The Battle of Cape St. Vincent was a fleet action fought on 14 February 1797 between the British and Spanish navies off Cape St. Vincent in Portugal as part of the War of the First Coalition. In one of the opening battles of the recently declared war between Britain and Spain, a British fleet under Admiral of the Blue Sir John Jervis defeated a larger Spanish fleet under Lieutenant-general José de Córdoba y Ramos which had left Cádiz to confront the British navy. Commodore Horatio Nelson distinguished himself in the battle by boarding and capturing two Spanish ships of the line.
Córdoba's fleet ultimately suffered 430 killed and 856 wounded while having 4 ships of the line and 3,000 men captured, while the British suffered only 73 killed and 227 wounded. The defeated Spanish fleet returned to Cádiz where it was blockaded until the 1802 Peace of Amiens, while the 3,000 prisoners were landed in Portugal. Jervis and his officers were rewarded for the victory, which allowed British forces to return to the Mediterranean after evacuating the region in 1796, while Córdoba was dismissed from the Spanish Navy and forbidden from appearing at court.
Background
After the signing of the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1796 allying Spanish and French forces against Great Britain, the Royal Navy blockaded Spain in 1797, impairing communications with its empire. The Spanish declaration of war on Britain and Portugal in October 1796 made the British position in the Mediterranean untenable. The combined Franco-Spanish fleet of 38 ships of the line heavily outnumbered the British Mediterranean Fleet of fifteen ships of the line, forcing the British to evacuate their positions in first Corsica and then Elba. Early in 1797, the Spanish fleet of 27 ships of the line lay at Cartagena on the Mediterranean Sea. The Spanish planned to join the French fleet at Brest and escort a large merchant convoy, carrying mainly mercury for gold and silver production, from Cádiz. The convoy entered Cádiz harbour along with warships Neptuno, Terrible and Bahama, prior to running into the British force.
A Spanish fleet under Lieutenant-general José de Córdoba y Ramos left Cartagena on 1 February and might have reached Cádiz safely but for a fierce Levanter, the easterly wind, blowing between Gibraltar and Cádiz, which pushed the Spanish fleet further out into the Atlantic than intended. As the winds died down, the fleet began working its way back to Cádiz. In the meantime, the British Mediterranean Fleet, under Admiral of the Blue Sir John Jervis, had sailed from the Tagus with ten ships of the line to try to intercept the Spanish fleet. On 6 February, Jervis was joined off Cape St. Vincent by a reinforcement of five ships of the line from the Channel Fleet under Rear-Admiral William Parker. On 11 February, the British frigate HMS Minerve, under the command of Commodore Horatio Nelson, passed through the Spanish fleet unseen due to heavy fog. Nelson reached the British fleet of fifteen ships off Spain on 13 February, and told the location of the Spanish fleet to Jervis, commanding the fleet from his flagship Victory. In the fog, Nelson had not been able to count the Spanish ships, but Jervis's squadron immediately sailed to intercept them as they continued toward Cádiz. Early on the 14th, Jervis learnt that the Spanish fleet was 35 miles to windward.
Battle
Though Jervis still had no idea of the size of the fleet he was up against, during the night came the sounds for which he had been waiting: Spanish signal guns in the fog. At 2:50 a.m. came the report that the Spanish fleet was some fifteen miles distant. By 5:30 a.m., Niger reported them closer still, as a cold and foggy February dawn rose on the British fleet, formed in two lines of battle. Jervis turned to his officers on the quarterdeck of Victory and said, "A victory to England is very essential at this moment." Jervis put Captain Thomas Troubridge in Culloden in the lead. At 6:30 a.m., Culloden signalled that she could see five enemy sail to the south east, and along with Blenheim and Prince George turned toward the Spanish ships. As they loomed up out of the fog, a signal lieutenant in Barfleur described them as "thumpers, looming like Beachy Head in a fog." On the quarterdeck of Victory, Jervis, Captain Robert Calder and Captain Benjamin Hallowell counted the enemy ships: the British were outnumbered nearly two-to-one.
It would be difficult to disengage, and the situation would only get worse were the Spanish fleet to join up with the French: Jervis decided to continue. Hearing this, the Canadian Captain Hallowell became so excited he thumped the Admiral on the back, "That's right Sir John, and, by God, we'll give them a damn good licking!" The Spanish were formed in two loose columns, one of about 18 ships to windward and the other, of about nine ships, somewhat closer to the British. At about 10:30 a.m., the Spanish ships in the weather column were seen to wear ship and turn to port. This gave the impression that they might form a line and pass along the weather column of the British fleet, exposing the smaller British column to the fire of the larger Spanish division. At 11:00 a.m., Jervis ordered: "Form in a line of battle ahead and astern of Victory as most convenient." When this was completed the British fleet had formed a single line of battle, sailing south to pass between the two Spanish columns. At 11:12 a.m., Jervis made his next signal: "Engage the enemy" and then at 11:30 a.m.: "Admiral intends to pass through enemy lines". The Battle of Cape St. Vincent had begun.
To the British advantage, the Spanish fleet was formed into two groups and was unprepared for battle, while the British were already in line. Jervis passed between the two Spanish groups, minimising the fire they could put into him, while letting him fire in both directions.
Culloden tacked to reverse her course and take after the Spanish column, followed by Blenheim, then Prince George. The Spanish lee division now put about to the port tack to break the British line at the point where the ships were tacking in succession. Orion came round untouched, but Colossus was going about when her foreyard and foretop yard were shot away. She was forced to wear ship instead of tack and the leading Spanish vessel came close enough to threaten her with a broadside. Saumarez in Orion saw the danger to Colossus and backed his sails to give covering fire. As Victory came to the tacking point, another attempt was made to break the British line, but Victory was too fast and Principe de Asturias received two raking broadsides as she tacked close to her. "We gave them their Valentine in style," later wrote a gunner in Goliath. As the last ship in the British line passed the Spanish, the British line had formed a U shape with Culloden in the lead and on the reverse course but chasing the rear of the Spanish. At this point the Spanish lee division bore up to make an effort to join their compatriots to windward. Had they managed this, the battle would have ended indecisively with the Spanish running for Cádiz and the British harrying their sterns in the manner of the Armada in 1588.
At 1:05 p.m., Jervis hoisted a signal:
Take suitable stations for mutual support and engage the enemy as coming up in succession
Nelson had returned to his ship Captain (a seventy-four) and was now towards the rear of the British line, much closer to the larger group. He saw that Jervis's manoeuvre could not be completed before the Spanish escaped, relatively unharmed. Taking the battle into his own hands, Nelson ordered Captain Ralph Willett Miller to wear ship and take Captain out of line to engage the smaller group.
As soon as the seventy-four was around, Nelson directed her to pass between Diadem and Excellent and ran across the bows of the Spanish ships forming the central group of the weather division. This group included the Santísima Trinidad, the largest ship afloat at the time and mounting 130 guns; the San José, 112; Salvador del Mundo, 112; San Nicolás, 84; San Ysidro, 74; and Mexicano, 112.
As a junior commander, Nelson was acting against Jervis's order to "form line ahead and astern of Victory", and using his own wide interpretation of "take suitable stations" in the later signal. Had his action failed, Nelson would have been subject to court-martial for disobeying orders in the face of the enemy, with subsequent demotion and disgrace.
At about 1:30 p.m., Culloden was gradually overhauling the Spanish rear and began a renewed but not very close engagement of the same group of ships. Jervis signalled his rearmost ship, Excellent, to come to the wind on the larboard tack and following this order, Collingwood brought his ship round to a position ahead of Culloden. After a few more minutes, Blenheim and Prince George came up behind and the group of British ships prevented the Spanish from grouping together.
The Captain was now under fire from as many as six Spanish ships, of which three were 112-gun three-deckers and a fourth Córdoba's 130-gun flagship Santísima Trinidad. At about 2:00 p.m., Culloden had stretched so far ahead as to cover the Captain from the heavy fire poured into her by the Spanish four-decker and her companions, as they hauled up and brought their broadsides to bear. Of the respite thus afforded to her, the Captain took immediate advantage, replenishing her lockers with shot and splicing and repairing her running rigging.
At about 2:30, Excellent, having been directed by signal to bear up, edged away and at 2:35, arriving abreast of the disabled Spanish three-decker Salvator del Mundo, engaged the latter on her weather bow for a few minutes; then passing on to the next Spanish ship, San Ysidro, whose three topmasts had already been shot away. This ship Captain Collingwood engaged closely until 2:50 when, after a gallant defence in her crippled state, San Ysidro hauled down the Spanish flag.
Moments later, Excellent and Diadem commenced an attack on Salvador del Mundo, with Excellent stationing herself on the weather bow and Diadem on the lee quarter of the Spanish three-decker. Salvador del Mundo, more or less disabled, saw Victory was about to pass close astern firing her bow guns and judiciously hauled down her flag.
By about 3:00, Excellent was already in close action with San Nicolás which, with foretop mast shot away, had encountered Captain. Excellent fired broadsides into San Nicolás and then made sail to clear ahead. To avoid Excellent, San Nicolás luffed up and ran foul of San José, which had suffered the loss of mizzen mast and other damage.
Captain was by now almost uncontrollable with her wheel shot away. At this point, her foretop mast fell over the side leaving her unmanageable, with little option but to board the Spanish vessels. Captain opened fire with her larboard broadside, and then put the helm over and hooked her larboard cat-head with the starboard quarter of San Nicolás.
At 3:20, with a cry of "Westminster Abbey or Glorious Victory!", Nelson ordered his boarders to cross the first Spanish ship onto the second. He later wrote,