Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797)

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
partof=the French Revolutionary Wars


caption="The British attack on Santa Cruz de Tenerife". Oil on canvas, 1848.
date=July 22 - July 25, 1797
place=Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
result=Spanish victory
combatant1=flagicon|UK|1606 Britain
combatant2=flag|Spain|1785
commander1=flagicon|UK|1606 Horatio Nelson
commander2=flagicon|Spain|1785 Antonio Gutiérrez
strength1=4,000 regulars and sailors,
400 guns
strength2=1,700 regulars, militia, and sailors,
91 guns
casualties1=250 dead,
128 wounded
casualties2=30 dead,
40 woundedThe Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was a British attack on the Spanish port city of Santa Cruz in the Canary Islands. Launched by Admiral Horatio Nelson on July 22 1797, the assault met with defeat and on July 25 Nelson withdrew with the loss of several hundred casualties and his own arm.

Background: Cape St. Vincent and Cádiz

In February 1797 the British routed a Spanish fleet near Cape St. Vincent but failed to strike a solid blow against the Spanish Navy in the uneven struggle. Admiral John Jervis sailed for Lisbon after the engagement, frustrated at the escape of several valuable prizes including the "Santísima Trinidad". New orders from the Admiralty demanded that he subdue and blockade the Spanish port of Cádiz, where much of the battered Spanish squadron had sought shelter. The First Sea Lord thought that the ease of Jervis' victory over José de Córdoba guaranteed a successful attack on that southern harbour. Events proved otherwise.

Jervis' ships besieged Cádiz but were repelled by unexpected Spanish resistance. The Spaniards, under General Mazzaredo, organized a flotilla of small gunboats converted from yachts. With a clear advantage in the harbour's shallow waters, these vessels maneouvred in the darkness and savaged Jervis' heavy ships of the line, striking at their vulnerable areas with impunity. Coastal batteries opened fire, joined by Spanish warships anchored at harbour, and drove the attackers back, causing the British to lose grip over the blockade and allowing several merchant convoys to slip in and out of the port.

An air of mutiny spread over the British crews as their long stay at sea stretched on without results. In April Jervis shifted his gaze to Tenerife upon hearing that Spanish treasure convoys from America arrived regularly at that island. The admiral sent two reconnoitering frigates which surprised and caught two French and Spanish vessels in a nighttime raid. Encouraged by this success, Jervis dispatched a small squadron under recently-promoted Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson with the aim of seizing Santa Cruz by means of an amphibious attack.

Execution

On July 14 Nelson sailed for the Canaries aboard his flagship HMS "Theseus", (Captain Miller), leading a squadron composed of HMS "Culloden" (Captain Troubridge), "Zealous" (Captain Hood), all 74-gun ships; and the frigates "Seahorse" (38), commanded by Captain Freemantle, "Emerald" (36) led by Captain Waller, and "Terpsichore" (32) under Captain Bowen; as well as a cutter, "Fox", under Lieutenant Gibson and a gunboat, "Ray", under Lieutenant Crompton. HMS Leander (50), under Captain Thompson, joined the flotilla once the attack had started. The expedition counted 400 guns and nearly 4,000 men. They arrived in the vicinity of Santa Cruz on July 17.

At Santa Cruz, Lieutenant General Antonio Gutiérrez de Otero y Santayana, a two-time victor over the British, had hastened to prepare a defence following the British raid in April. Forts were rebuilt, field works expanded, and the batteries enlarged by doubling their gun rows to 91, with earth sacks piled around. From the city's soldiers, partisans, local hunters, militia, artillery, and sailors from the captured French frigate, General Gutiérrez scraped together a force of 1,700 men.

British plans

Nelson's plan called for a nighttime landing under Troubridge: The frigates would approach the shore in stealth and disembark troops with a view to falling on the Spanish batteries north east of the harbour. "Ray" was then to open mortar fire on the city. Nelson's ships of the line would enter the harbour at break of dawn and seize the Spanish merchant ships and their cargo. A note sent by Nelson to the Spanish authorities demanded the surrender of all Spanish cargo and threatened the destruction of the city.

On the 20th, Troubridge went aboard "Theseus" to sharpen the last details of his duties. His manoeuvre was conceived in two stages. The first called for a landing at "Valle Seco" beach, some two miles west of Santa Cruz harbour, from where the troops would surround and capture Fort Paso Alto. If the city had not surrendered at this point, a force of 1,000 infantry would march on the port and launch the definite attack. Each ship of the line provided 200 men and each frigate 100, supported by 80 artillerymen.

The Battle

The plan began the next evening. In the clearness of the summer Canary night, citizens realised that blurry figures were sailing towards the pier: the British boats, carrying the troops, were on their way. They were in two groups: one of 23 boats and launches heading for the Bufadero cliff; the other, 16, coming right into the city. Authorities were updated as adverse currents held the English back. No marine bombardment was likely as ships could not get any closer and even though frigates could, the latter sported naval cannons of straight fire that could not be elevated to reach the city. The British had just one curve shot mortar which could inflict little damage. They had no howitzers and carronades were of no use in this situation. Spanish cannons began firing heavily on the boats, wrecking some of them. The currents were too strong and the British decided to go back to the ships.

In a second attempt, frigates were tugged by the boats close to the Bufadero, where they anchored. Despite the Paso Alto castle shooting, the contrary currents and the lack of animals to carry the artillery, 1,000 British soldiers landed on Valle Seco beach with some equipment. In the middle of the night, some of the boats did not reach the beach and ended up strewn around, as no British officers knew its location.

During the 23rd July a heavy cannonade and musketry duel took place. Gutiérrez managed to recruit more effectives and station them in the castle, as well as moving the forces from the Sta. Cruz fortress, now unnecessary, on to Paso Alto. The British, who lost two men, were under pressure and had a difficult time. Nelson, from the "Theseus", called the troops back. Once they were on board, the three frigates slipped before the Candelaria beach and the Barranco Hondo, firing into the cliffs, intending to frighten and silence the defenders. Once thwarted in Valle Seco, Gutiérrez guessed Nelson's next move and brought most of the artillerymen to the port batteries, leaving just 30 militia men in Paso Alto. The British could not see the Spanish troops' movements from one place to another, so they deemed the Spanish force larger than it actually was.

Nelson was between a rock and a hard place. Enraged by the failure of the first stage of his plan, he called his captains on board "Theseus" and explained how he himself would lead the next move ahead of a boat group followed by 5 more boats led by captains Troubrige, Miller, Hood, Waller and Thompson straight to the San Cristóbal castle, in Sta. Cruz harbour, where Gutiérrez had by now assembled his best troops.

In order to reduce the noise, cloth-padded oars propelled the boats at 10.30 p.m. on July 24 from around the "Zealous" into the harbour. The Spanish frigate "San José", anchored 500 metres away from the pier, fired an alarm shot when sailors on board heard the disembarking troops getting closer. Troubled waters were against the British, who amounted to 700 in the boats, supported by 180 in the cutter "Fox" and 80 in a Canary sloop taken earlier. Apart from the San Cristóbal castle, which had been engineered in order to emplace a huge 24 pound cannon, general Gutiérrez had split his force in four strategic points: Pila square, Santos stream, Carnicerías beach and Santo Domingo monastery.

At around 23:00 a rain of cannon balls and musket bullets from the batteries of Paso Alto, San Miguel, San Antonio and San Pedro fell on the approaching British whose own ammunition was damp with seawater. Several shots reached the cutter's hull. Some of the boats reached the beaches and marines managed to spike a couple of cannons, yet others drifted away. Spanish mortars and cannons focused on the successful sailors and swept them away. Many British casualties were left scattered on the beach. An immense line of fire, ranged from Paso Alto to San Telmo castle, vomited iron on the small vessels. Before midnight the cutter "Fox" was hit dramatically by crossfire from the heights and sunk, and more than half her crew drowned.

Nelson was hit in the right arm by musket fire and Captain Bowen was killed on board his boat, which was reduced to a piece of shattered wood. Those soldiers who succeeded in reaching the beach were riddled with bullets from house terraces and windows. The citizens were so closely involved in repelling the attack to the point that, after the victory, some were given honours and medals.

Nelson was bleeding copiously and his stepson, Lieutenant Nisbet, cut a piece of his own neck handkerchief and tied it tightly around Nelson's arm to stop the bleeding. The admiral refused to use the frigate "Seahorse" that was stationed close by, to be taken back to his flagship, as it would imply that Captain Fremantle would have to hoist a flag of distress and thereby demoralise the crews. Instead, the sailors of his boat rowed hard back to the "Theseus". The surgeon had been warned of the contingency and got his instruments ready. Nelson was cited as saying, as he pointed to his right arm “Doctor, I want to get rid of this useless piece of flesh here”. Nelson's operation was quick and aseptic. The limb was thrown over board, despite the admiral's wish to keep it.

The batteries increased the cannonade when they noticed that almost half of the thousand British soldiers had managed to land on the Carnicerías beach and were attempting to slip into the city. Captains Troubridge and Hood, leading 350 men, accomplished the taking of La Consolación convent. However, the rest of the troops were defeated when they tried to assault the San Cristóbal fortress from behind. Troubridge was aware of his desperate situation with no support from ships or more effectives coming to his aid, but he was still in the mood for joking. An envoy handed Gutierrez a letter from the captain where the Troubridge demanded the surrender of the Spaniards. Gutiérrez, a veteran in fighting British braggarts, returned the message, answering that Troubridge should stop drinking in these situations. In the meantime, the Spanish general ordered the fire on the besieged British to be increased while he brought more artillerymen to the batteries closer to La Consolación.

The rest of the British forces achieved disembarkation in Las Carnicerías and proceeded through the Santos cliff. Despite the heavy fire from the Spanish fortresses, these men succeeded in joining Troubridge after being bottled up in Sto. Domingo square.

Gutiérrez had the Canarias battalion blockade the pier so that Troubridge could not make any escape back, nor could any support come in. Two columns headed for the harbour, one behind the Sto. Domingo square in order to hinder the British advance inside the city and the other along the coast. In the morning, a convalescent Nelson attempted to reinforce Troubridge by sending 15 boats into the pier. At around 1.00 am, Spanish gunfire swept the small squadron. Three of them were sunk with more than 30 drowned, the rest rowed back shocked.

At this time, an allegedly inebriated Captain Troubridge sent another message to Gutiérrez through Captain Hood, who showed up before the Spanish general with clear symptoms of delirium tremens. The post said that the British would take consideration of the poor Spanish people once the Spanish arms had surrendered to His Majesty's soldiers. Gutiérrez, seeing that Troubridge was out of his mind, kindly offered a doctor to have Troubridge's head checked and, if necessary, provide further treatment at a local hospital. When soberness and judgement finally came down to the British officers, they accepted what was inevitable from the beginning and signed their surrender before the Spanish authorities.

Conclusion

The Spanish suffered only 30 dead and 40 injured, while the British lost 250 dead and 128 wounded. The journey back to England was difficult as the British had lost many men and sails. Gutiérrez lent Nelson two Spanish schooners to help the shot-torn British on their way back. The Spanish general also allowed the British to leave with their arms and war honours when, in fact, the weapons were by right of capture his property and the men his prisoners of war. These acts of chivalry led to a courteous exchange of letters between Nelson and Gutiérrez. Nevertheless, Nelson would later remark that Tenerife was the most horrible Hell he had ever endured, and not only because he had lost his arm.

Nelson agreed to report news of the attack back to the Peninsula; the frigate "Emeral" approached Cádiz in late July carrying reports of Gutiérrez's victory. Jervis had expected the Union Jack to be flying over Santa Cruz and was furious when he learned about the fiasco. The Admiral apparently saw no difference between well-defended Spanish port cities such as Cádiz or Santa Cruz and the Spanish ships of the line that had turned and fled from his squadron back in February. Haughtiness and a lack of proper material and human resources for an invasion had drawn the British fleet to a painful defeat and the British never again tried to capture Santa Cruz. Though This battle was a crushing defeat for the English, Nelson was met with a hero's welcome back in England ("the British public had sanitized their defeat, as was his defeat at San Juan in Nicaragua in 1780").