First battle In July 1747, the 70-gun
Spanish Navy ship of the line Glorioso, launched at
Havana in 1739 and commissioned in 1740, was returning to Spain from the
Spanish Main, under the command of Captain
Pedro Messia de la Cerda and carrying a large shipment of about four million
Spanish dollars. On 25 July, off
Flores Island, one of the
Azores, a British convoy was sighted through the fog. At noon, the fog began to dissipate and de la Cerda found that there were ten British ships, three of which were warships: the 60-gun ship of the line
Warwick, the 44-gun frigate
Lark, and a 20-gun brig. The remaining seven ships of the convoy were merchantmen. De la Cerda tried to avoid combat, keeping to
windward. The British convoy began to pursue the Spanish ship, and at 9:00 p.m., the brig caught up with
Glorioso and there was an ineffectual exchange of fire between the two. At 2:00 p.m. there was a
squall that took the wind from
Glorioso and allowed the other British ships to come up. John Crookshanks, commanding officer of the convoy's escort, sent the brig to protect the merchantmen and ordered
Lark to attack
Glorioso. However, heavy gunfire from
Glorioso severely damaged
Larks
hull and
rigging.
Warwick then arrived and began to engage
Glorioso, only to be dismasted and forced to withdraw.
Glorioso was hit by four cannonballs in her hull, along with suffering damage to her rigging. She suffered five men killed (two of whom were civilian passengers) and 44 wounded in the engagement. HMS
Warwick had only four seamen killed and 20 wounded. When the
British Admiralty was notified about this engagement, Crookshanks was
court-martialled for denial of help and negligence in combat. Declared guilty for the defeat, he was dismissed from the Royal Navy, although he was allowed to retain his rank.
Second battle After the engagement,
Glorioso continued sailing to Spain, as her damage needed to be repaired in a port. She subsequently encountered three British warships from Admiral
John Byng's fleet cruising off
Cape Finisterre on 15 August, the 50-gun ship of the line
HMS Oxford, 24-gun frigate HMS
Shoreham and 20-gun brig HMS
Falcon. After three hours of fighting, all three ships had suffered heavy damage and were forced to withdraw. Captain Callis of HMS
Oxford was later court-martialed, but was honourably acquitted.
Glorioso lost her
bowsprit and sustained several casualties, but on the next day she finally entered the port of
Corcubión in
Galicia and unloaded her cargo.
Third battle In Corcubión,
Glorioso's crew carried out repairs to the ship. After that, de la Cerda decided to head to
Ferrol, Spain, but unfavourable winds damaged
Gloriosos rigging and the ship was forced instead to make for
Cádiz. She initially sailed away from the Portuguese coast to avoid further clashes with British ships. However, on 7 October, she encountered four British privateers under Commodore
George Walker near
Cape Saint Vincent. The privateers, known as the "Royal Family" due to the names of their vessels, consisted of the ships
King George,
Prince Frederick,
Princess Amelia and
Duke, altogether carrying 960 men and mounting 120 guns. At 8 a.m.,
King George, the flagship of the Royal Family, approached the
Glorioso and the two ships exchanged fire for three hours, with the
King George losing her
mainmast and two guns from
Gloriosos first
salvo.
Glorioso continued sailing to southwards, being pursued by
Prince Frederick,
Princess Amelia and
Duke. On 8 October, the three privateers were reinforced by two British ships of the line, the 50-gun
HMS Dartmouth under Captain
James Hamilton and the 80-gun
HMS Russell under Captain
Matthew Buckle, bringing the strength of the pursuers to over 250 guns and thousands of men. The captain of
Dartmouth,
James Hamilton, placed his ship next to the
Glorioso; nevertheless, after a fierce exchange of fire,
Dartmouths
powder magazine caught fire and blew up at 3:30 p.m. Hamilton and most of his crew perished in the flames. Only a lieutenant, Christopher O'Brien, and 11 sailors survived the explosion. Some sources mention 14 survivors from a crew of 300. According to one survivor, HMS
Dartmouth was already dismasted and heavily damaged by the Spanish gunfire when a round from
Glorioso hit the light-room of the magazine, starting a fire that ignited the powder and blew the ship up. He claimed 15 members of her crew were rescued out of a total complement of 325. These men were saved by life boats from
Prince Frederick. The three privateers joined
Russell on the following evening and together attacked the
Glorioso with all their guns. The Spanish ship resisted from midnight to 9 a.m., when about to sink, almost completely dismasted, without ammunition, and with 33 men killed and 130 wounded on board, de la Cerda, seeing that further resistance was impossible,
struck the colours.
Russell had 12 killed and several wounded. Another eight men died aboard
King George. == Aftermath ==