Battle of Vigo Bay
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The naval Battle of Vigo Bay, also known as the Battle of Rande, was fought on 23 October 1702 (12 October in the Julian calendar then in use in England) during the War of the Spanish Succession at Vigo Bay in Spain between an Anglo-Dutch fleet commanded by Admiral Sir George Rooke, and a combined French and Spanish fleet commanded by Admirals Francois Louis de Rousselet Chateau-Renault and Manuel de Velasco.
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Rooke had been sent with a large Anglo-Dutch force to capture Cádiz in Spain but retreated in defeat on 29 September 1702. When the returning fleet put in to water at Lagos, Portugal, Rooke learned that the 1702 Spanish treasure fleet, one of the richest ever assembled, had sailed on 24 July from Havana, Cuba, and had been diverted from Cadiz to Vigo, where it had arrived on 23 September.
Determined to salvage something from the disaster at Cádiz, Rooke set out for Vigo, where he found that the treasure fleet was protected by a Franco-Spanish fleet of about 30 ships. Chateau-Renault had fortified the harbour by laying a boom of masts, covered by guns from forts in the town and on the island of San Simón, near the town of Redondela. On October 23 Rooke attacked, sending Admiral Thomas Hopsonn on the Torbay to break the boom, and landing the soldiers of the Duke of Ormonde to capture the forts.
The battle was a complete victory for Rooke: the forts were captured, Torbay broke through the boom, and all the Spanish and French ships were burned or captured. The French and Spanish suffered about 2,000 killed; the English and Dutch about 800. The victors recovered silver to the value of about a million pounds, but a larger sum — perhaps three million pounds — had been unloaded and taken away before the battle.
British guinea coins of 1703 bear the word VIGO to commemorate the battle.
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Treasure hunters believe that some of the treasure may still lie at the bottom of the bay. This belief was incorporated into the plot of Jules Verne's novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, with Captain Nemo and his crew obtaining money by salvaging amongst the wrecks.
Ships involved:
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England
Mary 60
Grafton 70
Torbay 80
Kent 70
Monmouth 70
Berwick 70
Essex 70
Swiftsure 70
Ranelagh 80
Somerset 80
Bedford 70
Cambridge 80
Northumberland 70
Orford 70
Pembroke 60
some frigates
some bomb ketches
some fire ships
Netherlands
Dordrecht
Zeven Provincien
Velue
Muyde
Holland
Unie
Reygersburgh
Gouda
Alkmaar
Catwyck
France
Fort 76 - Sunk/burnt/aground
Solide 56 - Sunk/burnt/aground
Prudent 62 - Sunk/burnt/aground
Oriflamme 64 - Sunk/burnt/aground
Dauphin 46 - Sunk/burnt/aground
Espérance 70 - Sunk/burnt/aground
Sirčne 60 - Sunk/burnt/aground
Superbe 70 - Sunk/burnt/aground
Volontaire 46 - Sunk/burnt/aground
Prompt 76 - Captured
Assuré 66 - Captured
Bourbon 68 - Captured
Ferme 72 - Captured
Modéré 56 - Captured
Triton 42 - Captured
Entreprenant (frigate) - Burnt
Choquante (frigate) - Burnt
Favori (frigate) - Burnt
some fire ships