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European waters, 1775–1782
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The Action of 8 January 1780 was a naval encounter off Cape Finisterre between a British Royal Naval fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney, and a fleet of Spanish merchants sailing in convoy with seven warships of the Caracas Company, under the command of Commodore Don Juan Augustin de Yardi. During the action the entire Spanish convoy and its escorts were captured. The action took place during the successful British attempt to relieve Gibraltar, and just prior to Rodney's engagement and defeat of a Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape St Vincent.
Action
Rodney was enroute to Gibraltar in command of a fleet of 21 ships of the line and nine smaller warships, with orders to deliver relief to the garrison there before proceeding to the West Indies.[2] On 7 January he parted with the ship of the line HMS Hector under Sir John Hamilton, and the frigates HMS Phoenix, HMS Andromeda and HMS Greyhound under Captains Hyde Parker, H. Bryne and William Dickson respectively, to escort the West Indies-bound merchants.[3] The following day Rodney encountered a Spanish convoy consisting of twenty-two ships, bound from San Sebastián to Cadiz. He closed on them, the copper sheathing on some of his ships allowing them to outsail the Spanish. The whole convoy was captured, with vessels which had been carrying naval stores to the Spanish fleet at Cadiz, and baled goods for the Royal Caracas Company being sent back to England, escorted by HMS America and HMS Pearl.[3][4] Those Spanish ships that were found to be carrying provisons were taken to Gibraltar by Rodney, and used to relieve the British forces there.
In addition Rodney commissioned and manned the captured Spanish flagship, the 64-gun Guipuscoana, as an escort for the voyage back to Britain, naming her HMS Prince William, in honour of Prince William, who had been present at the engagement.[4][5] Rodney remarked in his despatches to the Admiralty that the loss of the ships 'must greatly distress the enemy, who I am well informed are in much want of provisions and naval stores'.[4] Several days later Rodney engaged and defeated a Spanish fleet under Juan de Lángara at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, on 16 January 1780.
Ships involved
British fleet[3]
Spanish fleet[3]
Warships
- Guipuscoana (64) Commodore Don Juan Augustin de Yardi, Captain Don Thomas de Malay
- San Carlos (32) Captain Don Firmin Urtizberea
- San Rafael (30) Captain Don Luis Arbura
- Santa Teresa (28) Captain Don Jose J. de Medizeval
- San Bruno (26) Captain J. M. de Goycohea
- San Firmin (16) Captain J. Vin. Eloy Sanchez
- San Vincente (10) Captain Don Jose Ugalde
Merchants
- Nos. Sen. de L'Oves
- San Francisco
- La Conceptione
- San Nicholas
- San Jeronimo
- Divinia Providentia
- San Gibilan
- San Pacora
- San Lauren
- La Providentia
- La Bellona
- Esperanza
- Le Cidada de Mercia
- L'Amistad
- San Miguel
Notes
- ^ Basil p.218
- ^ Allen. Battles of the British Navy. pp. 296-7.
- ^ a b c d Beatson. Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain. pp. 232-3.
- ^ a b c Syrett. The Rodney papers: Selections from the Correspondence of Admiral Lord Rodney. pp. 304-5.
- ^ Winfield. British Warships of the Age of Sail. p. 101.
References
- Allen, Joseph (1853). Battles of the British Navy. 1. H.G. Bohn.
- Beatson, Robert (1804). Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain, From 1727 to 1783. 6. Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme.
- The life and correspondence of the late Admiral Lord Rodney, Volume 1 By Godfrey Basil Mundy
- Syrett, David (2007). The Rodney Papers: Selections from the Correspondence of Admiral Lord Rodney. 2. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. ISBN 0754660079.
- Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships of the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-295-X.
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