The Battle of La Guaira or La Guayra, took place on 2 March 1743 in the Caribbean, off the coast of La Guaira, present day

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. La Guaira was a port of the Royal Gipuzkoan Company of Caracas, whose ships had rendered great assistance to the Spanish navy during

War of Jenkins' Ear The War of Jenkins' Ear, or , was a conflict lasting from 1739 to 1748 between Britain and the Spanish Empire. The majority of the fighting took place in New Granada and the Caribbean Sea, with major operations largely ended by 1742. It is con ...

in carrying troops, arms, stores and ammunition from Spain to her colonies, and its destruction would be a severe blow both to the Company and the Spanish Government. A British expeditionary fleet under Sir Charles Knowles was defeated, and the expedition ended in failure. 600 men were killed, among whom was the captain of , and many of the ships were badly damaged or lost. Knowles was therefore unable to proceed to

Puerto Cabello Puerto Cabello () is a city on the north coast of Venezuela. It is located in Carabobo State, about 210 km west of Caracas. As of 2011, the city had a population of around 182,400. The city is home to the largest and busiest port in the coun ...

until he had refitted.

Background

The

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of i ...

had decided to prosecute the Ear Jenkins war against the Spanish settlements, though on a different scale from that of the great expeditions of 1741 and 1742. Sir Chaloner Ogle, who had replaced Admiral

Edward Vernon Admiral Edward Vernon (12 November 1684 – 30 October 1757) was an English naval officer. He had a long and distinguished career, rising to the rank of admiral after 46 years service. As a vice admiral during the War of Jenkins' Ear, in 173 ...

after the defeat at the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in 1741, prepared an invasion of another important commercial port on the

Spanish Main During the Spanish colonization of America, the Spanish Main was the collective term for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. The term was used to ...

. Believing La Guaira to be not well defended, Sir Chaloner Ogle wanted to take advantage and attack. On 22 February 1743, Sir Charles Knowles sailed from the island of

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

with 19 ships. Knowles underestimated the defences of La Guaira, believing it to be less well defended than Cartagena de Indias had been. He arrived at La Tortuga island on 27 February. It is said that the Spaniards had two months warning of the attack recruited extra defenders and obtained gunpowder from the Dutchs. Whether this be true or not cannot definitely be stated.''The Navy In the War of 1739–48'', Cambridge University Press, p. 250

Battle

At first light of the day, Knowles' squadron was east of the port of La Guaira and ''Otter'' was sent ahead to reconnoitre the inner harbour. Spanish lookouts lit signal fires at 6:30 A.M., alerting the people at both La Guaira and

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in th ...

and bringing Governor Gabriel de Zuloaga down to the coast with a large body of militia that had been recruited from Colonel Dalzell's regiment in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

. The commander of the Spanish garrison Mateo Gual and Captain José Iturriaga prepared for an impending assault supplied with gunpowder by the Dutchs. About midday HMS ''Burford'' stood into the roadstead, followed by HMS ''Eltham'', ''Norwich'', ''Suffolk'', ''Advice'' and ''Assistance''. Despite the hail of rounds from six batteries the English man-of-war anchored in a double line by 1:00 P.M. and began a furious exchange. The Spanish counterfire proved unexpectedly heavy and accurate and this combined with a heavy swell prevented any British disembarkation. The Spanish had been forewarned of Knowles's intentions to capture La Guaira. After three and a half hours, ''Burford'' cut the anchor cable and moved out of range; the frigate ''Eltham'' had also been damaged. Both accidentally ran afoul of ''Norwich'', and all three ships left the action, reducing Knowles's overall effort. Shooting ceased at sundown, around 8:00 P.M, with the battered HMS ''Burford'' seeking shelter to leeward, escorted by HMS ''Norwich'', ''Otter'', and ''Assistance'' which could not anchor. The English resumed a rather desultorily bombardment at dawn the following day with the bomb vessel ''Comet''. De Zuloaga was obliged to return to Caracas his capital on 4 March to reassure an uneasy populace that the enemy had not come ashore. At 3:00 A.M on 5 March Knowles sent boat parties into La Guaira's roadstead, they boarded a French merchantman before being discovered and driven off.

Aftermath

Having suffered 97 killed and 308 wounded over three days, Knowles decided to retire to west before sunrise on 6 March and attack nearby

. Despite instructing his captains to rendezvous at

Borburata Borburata is a small coastal town in Carabobo state, Venezuela, located on the Caribbean Sea. It was long a destination of indigenous peoples, who would gather salt at the sea. It was colonized by the Spanish in the 16th century, but suffered so m ...

Keys— east of Puerto Cabello—the detached ''Burford'', ''Norwich'', ''Assistance'', and ''Otter'' proceeded to

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coa ...

, compelling the commodore to angrily follow them in. On 28 March he sent his smaller ships to cruise off Puerto Cabello, and once his main body had been refitted, went to sea again on 31 March, only to then struggle against contrary winds and currents for two weeks before finally diverting to the eastern tip of

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

by 19 April.

British order of battle

Notes

References

* * Marley, David E. (1998). ''Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present''. ABC-Clio Inc. . * Richmond, Herbert William. (1920). ''The Navy In the War of 1739–48''; Cambridge University Press. * Duro, Cesáreo Fernández (1900). ''Armada española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y de León, Vol. VI''. Madrid, Est. tipográfico "Sucesores de Rivadeneyra".

External links

History of the Royal Navy: c. 1701–1750
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 La Guaira Guaira Guaira La Guaira La Guaira Guaira Guaira 1740s in South America La Guaira