Execution
On 14 July Nelson sailed for the Canaries aboard his flagship HMS Theseus, (Captain Miller), leading a squadron composed of HMS Culloden (Captain Troubridge), HMS Zealous (Captain Hood), all 74-gun ships; and the frigates HMS Seahorse (38 guns), commanded by Captain Fremantle, HMS Emerald (36 guns) led by Captain Waller, and HMSTerpsichore (32 guns) under Captain Bowen; as well as a cutter, HMS Fox, under Lieutenant Gibson and a gunboat, HMS Ray, under Lieutenant Crompton. HMS Leander (50 guns), under Captain Thompson, joined the flotilla once the attack had started. The expedition counted 400 guns and nearly 4,000 men. They arrived in the vicinity of Santa Cruz on 17 July.
At Santa Cruz, Lieutenant General Antonio Gutiérrez de Otero y Santayana, a two-time victor over the British, had hastened to prepare a defence following the British raid in April. Forts were rebuilt, field works expanded, and the batteries enlarged by doubling their gun rows to 91, with earth sacks piled around. From the city's soldiers, partisans, local hunters, militia, artillery, and sailors from the captured French frigate, General Gutiérrez scraped together a force of 1,700 men.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Santa Cruz De Tenerife (1797)
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