Battle Of Portmán

The Battle of Portmán, sometimes referred to by other names such as the Battle off Cartagena and the Battle of Escombrera Island, was a confrontation during the Cantonal Rebellion between the naval forces of the Canton of Cartagena and those of the central government of the Spanish First Republic on 11 October 1873 in which a Cantonal squadron attempted to break a central government blockade of Cartagena. The battle took place in the Mediterranean Sea off Cape Palos near Portmán, Spain. Although no ships were lost on either side, the Cantonal squadron failed to break the blockade and retreated into port at Cartagena.

Background

Following the outbreak of the Cantonal Rebellion with the declaration of the Canton of Cartagena on 12 July 1873, the majority and best ships of the Spanish Navy came under its control, including, among others, the armored frigates and . The Canton used its fleet to attack other Spanish cities, and on 20 July 1873 the central government of the First Spanish Republic declared that the ships and crews of the Cantonal squadron were engaged in piracy. Other naval powers made similar declarations and sent ships to Spanish waters protect their national interests acccordingly.

''Vitoria'' and the screw frigate steamed to Almería, Spain, to raise funds for the Canton and, when Almería refused to pay, they bombarded the city on 30 July 1873. As they headed toward Málaga to do the same there, the British Royal Navy battleship and the Imperial German Navy armoured frigate detained them on 1 August 1873, then officially captured them as pirates on 2 August 1873. After laborious negotiations, the two ships were returned to the Spanish Navy at Gibraltar on 26 September 1873 and incorporated into ''Contralmirante'' (Counter Admiral) Miguel Lobo y Malagamba's central government squadron.

The central government squadron, composed of ''Vitoria'', ''Almansa'', the screw frigates and , the paddle gunboats and , the screw corvette , and the screw schooner , got underway from Gibraltar bound for Cartagena on 5 October 1873. News of the passage of this squadron through Almería reached Cartagena on 9 October, and the Cantonalist forces made plans to attack it. Thanks to a lack of naval officers in the Cantonalist fleet, a cavalry general, Juan Contreras y Román, took command of the Canton's squadron.Pérez Crespo, pp. 332–334. Three of its ships (''Numancia'', the armoured corvette and the armoured frigate ) were commanded by merchant marine captains, and its paddle gunboat ''Despertador del Cantón'' (formerly named in Spanish Navy service) by a maritime pilot.

On 10 October 1973, the central government squadron arrived off Cartagena to establish a blockade. During the evening of 10 October, Lobo kept his ships just outside Cartagena's harbor off of Escombreras, an islet at the mouth of the harbor. Later, during the night of , he ordered his ships to raise sail, probably to economize on their use of coal, and a strong north wind blew his squadron offshore and eastward to a position east of Portmán.

The battle

The Cantonal ships gathered off Escombreras on 11 October between 07:00 and 09:00 , and at 10:30 they got underway for the open sea, escorted by five ships of the British Royal Navy (HMS ''Swiftsure'', the armoured frigate , the ironclad sloop-of-war , the screw sloop-of-war , and the gunboat ), the German screw frigate , the Italian ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) ironclad ram , and the French Navy armoured corvette . Before the battle, ''Friedrich Carl'' had captured the Cantonal paddle gunboat for engaging in piracy because ''Vigilante'' was flying the red flag of the canton instead of an internationally recognized national flag, so to avoid further international actions against its ships, the Cantonal squadron flew the same flag of Spain as the central government squadron. The Cantonal squadron initially adopted a rhomboidal formation, with ''Numancia'' in the lead as Contreras′s flagship, her port and starboard sides covered by ''Méndez Núñez'' and ''Tetuán'', respectively, and ''Despertador del Cantón'' bringing up the rear.

By 11:30, ''Numancia'', ''Méndez Núñez'', and ''Tetuán'' were in line abreast due south of Cape Agua, with ''Méndez Núñez'' closest to shore, ''Numancia'' next, and ''Tetuán'' farthest to seaward, while ''Despertador del Cantón'' followed them. They sighted Lobo's squadron, which was about to the south in waters east of Cape Negreti and in no particular order. With her greater speed, ''Numancia'' charged toward ''Vitoria'' and got too far ahead of the rest of her squadron. The central government squadron turned to port and formed a line to face the attack, and ''Vitoria'', which was leading the squadron, opened fire at ''Numancia'' with her bow guns at 12:10. The shots fell short, and ''Numancia'' rushed past ''Vitoria'' as the two ships exchanged broadsides. ''Numancia'' cut through the central government squadron's line between ''Diana'' and ''Almansa'', then turned to starboard and crossed ''Carmen''′s and ''Navas de Tolosa''′s sterns as they fired at her, nearly all of their shots falling short. With this maneuver, ''Numancia'' cut off ''Ciudad de Cádiz'' from the rest of the central government squadron. ''Ciudad de Cádiz'' put on maximum sail and fled on an east-northeasterly wind with ''Numancia'' in hot pursuit. Leaving ''Almansa'', ''Carmen'', and ''Navas de Tolosa'' to face the approaching ''Méndez Núñez'' and ''Tetuán'', ''Vitoria'' broke off to come to ''Ciudad de Cádiz''′s assistance.

After a chase of , ''Numancia'' caught up to ''Ciudad de Cádiz''. Discerning that ''Numancia'' was preparing to ram her, ''Ciudad de Cádiz'' feinted to starboard, then, when ''Numancia'' turned to cut her off, made a sudden turn to port, spoiling the ramming attempt, and cut across ''Numancia''′s stern before ''Numancia'' could fire a shot. ''Ciudad de Cádiz'' passed south of the rest of the centralist squadron, fortunate to have avoided destruction and escaping with only a single hit to her paddle wheel. She passed south of ''Vitoria'' and the central government screw frigates, joined ''Diana'', and withdrew to a position several nautical miles away, where she remained for the rest of the day, playing no further role in the battle.. ''Vitoria'' opened fire on ''Numancia'' with her bow guns and scored a hit on ''Numancia''′s gun battery. ''Numancia'' promptly fled toward Cartagena with ''Vitoria'' in pursuit, but ''Vitoria'' lacked the speed to catch her, and ''Numancia'' found shelter under the guns of the port's coastal fortifications.

Meanwhile, ''Méndez Núñez'' and ''Tetuán'', slower than ''Numancia'', closed the range with the central government squadron. ''Méndez Núñez'' opened fire on ''Vitoria'' and ''Almansa'' at very long range at 12:19, and most of the shots did not cover even half the distance to her targets. As she closed with ''Carmen'', however, the gunfire became more accurate for both sides: ''Méndez Núñez'' scored a hit on ''Carmen ''in her fore chains while ''Carmen'' hit ''Méndez Núñez'' with a round that passed right through her. ''Méndez Núñez'' then responded to an order to come to the assistance of ''Numancia'' as ''Numancia'' fled toward Cartagena. ''Almansa'', ''Carmen'', and ''Navas de Tolosa'' were steering toward Cartagena in the wake of ''Numancia'' and ''Vitoria'', putting them on a converging course with ''Méndez Núñez''. They exchanged fire with ''Méndez Núñez'' at very long range, but most of the shots were wild and neither side suffered damage. ''Méndez Núñez'' passed to the north of ''Vitoria'' around 14:00 and reached safety in Cartagena's harbor under cover of the guns of the coastal forts.


At 12:20, ''Tetuán'' was about south by east of Cape Agua. Steaming very slowly eastward, she crossed the track of ''Méndez Núñez'' and exchanged fire with ''Vitoria''. One of ''Vitoria''′s shots landed in the water just under ''Tetuán''′s bows, prompting a crowd of sailors to flee ''Tetuán''′s forecastle. Another of ''Vitoria''′s shots caused ''Tetuán''′s crew to evacuate her bridge. ''Tetuán'' nonetheless engaged ''Almansa'', ''Carmen'', and ''Navas de Tolosa'' and appeared to hit ''Almansa'' six times without receiving any damage in return. Passing ''Almansa'', ''Carmen'', and ''Navas de Tolosa'', she steamed toward ''Diana'', but upon discovering that the other Cantonal ships had fled, she turned around off Cape Negreti and slowly steamed back towards Cartagena, again engaging in succession ''Carmen'', ''Almansa'', and ''Navas de Tolosa''. At 14:00, with ''Numancia'' and ''Méndez Núñez'' having just escaped into the harbor after avoiding being cut off by ''Vitoria'', ''Tetuán'' was just off the entrance to the harbor with ''Vitoria'' approaching from the south. ''Vitoria'' probably intended to ram ''Tetuán'', but the French armoured corvette ''Thétis'', which had made sail after suffering a mechanical breakdown, inadvertently sailed in between them. With shots from both sides passing through her topsails, ''Thétis'' maneuvered to extricate herself from her predicament while ''Tetuán'' took advantage of the situation to steam to the west of ''Vitoria'', closer to the guns of Cartagena's coastal forts. By the time ''Thetis'' was clear, ''Tetuán''′s port bow was towards ''Vitoria''′s starboard bow. ''Vitoria'' was traveling at a greater speed, and she crossed ''Tetuán''′s bow as ''Tetuán'' steamed ahead. Both ships then turned to starboard and exchanged starboard broadsides on opposite headings at a range of under . ''Vitoria'' scored hits that passed right through ''Tetuán'' and then, although the central government claimed she sustained no damage, broke off the engagement, steamed out to sea, and went dead in the water for at least an hour. Meanwhile, ''Tetuán'' fired a gun toward ''Numancia'' to signal ''Numancia'' for support, but ''Numancia'' stood out of the harbor for only a few minutes before again withdrawing. ''Tetuán'' also gained the safety of the harbor.

''Despertador del Cantón'' remained south by west of Cape Agua and Cartagena's harbor all through the battle and did not engage the central government squadron. She, too, returned to Cartagena safely.

The central government squadron had exhausted its ammunition, and at around 15:00 Lobo withdrew it to the east, bringing the battle to a close.Pérez Crespo, pp. 335–337. In its immediate aftermath, the Cantonalists acknowledged that they had suffered 13 killed in action and 49 wounded, while Lobo claimed that his squadron had suffered no casualties, although one of his frigates reportedly withdrew eastward to "land the sick." Casualty figures eventually were revised to 12 dead and 38 wounded in the Cantonal squadron and 11 dead and 32 wounded on the central government side.

Aftermath

After the battle, the central government squadron tried to blockade Cartagena. However, when the Cantonal squadron sortied again on 13 October 1873, ''Vitoria'' had only enough coal for two days' steaming, and the Cantonal squadron, under a new commander, maintained a disciplined formation with ''Numancia'' remaining in her position in the line despite her higher speed than that of the other two Cantonal frigates. Rather than engage the Cantonalists, Lobo chose to withdraw the central government squadron toward Gibraltar, expecting to receive reinforcement of his squadron in the form of the armored frigate and the paddle gunboat . This withdrawal led the central government to dismiss Lobo and replace him as commander of the central government squadron with ''Contralmirante'' (Counter Admiral) Nicolás Chicarro. However, Chicarro also avoided combat, despite the arrival of the armoured frigate giving him a squadron that included three armored frigates.

References

Citations

Bibliography

*{{cite book , last = Pérez Crespo , first = Antonio , publisher = Academia Alfonso X el Sabio, D.L. , location=Murcia, Spain , title= El Cantón Murciano, url = http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/01604418092363999670035/023544_0109.pdf , year = 1990, isbn = 0870219073 , language=es

Military history of Cartagena, Spain
Conflicts in 1873
1873 in Spain
19th-century naval battles
19th-century military history of Spain
Naval battles involving Spain