Admiral Horatio Nelson sustained a severe injury,…
July 1797 CE
The Spanish suffered minimal casualties, with only thirty dead and forty injured, while the British incurred heavy losses, with two hundred and fifty dead and one hundred and twenty-eight wounded.
The return journey to England proved arduous, as Nelson had lost a significant number of men.
In an act of chivalry, Lieutenant General Antonio Gutiérrez de Otero y Santayana, Nelson's Spanish counterpart, offered two schooners to assist the beleaguered British on their way back, even allowing them to depart with their weapons and war honors.
This display of generosity led to a courteous exchange of letters between Nelson and Gutiérrez.
Nelson agreed to report news of the battle back to the Peninsula, and in late July, the frigate Emeral arrived in Cádiz, carrying reports of Gutiérrez's victory.
Admiral John Jervis, however, expected to see the Union Jack flying over Santa Cruz and was enraged when he learned of the fiasco.
The Admiral failed to discern the difference between well-defended Spanish port cities like Cádiz and Santa Cruz and the Spanish ships his squadron had defeated in February.
The British fleet's haughtiness, coupled with inadequate resources for an invasion, resulted in a painful defeat, ensuring that they would never again attempt to capture Santa Cruz.
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