Andrés Reggio
Andrés Reggio y Brachiforte (1692–1780) was an officer of the Spanish navy.
He was born in the Spanish-controlled Sicilian city of Palermo in 1692. He was trained initially in the Malta, Gozzo and Comino islands galleys, adscribed since about 1523 by King Charles I of Spain, a.k.a. Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to close Turkish Empire backed seamen access to the Western Mediterranean Sea from Sicily to the Gibraltar Strait including Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands by the Knights of the Order of Saint John, settled up in the Maltese Islands. In 1715 he fought in the invasion of Mallorca island , the last Spanish territory held by the Catalan followers of Austrian Prince Charles, by then Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI since 1712 as a consequence of the Spanish Succession War, (1701 - 1714). In addition, in the Treaty of Utrecht, Spain lost all its possessions in Italy and the Low Countries as The Spanish Netherlands, Duchy of Milan, Kingdom of Naples and Sardinia were given to Habsburg-ruled Austria, while Sicily was awarded to the Duke of Savoy.
Then, as a war conscript of the War of the Quadruple Alliance, (1718 - 1720), against Britain, France, Austria, (then a State of the Holy Roman Empire), and the Dutch Republic he served in the Spanish Navy campaigns of Sardinia, (after August 1717) and Sicily, offered to Austrian Emperor Charles VI by Britain, France and the Dutch Republic (after the beginnings of 1718) as a Navy captain. There and then he was beaten, as the rest of the Spanish Fleet by British Admiral George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington , (1663 - 1733), at the Battle of Cape Passaro, Sicily, 11 August 1818.
In 1721 he took part in the relief expedition to besieged Ceuta, 35° 53′ 18″ N, 5° 18′ 59″ W, located in the African continent, South of actual Gibraltar and then moved to America, into the fleet of galleons in charge of bringing the money to the port of Cadiz. under the Flemish Jean François de Bette, Marquis of Lede , (1672 - 1725), Belgian military commander in Spanish service, Knight of the Golden Fleece since 1703, lord of the Fiefdom of Lede in Flanders.
He returned again to the Mediterranean in 1730, where he took part in operations including the reconquest of Oran, and Mers el Kébir, now in Algeria, in June 1732 under José Carrillo de Albornoz, 1st Duke of Montemar, Viceroy of Sicily, 1734 - 1737, and bringing invading soldiers to Naples in 1733. For the next few years he commanded the Spanish fleet in Ferrol.
In 1739 at the outbreak of the War of Jenkin's Ear he was appointed to command in the Caribbean. He oversaw major construction work to Havana,Cuba, in preparation of a future British attack.
In 1748 he lost the Battle of Havana to the British Admiral Sir Charles Knowles, 1st Baronet, but Knowles was unable to capitalise: the bullion laden convoy passed unmolested. Reggio was court-martialled, but was then pardoned and commended by the King for his actions.
In 1749 he returned to Spain, and was appointed Captain-General of the navy, a post he would hold until his death in 1780, thirty one years later.
Some bibliographical References
- Bruce, Anthony: An Encyclopedia of Naval History Checkmark Books 1999, ISBN 0-8160-4068-1
- The Emergence of Britain's Global Naval Supremacy: The War of 1739-1748 [Hardcover] by Richard Harding, univ. of Westminster. Chairman of the Society for Nautical Research. Publication Date: November 18, 2010 | ISBN-10: 1843835800 | ISBN-13: 978-1843835806
- Amphibious warfare in the eighteenth century. The British Expedition to the West Indies, 1740–1742. (Royal Historical Society Studies in History New Series) by Richard Harding, Woodbridge, April 1991. ISBN 0-86193-218-8
- Britannia's Glories. The Walpole ministry and the 1739 War with Spain, by Richard Harding, . Philip Woodfine, Woodbridge, 1998. ISBN 0-86193-230-7
- The Evolution of the Sailing Navy, 1509-1815 (British History in Perspective) by Richard Harding , Paperback: 181 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press , Language: English ISBN-10: 0333596056 ISBN-13: 978-0333596050
- Seapower and Naval Warfare, 1650-1830, paperback , by Richard Harding, Publication Date: April 1999 | ISBN-10: 1557508895 | ISBN-13: 978-1557508898 also in Kindle edition.
- The Rise And Fall of British Naval Mastery , paperback,, by Paul Michael Kennedy , 1st edition A. Lane, (London), (1976), ISBN 1-57392-178-1, 2nd edition , paperback, (1983), Humanity books, Amherst , New York, a division of Prometheus books, New York . Publ. : October 30, 2006 | ISBN-10: 1591023742 | ISBN-13: 978-1591023746 | Edition: 2 . A most reputed British historian, born 1945, at Yale University, U.S.A.