis |
4
|
8
|
12
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| HMS Edgar | Third rate | 74 |
0
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6
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6
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|||
| HMS Polyphemus | Third rate | 64 | Captain W. C. Finch |
0
|
4
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4
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| HMS Suffolk | Third rate | 74 | Captain Sir George Home |
0
|
0
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0
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| HMS Vigilant | Third rate | 64 |
1
|
2
|
3
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| Centre - First division | ||||||||
| HMS Courageux | Third rate | 74 | Captain Lord Mulgrave |
1
|
4
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5
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| HMS Crown | Third rate | 64 | Captain Samuel Reeve |
0
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1
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1
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| HMS Alexander | Third rate | 74 | Captain Lord Longford |
2
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4
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6
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| HMS Sampson | Third rate | 64 | Captain John Harvey |
2
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0
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2
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| HMS Princess Royal | Second rate | 98 | Captain Jonathan Faulknor |
1
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0
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1
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| HMS Victory | First rate | 100 | Admiral Viscount Howe Captain John Leveson-Gower Captain H. Duncan |
0
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0
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0
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Fleet flagship | |
| Centre - Second division | ||||||||
| HMS Blenheim | Second rate | 90 | Captain Adam Duncan |
2
|
3
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5
|
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| HMS Asia | Third rate | 64 | Captain Richard Rodney Bligh |
0
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0
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0
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| HMS Egmont | Third rate | 74 |
0
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0
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0
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| HMS Queen | Second rate | 98 | Rear-Admiral Alexander Hood Captain William Domett |
1
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4
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5
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| HMS Bellona | Third rate | 74 | Captain Richard Onslow |
0
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0
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0
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| Rear - Second division | ||||||||
| HMS Raisonnable | Third rate | 64 | Captain Lord Hervey |
1
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0
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1
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| HMS Fortitude | Third rate | 64 | Captain George Keppel |
2
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9
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11
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| HMS Princess Amelia | Second rate | 84 | Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Hughes Captain J. Reynolds |
4
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5
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9
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| HMS Berwick | Third rate | 74 | Captain Hon. Charles Phipps |
1
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5
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6
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| HMS Bienfaisant | Third rate | 64 | Captain J. Howarth |
2
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4
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6
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| Rear - First division | ||||||||
| HMS Dublin | Third rate | 74 | Captain Archibald Dickson |
0
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0
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0
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| HMS Cambridge | Second rate | 84 |
4
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6
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10
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| HMS Ocean | Second rate | 98 | Admiral Mark Milbanke |
0
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0
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0
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Flagship of the rear | |
| HMS Union | Second rate | 90 | Captain John Dalrymple |
5
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15
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20
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| HMS Buffalo | Fourth rate | 60 | Captain John Holloway |
6
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16
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22
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| HMS Vengeance | Third rate | 74 | Captain John Moutray |
2
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14
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16
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| Attached frigates | ||||||||
| HMS Latona | Fifth rate | 38 | Captain Hon. Hugh Seymour-Conway |
0
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0
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0
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| 63 killed, 198 wounded | ||||||||
| Source: Schomberg, Naval Chronology, pp. 390–3. | ||||||||
[edit] Franco-Spanish (De Cordova y Cordova)
46 ships of the line
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Spanish
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French
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The following ships took no part in the action:
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Spanish
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French
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[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Chartrand, René. Gibraltar 1779–1783: The Great Siege. Patrice Courcelle (1st Edition ed.). Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781841769776. http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=S9770.
- Fernández Duro, Cesáreo (1901). Armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón. VII. Madrid, Spain: Est. tipográfico "Sucesores de Rivadeneyra".
[edit] External links
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