Battle of Vigo Bay
The naval Battle of Vigo Bay was fought on 23 October 1702 during the
War of the Spanish Succession at
Vigo Bay in Galicia between an Anglo-Dutch fleet commanded by Admiral Sir
George Rooke , and a combined
French and
Spanish fleet commanded by Admirals Fran?ois Louis Rousselet de Chateau-Renault and Manuel de Velasco.
Rooke had been sent with a large Anglo-Dutch force to capture C?diz in Spain but retreated in defeat on 29 September 1702. When the returning fleet put in to water at
Lagos, Portugal, Rooke learned that the 1702 Spanish treasure fleet, one of the richest ever assembled, had sailed on 24 July from
Havana,
Cuba, and had been diverted from Cadiz to Vigo, where it had arrived on 23 September.
Encyclopedia
The naval
Battle of Vigo Bay was fought on 23 October 1702 during the
War of the Spanish Succession at
Vigo Bay in Galicia between an Anglo-Dutch fleet commanded by Admiral Sir
George Rooke , and a combined
French and
Spanish fleet commanded by Admirals François Louis Rousselet de Chateau-Renault and Manuel de Velasco.
Rooke had been sent with a large Anglo-Dutch force to capture Cádiz in Spain but retreated in defeat on 29 September 1702. When the returning fleet put in to water at
Lagos, Portugal, Rooke learned that the 1702 Spanish treasure fleet, one of the richest ever assembled, had sailed on 24 July from
Havana,
Cuba, and had been diverted from Cadiz to Vigo, where it had arrived on 23 September.
Determined to salvage something from the disaster at Cádiz, Rooke set out for Vigo, where he found that the treasure fleet was protected by a Franco-Spanish fleet of about 30 ships. Chateau-Renault had fortified the harbour by laying a boom of masts, covered by guns from
forts in the town and on the island of San Simón, near the town of Redondela. On October 23 Rooke attacked, sending Admiral Thomas Hopsonn on the
Torbay to break the boom, and landing the soldiers of the Duke of Ormonde to capture the forts.
The battle was a complete victory for Rooke: the forts were captured,
Torbay broke through the boom, and all the Spanish and French ships were burned by their own side, run aground or captured. The French and Spanish suffered about 2,000 killed; the English and Dutch about 800. The victors recovered silver to the value of about £14,000, but a far larger sum — perhaps three million pounds — had been unloaded and taken away before the battle.
British guinea coins of 1703 bear the word VIGO to commemorate the battle.
Treasure hunters believe that some of the treasure may still lie at the bottom of the bay. This belief was incorporated into the plot of
Jules Verne's novel
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction [i] novel by French [i] wr ...
, with
Captain Nemo and his crew obtaining money by salvaging amongst the wrecks.
Ships involved
England
Torbay 80
Mary 60/70
Grafton 70
Kent 70
Monmouth 70
Berwick 70
Essex 70
Swiftsure 70
Ranelagh 80
Somerset 80
Bedford 70
Cambridge 80
Northumberland 70
Orford 70
Pembroke 60
some
frigates
some
bomb ketches10
fire ships
Netherlands
Vrijheid 96 flagship Van Almonde
Beschermer 90 flagship Lieutenant-Admiral Gerard Callenburgh
Dordrecht 72
Zeven Provinciën 90 flagship Vice-Admiral Philips van der Goes
Veluwe 64
Slot Muyden 72
Amelia 64
Holland 72
Unie 94 flagship Rear-Admiral J.G van Wassenaar
Reygersbergen 72
Gouda 64
Alkmaar 72
Catwyck 72
nine transports
France
Fort 76 - Burnt
Solide 56 - Burnt
Prudent 62/64 - Burnt
Oriflamme 64 - Burnt
Dauphin 44/46 - Burnt
Espérance 70 - Aground
Sirène 60/62 - Aground
Superbe 70 - Aground
Volontaire 46 - Aground
Prompt 76 - Captured
Assuré 66 - Captured
Bourbon 68 - Captured
Ferme 72/74 - Captured
Modéré 54/56 - Captured
Triton 42 - Captured
Entreprenant 24 - Burnt
Choquante 8 - Burnt
Favori - Burnt
some fire ships
Spain
Jesús-María-José 70 - Captured, sunk/aground
Bufona 54 - Captured, sunk/aground
17
galleons and 3
corvettes - 9 captured, 2 destroyed
See also
War of Spanish Succession
