Besides St Valentine’s Day, today is the 211th anniversary of the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, in which the British navy under Admiral Sir John Jervis (later Earl St. Vincent) thrashed the pesky Spaniards. From a page created by St Vincent College, Gosport, UK:
At the battle [Jervis] led a squadron of 15 sail against a numerically far superior Spanish fleet. He fell on them off the southern coast of Portugal as they were running for Cadiz and divided their line into two parts. From his flagship, HMS Victory he ordered his ships to tack in succession and prevent the gap from being closed. Nelson, last but two in the line, saw that this manouevre would not be completed in time and made a quick decision to turn his ship, HMS Captain into the gap. He took on seven Spanish ships, including the Santissima Trinidad, the largest ship in the world and two other ships, the San Nicolas and San Josef. Through a hail of pistol and musket fire he led boarding parties onto both and captured both.
By nightfall four ships had been taken and ten others crippled. Admiral Jervis was generous in his praise of Nelson who was knighted (KB). Commodore Nelson was to fly his flag as Rear Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson - the promotion had been approved before the battle but Nelson did not hear of it until after St. Vincent.
The painting is Thomas Luny’s Engagement Between Sir George Rodney and the Spanish Squadron. (Actually, the full title is Engagement Between Sir George Brydges Rodney and the Spanish Squadron, Commanded by Don Juan de Langara, Near Cape St. Vincent, January 16, 1780), painted in 1782.
HMS Bienfaisant [pictured left foreground], captained by J. MacBride, having got up with the Spanish ship San Domingo, engaged her with such vigor that she blew up and every man perished.
Technorati Tags: Admiral Sir John Jervis, Battle of St Vincent, Nelson, San Nicolas, Thomas Luny
Tags: Admiral Sir John Jervis, Battle of St Vincent, Nelson, San Nicolas, Thomas Luny
