The British Admiralty has decided to prosecute…
1743 CE
The British Admiralty has decided to prosecute the 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 after the defeat at the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in 1741, prepares an invasion of another important commercial port on the Spanish Main.
Believing La Guaira to be not well defended, Ogle wants to take advantage and attack.
Sir Charles Knowles on February 22, 1743, sails from the island of Antigua with nineteen ships.
Knowles underestimates the defenses of La Guaira, believing it to be less well defended than Cartagena de Indias had been.
He arrives on February 27 at La Tortuga island.
It is said that the Spaniards had two months warning of the attack; whether this be true or not cannot definitely be stated.
After suffering ninety-seven killed and three hundred and eight wounded over three days, Knowles decides to retire west before sunrise on March 6 and attack nearby Puerto Cabello.
Despite instructing his captains to rendezvous at Borburata Keys—four miles (six point four kilometers) east of Puerto Cabello—the detached Burford, Norwich, Assistance, and Otter proceed to Curaçao, compelling the commodore to angrily follow them in.
He sends his smaller ships to cruise off Puerto Cabello on March 28, and once his main body had been refitted, goes to sea again on 31 March, only to then struggle against contrary winds and currents for two weeks before finally diverting by April 19 to the eastern tip of Santo Domingo.
Locations
Groups
Topics
Commodities
Subjects
Regions
South America
View →Subregions
