The Battle of Cape Santa Maria was a naval engagement that took place off the southern Portuguese coast, in which a British squadron under the command of Commodore
Graham Moore attacked and defeated a Spanish squadron commanded by Brigadier Don
José de Bustamante y Guerra
José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ).
In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...
during peace times and without previous war declaration to the Spaniard squadron, mainly formed by civilians travelling to the Spanish peninsula, violating Amiens peace treaty.
Background
Under the terms of a
secret convention Spain had to pay 72 million
francs
The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...
annually to France until it declared war on Britain. The British had learned of the treaty, and knew it was likely that Spain would declare war soon after the arrival of the treasure ships. Since the British also knew that by law the fleet could only land at
Cádiz
Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
, as well as its place and approximate time of departure from South America, it was not difficult to position a squadron to intercept it.
Bustamante had set sail from
Montevideo
Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
on 9 August 1804 with four
frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
s loaded with gold and silver, as well as much other valuable cargo. On 22 September
Admiral Cornwallis ordered Captain Graham Moore, commanding the 44-gun razee frigate , to intercept and detain the Spanish ships, peacefully, if possible.
Moore's ship arrived off Cadiz on 29 September and was joined on 2 October by , and by and the day after. In line abreast they patrolled the approaches to Cádiz.
Battle
![Voladura de La Mercedes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Voladura_de_La_Mercedes.jpg)
At dawn on 5 October, the Spanish frigates sighted the coast of Portugal. At 7 a.m. they sighted the four British frigates. Bustamante ordered his ships into
line of battle
The line of battle is a tactic in naval warfare in which a fleet of ships forms a line end to end. The first example of its use as a tactic is disputed—it has been variously claimed for dates ranging from 1502 to 1652. Line-of-battle tacti ...
, and within an hour the British came up in line, to
windward
Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...
of the Spaniards and "within pistol-shot".
Moore, the British Commodore, sent Lieutenant Ascott to the Spanish flagship ''Medea'', to explain his orders. Bustamante naturally refused to surrender and, impatient of delays, at 10 a.m. Moore ordered a shot be fired ahead over the bows of ''Medea''. Almost immediately a general exchange of fire broke out. Within ten minutes the
magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
of the ''
Mercedes
Mercedes may refer to:
People
* Mercedes (name), a Spanish feminine name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or last name
Automobile-related
* Mercedes (marque), the pre-1926 brand name of German automobile m ...
'' exploded destroying the ship, and killing all but 40 of her 240 crew, including almost the entire family of the future
,
Carlos María de Alvear
Carlos María de Alvear (October 25, 1789 in Santo Ángel, Rio Grande do Sul – November 3, 1852 in New York), was an Argentine soldier and statesman, Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in 1815.
Early life
...
, who (being 16 years old at the time) witnessed the explosion alongside his father from the ''Medea''. Within half an hour the ''Santa Clara'' and the ''Medea'' had surrendered. ''Fama'' broke away and tried to flee; ''Medusa'' quickly followed. Moore ordered the faster ''Lively'' to pursue, capturing
''Fama'' a few hours later. The three frigates were taken to
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
, and then to
Gosport
Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...
, England.
Aftermath
![Sir Graham Moore's Action, Octr 5th 1804 RMG PU5683](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Sir_Graham_Moore%27s_Action%2C_Octr_5th_1804_RMG_PU5683.jpg)
In practical terms, the British interception of the four Real Armada frigates represented the end of an era for Bourbon Spain and regular specie shipments from the Spanish Empire's New World mines and mints. The squadron to which ''Mercedes'' belonged was the last of its kind that the world would see: a Spanish treasure fleet moving bullion from the New World Viceroyalties to the Iberian kingdoms.
Under the terms of the Cruizers and Convoys Act of 1708 ships captured at sea were "
Droit
A droit ( French for ''right'' or ''Law'') is a legal title, claim or due.
Droits of admiralty (English law)
The term is used in English law in the phrase " droits of admiralty". This refers to certain customary rights or perquisites, formerly b ...
s of the Crown" and became the property of their captors, who received the full value of the ships and cargo in
prize money
Prize money refers in particular to naval prize money, usually arising in naval warfare, but also in other circumstances. It was a monetary reward paid in accordance with the prize law of a belligerent state to the crew of a ship belonging to t ...
. However, since technically Britain and Spain were not at war at the time of the action, the
Admiralty Court
Admiralty courts, also known as maritime courts, are courts exercising jurisdiction over all maritime contracts, torts, injuries, and offences.
Admiralty courts in the United Kingdom England and Wales
Scotland
The Scottish court's earliest ...
ruled that the three ships were "Droits of the Admiralty", and all revenues would revert to them. The four Spanish ships carried a total of 4,286,508
Spanish dollar
The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight ( es, Real de a ocho, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content ...
s in silver and gold coin, as well as 150,000 gold ingots, 75 sacks of wool, 1,666 bars of tin, 571 pigs of copper, seal skins and oil, although 1.2 million in silver, half the copper and a quarter of the tin went down with the ''Mercedes''. Still, the remaining ships and cargo were assessed at a value of £900,000 (equivalent to £ in ). After much legal argument an
ex gratia
(; also spelled ''ex-gratia'') is Latin for "by favour", and is most often used in a legal context. When something has been done ''ex gratia'', it has been done voluntarily, out of kindness or grace. In law, an ''ex gratia payment'' is a paymen ...
payment was made amounting to £160,000, of which the four Captains would have received £15,000 each (equivalent to £ in ). Captain Gore had previously received an even greater sum as captain of in the similar
Action of 16 October 1799
The action of 16 October 1799 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars between a squadron of British Royal Navy frigates and two frigates of the Spanish Navy close to the Spanish naval port of Vigo in Galicia. The Spani ...
.
''Medea'' was taken into the Royal Navy as (later renamed HMS ''Imperieuse''), ''Santa Clara'' as and ''Fama'' as .
Great Britain obtained a copious loot of more than three million pesos. Only after numerous pressures does he agree to pay the funds of the soldiers of the surviving sailors for 230,634 pesos, refusing to pay the 60,000 pesos corresponding to the deceased soldiers, whose widows and heirs were left without the savings earned by the service of their husbands. and parents.
Spain declared war on Great Britain on 14 December 1804, but suffered a catastrophic defeat less than a year later at the
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
in October 1805.
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, having crowned himself Emperor on 2 December, gained Spain as an ally in his war against Britain.
Legacy
In March 2007 the Florida-based company
Odyssey Marine Exploration
Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. is an American company engaged in deep-ocean exploration with a focus on the exploration, development and validation of subsea mineral resources. Starting out as a shipwreck pioneer, Odyssey has discovered some ...
recovered 17 tons of gold and silver from the ''
Mercedes
Mercedes may refer to:
People
* Mercedes (name), a Spanish feminine name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or last name
Automobile-related
* Mercedes (marque), the pre-1926 brand name of German automobile m ...
'', insisting that it had been found in international waters and therefore beyond the legal jurisdiction of any one country. The Spanish government branded the Odyssey team "21st century pirates" and in May 2007 launched legal proceedings arguing that the wreck was protected by "sovereign immunity" which prohibits the unauthorized disturbance or commercial exploitation of state-owned naval vessels. In June 2009 the Federal Court in Tampa found against Odyssey and ordered the treasure to be returned to Spain as has been done on 25 February 2012.
Order of battle
Spain
* ''Medea'' 40 gun frigate, Flagship carrying Admiral Bustamante, commanded by Capitán Francisco de Piedrola y Verdugo
* ''Fama'' 34 gun frigate, Capitán Miguel Zapiain y Valladares
* ''
Mercedes
Mercedes may refer to:
People
* Mercedes (name), a Spanish feminine name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or last name
Automobile-related
* Mercedes (marque), the pre-1926 brand name of German automobile m ...
'' 36 gun frigate, Capitán Jose Manuel De Goicoa y Labart
* ''Santa Clara'' 34 gun frigate, Capitán Aleson y Bueno
Britain
* 44 gun frigate, Flagship, Commodore
Graham Moore
* 38 gun frigate, Captain
Graham Eden Hamond
* 32 gun frigate, Captain
Samuel Sutton
Rear-Admiral Samuel Sutton (1760 – June 1832) was an officer in the Royal Navy. He entered the service shortly after the start of the American War of Independence, and spent most of his early career serving with Captain and later Admiral ...
* 32 gun frigate, Captain
John Gore
In popular fiction
* The action is portrayed in
C. S. Forester
Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (27 August 1899 – 2 April 1966), known by his pen name Cecil Scott "C. S." Forester, was an English novelist known for writing tales of naval warfare, such as the 12-book Horatio Hornblower series depicting a Roya ...
's ''
Hornblower and the Hotspur
''Hornblower and the Hotspur'' (published 1962) is a Horatio Hornblower novel written by C. S. Forester.
It is the third book in the series chronologically, but the tenth by order of publication, and serves as the basis for one of the episodes o ...
'' in which his hero
Horatio Hornblower
Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester. He later became the subject of films, radio and television programmes, an ...
is attached to the squadron, but misses out on the captures while fending off a French ship.
* In
Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, Order of the British Empire, CBE (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of sea novels set in the Royal Navy during t ...
's novel ''
Post Captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), captain in the Royal Navy.
The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:
* Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) ...
'',
Stephen Maturin
Stephen Maturin () is a fictional character in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. The series portrays his career as a physician, naturalist and spy in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and the long pursuit of hi ...
provides the intelligence permitting the interception, and
Captain Aubrey, in temporary command of the ''Lively'', captures the ''Santa Clara'' and the ''Fama''.
* In
Showell Styles
Frank Showell Styles (14 March 1908 – 19 February 2005) was an English writer and mountaineer.
Biography
Showell Styles was born in Four Oaks, Birmingham and educated at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School in nearby Sutton Coldfield. His father A ...
's ''
Midshipman Quinn and Denise the Spy'' the hero,
Septimus Quinn, participates in the battle (which is brought about when Denise de St-Aulaye brings documents to
William Pitt and
Admiral John Jervis, who organize the battle fleet) concerning the aid given France by Spain.
* A fictionalised comic book version of the recovery of the treasure, ''The Treasure of the Black Swan'', written by a Spanish diplomat involved in the legal battle, Guillermo Corral, and Spanish graphic novelist
Paco Roca
Francisco Martínez Roca aka Paco Roca (born in 1969 on Valencia, Spain) is a Spanish Comic artist, strip cartoonist with experience in graphic novels and advertisement illustrations.García (2010), p. 263.González, Lucía (17/05/2009). El mundo d ...
was produced in 2018.
References
External links
Seizing the Gold of SpainAccount of the actionHMS LivelyHMS Indefatigable
{{DEFAULTSORT:Action of 5 October 1804
1804
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Haiti gains independence from France, and becomes the first black republic, having the only successful slave revolt ever.
* February 4 – The Sokoto Caliphate is founded in West Africa.
* Februa ...
1804
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Haiti gains independence from France, and becomes the first black republic, having the only successful slave revolt ever.
* February 4 – The Sokoto Caliphate is founded in West Africa.
* Februa ...
1804
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Haiti gains independence from France, and becomes the first black republic, having the only successful slave revolt ever.
* February 4 – The Sokoto Caliphate is founded in West Africa.
* Februa ...
Conflicts in 1804
October 1804 events