Nelson’s Bombardment of Cadiz – 3 to 10 July 1797
In early July 1797, forces under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson attempted a series of attacks on the weakened Spanish fleet and the city of Cadiz, but despite an astonishing display of personal valour, he was frustrated by a vigorous enemy defence and forced to end the operation.
Following their defeat at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, the bulk of the Spanish fleet, now numbering twenty-eight sail of the line, retired to Cadiz, where on 8 April the command passed from the disgraced Vice-Admiral Don José de Cordova y Rosas to 52-year-old Rear-Admiral Don José de Mazarredo Salazar. The Spanish were soon blockaded by the British Mediterranean fleet of twenty-one sail of the line, which arrived off the city on 4 April under the command of Admiral Sir John Jervis , now flying his flag aboard the Ville de Paris 112 (his previous flagship, the Victory 100, having been sent home for a refit).
Jervis placed the active Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson in command of an inshore squadron of seven sail of the line. These were anchored in a crescent off the city whilst a host of small craft were posted in the mouth of the harbour. Only fishing boats were allowed out to work in their usual locations. Each night thereafter, Nelson sent the small boats out to capture Spanish vessels coming out of Cadiz, an activity which was nothing more that morale boosting, at a time when news of the fleet mutinies at home was infiltrating his ships. Such pinpricks were hardly likely to affect the course of the war.
In Cadiz meanwhile, the able Mazarredo had begun instigating a reorganisation of the Spanish forces by reinforcing the coastal batteries, laying up those vessels that were in a poor state of repair, and forming a strong force of gunboats, (mostly armed with 24-pounder cannons) under the command of Federico Carlos Gravina y Napoli. When the Spanish sent out the gunboats to harry his force, Nelson unmoored and fired into a town about seven miles from the city, destroying several houses, although he claimed that it was not his intention to harm civilians. Despite these events, the two sides maintained cordial communications, with the Spanish sending presents out to Jervis and his captains under a flag of truce, as well as market boats to sell soap and food such as vegetables and fish. In return, Jervis and Nelson courteously informed Mazarredo that a salute would be fired in honour of King George’s birthday on 4 June, so that ‘the Ladies of Cadiz may not be alarmed’.
However, when the bomb Thunder 8, Lieutenant John Gourly, and gunboat Urchin arrived from Gibraltar on 2 July under the escort of the frigate Terpsichore 32, Captain Richard Bowen, Nelson began developing plans for annoying the Spanish on a grander scale. These actions had several aims: prevent the Spanish from resting secure in their anchorage, perhaps provoke them into coming out to fight, and ensure that the British sailors would be kept active with no time to consider mutiny. On the night of the 3rd he stationed the Thunder a mile and a half from the Tower of San Sebastián and posted the Urchin and several armed launches and barges in support. The Goliath 74, Captain Thomas Foley, the Terpsichore, and the cutter Fox 10, Lieutenant John Gibson, stood further out under easy sail to provide a reinforcement as necessary. Soon after the Thunder had begun launching her shells, three large fires were seen to have broken out in Cadiz. However the giant mortar that threw twelve-an-a-half inch shells soon became unserviceable, diminishing the effects of the bombardment.
Such belligerence could not remain unanswered, and the Spanish responded with the fire of seventy cannons from the city defences that quickly put the Thunder out of action. Motivated by this success, a flotilla of Spanish gun-boats and launches then set out to capture the bomb vessel. Once their approach was reported to Nelson, he determined to intercept them with the similar force of launches and barges which had been stationed in support of the bomb. His flag-captain aboard the Theseus 74, Captain Ralph Willett Miller, was ordered to lead the assault, but when the men from his previously mutinous ship displayed some hesitation, Nelson leaped into his barge and seized command. Despite this typical demonstration of the admiral’s bravado and decisiveness, several British boats hung back. Captain Miller followed Nelson in one of the launches, encouraging the laggards to take on their Spanish opponents.
What followed proved to be a vicious struggle, and although the Ville de Paris’ launch was sunk by a direct cannon shot, most of the fighting happened at close quarters. Nelson’s launch carrying eleven seamen and Captain Thomas Fremantle of the Seahorse 38, (who had only arrived off Cadiz that day), was attacked by that of the Spanish flotilla commander, Captain Don Miguel Irigoyen, who had twenty-six men and four officers aboard his boat. A bitter hand-to-hand fight ensued, with pistols being fired and then thrown at the assailants when there was not time to reload them. When the men in Miller’s boat boarded the other side of the Spanish vessel, the British overpowered their enemy, capturing Irigoyen’s launch, and killing eighteen men whilst wounding every other Spaniard aboard. Yet the victory was hard won. Nelson’s staunch coxswain, a Yorkshireman by the name of John Sykes, was dangerously wounded in the head from a sabre cut after twice saving his admiral’s life, including by stopping a sword thrust with his hand. Captain Fremantle was fortunate to survive when a pistol aimed at him misfired, although he received a nasty facial wound from the useless weapon being hurled at him.
Having lost their commander, the Spanish raiding force retreated to the protection of Cadiz, leaving a couple of gunboats captured in fierce duels in British hands. In addition to Captain Fremantle, Lieutenants William Selby, William Rowe, and Gregory Grant were listed amongst the British casualties, which numbered one man killed and twenty-seven wounded. Nelson returned the wounded Spanish officers the next day, expressing his admiration for Don Miguel Irigoyen’s bravery. The Ville de Paris’ sunken launch was salvaged by the ingenuity of Captain Thomas Troubridge and taken aboard his command, the Culloden 74, for repairs. Despite Nelson’s heroics, he had not planned the overall operation very carefully, and it was only Miller’s actions that had saved the day.
Two nights later the Thunder (her mortar now replaced) was in action again, on this occasion battering Cadiz from a more favourable anchorage that had been discovered by the master of the Ville de Paris. The bomb vessel was assisted by the mortar-boats Stromboli 8 and Terror 8, and supported by the Theseus, Terpsichore and the Emerald 36, Captain Thomas Moutray Waller. Better practice was made, with the city suffering a number of fires after being hit by 40 shells, but the Spanish defenders also found their range. The Terpsichore was obliged to tow the bomb out of harm’s way when 25 Spanish gunboats under the command of Captain Antonio Miralles put out to confront her. On the following morning ten Spanish sail of the line were warped from the outer to the inner harbour out of harm’s way.
Another attempt by Nelson to bombard Cadiz on the 8th was frustrated both by the weather and an improvement in the Spanish defences, followed by a macabre couple of days for the Mediterranean Fleet. When St. Vincent sentenced four mutineers from the St. George to hang from the yardarm of their ship, their execution was marked by an assault from 27 Spanish gunboats on Nelson’s ten sail of the line. The Spanish believed that the procession of the inshore squadron’s boats to witness the capital punishment was a prelude to an attack on them. On the night of the 10th Nelson planned a further bombardment, but on this occasion, he was thwarted when the Theseus bore the brunt of the Spanish gunboats’ defensive action and sustained several casualties.
To the Spanish, Nelson’s failure to unleash any further bombardments was a victory to be celebrated, but ironically at dawn on 11 July red flags flew at the masthead of seven of Mazareddo’s vessels. This symbol of mutiny indicated that the ships’ crews men were refusing to fight until they were paid. Four days later Nelson, having been disappointed in his efforts to inflict significant damage on the Spanish, received orders to proceed with an expedition to attack Santa Cruz in the Canary Islands. It was to be an expedition that would prove even less successful.
Meanwhile off Cadiz, there followed a period of peace as Jervis (now ennobled as the Earl of St Vincent) withdrew all but a token force to the Tagus for the winter, although the blockade of the strategic city remained in place until the end of the French Revolutionary War in 1802. As for Nelson’s attacks on Cadiz, they were best summed up by Captain Fremantle’s wife, Betsy, in her diary: ‘The Admiral wrote that this bombardment must be given over. Thank God, it was sacrificing men for nothing.’
*As a reward for his bravery Nelson’s coxswain, John Sykes, was later awarded a gunner’s warrant with a view to his eventual promotion to lieutenant, but sadly he died in October 1799 before serving the necessary time.