The War of Jenkins' Ear was fought between Great Britain and Spain from 1739 to 1748. Most of the fighting took place in New Granada and the Caribbean Sea, with major operations over by 1742. It is considered a related conflict of the 1740 to 1748 War of the Austrian Succession.
The name derives from Robert Jenkins, a British sea captain whose ear was allegedly severed in April 1731 by the captain of a Spanish guarda costa searching his ship for contraband. In 1738, opposition politicians in the British Parliament used the incident to incite support for a war against Spain.
The most significant operation of the war was a failed British attack on Cartagena in 1741, which resulted in heavy casualties and ship losses, and was not repeated. Apart from minor actions in Spanish Florida, Georgia, and Havana, after 1742 Britain and Spain focused their efforts on the War of the Austrian Succession in Europe.
Fighting formally ended with the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the terms of which meant Britain largely failed to achieve its original territorial and economic ambitions in the Americas. The war is significant in British naval history for George Anson's voyage around the world from 1740 to 1744.
Background
While the conflict is often portrayed as a trade dispute, modern historians argue Spanish concerns over British colonial expansion in North America were equally important. They also suggest a decisive factor in the path to war was the campaign by the Tory opposition, who sought to remove the Whig government led by Robert Walpole, Prime Minister since 1721.
The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht gave British merchants access to markets in Spanish America, including the Asiento de Negros, a monopoly to supply 5,000 slaves a year. Another was the Navío de Permiso, permitting two ships a year to sell 500 tons of goods each in Porto Bello in Panama, and Veracruz in Mexico. Both concessions were held by the South Sea Company, owned by the British government since 1720, although their value was insignificant compared to the trade between Britain and mainland Spain.
The asiento itself has been described as a 'commercial illusion', with only eight ships in total sent from Britain between 1718 and 1733. Even for these, their primary purpose was to transport consumer goods that evaded customs duties. High tariffs on imported goods, combined with demand from local colonists, made smuggling too lucrative to be stopped. The Spanish therefore tried to either manage the illegal trade, or use it as an instrument of policy. During the Anglo-Spanish War (1727–1729), French ships were allowed through but British ones stopped, a policy reversed when Britain backed Spain in the 1733 to 1735 War of the Polish Succession.
Under the 1729 Treaty of Seville, the Spanish were allowed to check British vessels trading with the Americas for contraband. In 1731, the brig Rebecca was found to be carrying smuggled sugar, its captain Robert Jenkins later alleging his ear was partially amputated during the search by Spanish customs officers. While deprecating such treatment, the Royal Naval commander in Port Royal argued those involved in "clandestine trade" could not complain if their cargoes were confiscated, and often used violence themselves.
Tensions increased after the founding of the British colony of Georgia in 1732, seen as a threat to Spanish Florida, vital to protect shipping routes with mainland Spain. For their part, the British viewed the 1733 Pacte de Famille between Louis XV of France and Philip V of Spain as the first step in being replaced by France as Spain's largest trading partner. A second round of Spanish "depredations" in 1738 led to demands for compensation, with Tory-backed newsletters and pamphlets presenting them as being inspired by France. In London, opposition newspapers—particularly the essay-paper The Champion—ran serial columns (“Index to the Times” and “Journal of the War”) that criticised naval preparation and ministerial conduct during the opening phase of the war. In support of their campaign against Walpole, the Tories exhibited Jenkins in the House of Commons, at which point the incident was widely publicised.
The January 1739 Convention of Pardo established a Commission to resolve the Georgia-Florida boundary dispute. It also agreed Spain would compensate British merchants for damages, while the South Sea Company would pay Philip V his share of profits on the asiento, but the company refused to comply. As a result, George II declared war on 15 June, a decision formally ratified by Parliament on 23 October. On 20 July, a naval force under Admiral Edward Vernon sailed for the West Indies, and reached Antigua in early October.
Conduct of the war
First attack on La Guaira (22 October 1739)
On 22 October, Vernon sent three ships commanded by Captain Thomas Waterhouse to intercept Spanish ships between La Guaira and Porto Bello. He decided to attack a number of vessels that he observed at La Guaira, which was controlled by the Royal Guipuzcoan Company of Caracas. The governor of the Province of Venezuela, Brigadier Don Gabriel de Zuloaga had prepared the port defences, and Spanish troops were well-commanded by Captain Don Francisco Saucedo. On 22 October, Waterhouse entered the port of La Guaira flying the Spanish flag. Expecting attack, the port gunners were not deceived by his ruse; they waited until the British squadron was within range and then simultaneously opened fire. After three hours of heavy shelling, Waterhouse ordered a withdrawal. The battered British squadron sailed to Jamaica to undertake emergency repairs. Trying later to explain his actions, Waterhouse argued the capture of a few small Spanish vessels would not have justified the loss of his men.
Capture of Portobelo (20–22 November 1739)
Prior to 1739, trade between mainland Spain and its colonies was conducted only through specific ports; twice a year, outward bound ships assembled in Cádiz and the Flota escorted to Portobelo or Veracruz. One way to impact Spanish trade was by attacking or blockading these ports but as many ships carried cargoes financed by foreign merchants, the strategy also risked damaging British and neutral interests.
During the 1727 to 1729 Anglo-Spanish War, the British attempted to take Portobelo, but retreated after heavy losses from disease. On 22 November 1739, Vernon attacked the port with six ships of the line; it fell within twenty-four hours and the British occupied the town for three weeks before withdrawing, having first destroyed its fortifications, port and warehouses.
The victory was widely celebrated in Britain; the famous song "Rule Britannia" was written in 1740 to mark the occasion and performed for the first time at a dinner in London honouring Vernon. The suburb of Portobello in Edinburgh and Portobello Road in London are among the places in Britain named after this success, while more medals were awarded for its capture than any other event in the eighteenth century.
Taking a port in Spain's American empire was considered a foregone conclusion by many Patriot Whigs and opposition Tories. They now pressed a reluctant Walpole to launch larger naval expeditions to the Gulf of Mexico. In the longer term, the Spanish replaced the twice-yearly Flota with a larger number of smaller convoys, calling at more ports and Portobelo's economy did not recover until the building of the Panama Canal nearly two centuries later.
First attack on Cartagena de Indias (13–20 March 1740)
Following the success of Portobelo, Vernon decided to focus his efforts on the capture of Cartagena de Indias in present-day Colombia. Both Vernon and Edward Trelawny, the governor of Jamaica, considered the Spanish gold shipping port to be a prime objective. Since the outbreak of the war and Vernon's arrival in the Caribbean, the British had made a concerted effort to gain intelligence on the defences of Cartagena. In October 1739, Vernon sent First Lieutenant Percival to deliver a letter to Blas de Lezo and Don Pedro Hidalgo, the governor of Cartagena. Percival was to use the opportunity to make a detailed study of the Spanish defences. This effort was thwarted when Percival was denied entry to the port.
On 7 March 1740, in a more direct approach, Vernon undertook a reconnaissance-in-force of the Spanish city. Vernon left Port Royal in command of a squadron including ships of the line, two fire ships, three bomb vessels, and transport ships. Reaching Cartagena on 13 March, Vernon immediately landed several men to map the topography and to reconnoitre the Spanish squadron anchored in Playa Grande, west of Cartagena. Having not seen any reaction from the Spanish, on 18 March Vernon ordered the three bomb vessels to open fire on the city. He sought to provoke a response that might give him a better idea of the defensive capabilities of the Spanish. Understanding Vernon's motives, Lezo did not immediately respond. Instead, he ordered the removal of guns from some of his ships in order to form a temporary shore battery for the purpose of suppressive fire. Vernon next launched an amphibious assault, but in the face of strong resistance, the attempt to land 400 soldiers was unsuccessful. The British then undertook a three-day naval bombardment of the city. In total, the campaign lasted 21 days. Vernon then withdrew his forces, leaving HMS Windsor Castle and HMS Greenwich in the vicinity, with the mission to intercept any Spanish ship that might approach.
Destruction of the fortress of San Lorenzo el Real Chagres (22–24 March 1740)
After the destruction of Portobelo the previous November, Vernon proceeded to remove the last Spanish stronghold in the area. He attacked the fortress of San Lorenzo el Real Chagres, in present-day Panama on the banks of the Chagres River, near Portobelo. The fort was defended by Spanish patrol boats, and was armed with four guns and about thirty soldiers under Captain of Infantry Don Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Cevallos.
At 3 pm on 22 March 1740, the British squadron, composed of the ships Strafford, Norwich, Falmouth and Princess Louisa, the frigate Diamond, the bomb vessels Alderney, Terrible, and Cumberland, the fireships Success and Eleanor, and transports Goodly and Pompey, under command of Vernon, began to bombard the Spanish fortress. Given the overwhelming superiority of the British forces, Captain Cevallos surrendered the fort on 24 March, after resisting for two days.
Following the strategy previously applied at Porto Bello, the British destroyed the fort and seized the guns along with two Spanish patrol boats.
During this period of British victories along the Caribbean coast, events in Spain would prove to have a significant effect on the outcome of the largest engagement of the war. Spain had decided to replace Don Pedro Hidalgo as governor of Cartagena de Indias. But the new governor-designate, Lieutenant General of the Royal Armies Sebastián de Eslava y Lazaga, had first to evade the Royal Navy in order to get to his new post. Galicia and San Carlos set sail from the Galician port of Ferrol. Hearing the news, Vernon immediately sent four ships to intercept the Spanish. They were unsuccessful. The Spanish reached the port of Cartagena on 21 April 1740, landing there with the new governor and several hundred veteran soldiers.
Second attack on Cartagena de Indias (3 May 1740)
In May, Vernon returned to Cartagena de Indias aboard the flagship HMS Princess Caroline in charge of 13 warships, with the intention of bombarding the city. Lezo reacted by deploying his six ships of the line so that the British fleet was forced into ranges where they could only make short or long shots that were of little value. Vernon withdrew, asserting that the attack was merely a manoeuver. The main consequence of this action was to help the Spanish test their defences. A very similar operation had taken place in March. In that moment Vernon sounded several beaches, bombarded Cartagena and then withdrew.
Third attack on Cartagena de Indias (13 March–20 May 1741)
The largest action of the war was a major amphibious attack launched by the British under Admiral Edward Vernon in March 1741 against Cartagena de Indias, one of Spain's principal gold-trading ports in their colony of New Granada (today Colombia). Vernon's expedition was hampered by inefficient organisation, his rivalry with the commander of his land forces, and the logistical problems of mounting and maintaining a major trans-Atlantic expedition. The strong fortifications in Cartagena and the able strategy of Spanish Commander Blas de Lezo were decisive in repelling the attack. Heavy losses on the British side were due in large part to virulent tropical diseases, primarily an outbreak of yellow fever, which took more lives than were lost in battle.