Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797) - The Battle

The Battle

The plan began the next evening. In the clearness of the summer Canary night, citizens realised that blurry figures were sailing towards the pier: the British boats, carrying the troops, were on their way. They were in two groups: one of 23 boats and launches heading for the Bufadero cliff; the other, 16, coming right into the city. Authorities were updated as adverse currents held the English back. No marine bombardment was likely as ships could not get any closer and even though frigates could, the latter sported naval cannons of straight fire that could not be elevated to reach the city. The British had just one curve shot mortar which could inflict little damage. They had no howitzers and carronades were of no use in this situation. Spanish cannons began firing heavily on the boats, wrecking some of them. The currents were too strong and the British decided to go back to the ships.

In a second attempt, frigates were tugged by the boats close to the Bufadero, where they anchored. Despite the Paso Alto castle shooting, the contrary currents and the lack of animals to carry the artillery, 1,000 British soldiers landed on Valle Seco beach with some equipment. In the middle of the night, some of the boats did not reach the beach and ended up strewn around, as no British officers knew its location.

During 23 July a heavy cannonade and musketry duel took place. Gutiérrez managed to recruit more effectives and station them in the castle, as well as moving the forces from the Sta. Cruz fortress, now unnecessary, on to Paso Alto. The British, who lost two men, were under pressure and had a difficult time. Nelson, from the Theseus, called the troops back. Once they were on board, the three frigates slipped before the Candelaria beach and the Barranco Hondo, firing into the cliffs, intending to frighten and silence the defenders. Once thwarted in Valle Seco, Gutiérrez guessed Nelson's next move and brought most of the artillerymen to the port batteries, leaving just 30 militia men in Paso Alto. The British could not see the Spanish troops' movements from one place to another, so they deemed the Spanish force larger than it actually was.

Enraged by the failure of the first stage of his plan, Nelson called his captains on board Theseus and explained how he himself would lead the next move ahead of a boat group followed by five more boats led by captains Troubrige, Miller, Hood, Waller and Thompson straight to the San Cristóbal castle, in Sta. Cruz harbour, where Gutiérrez had by now assembled his best troops.

In order to reduce the noise, cloth-padded oars propelled the boats at 10:30 p.m. on 24 July from around the Zealous into the harbour. The Spanish frigate San José, anchored 500 metres away from the pier, fired an alarm shot when sailors on board heard the disembarking troops getting closer. Troubled waters were against the British, who amounted to 700 in the boats, supported by 180 in the cutter Fox and 80 in a Canary sloop taken earlier. Apart from the San Cristóbal castle, which had been engineered in order to emplace a huge 24-pound cannon, general Gutiérrez had split his force in four strategic points: Pila square, Santos stream, Carnicerías beach and Santo Domingo monastery.

At around 23:00 a rain of cannon balls and musket bullets from the batteries of Paso Alto, San Miguel, San Antonio and San Pedro fell on the approaching British whose own ammunition was damp with seawater. Several shots reached the cutter's hull. Some of the boats reached the beaches and marines managed to spike a couple of cannons, yet others drifted away. Spanish mortars and cannons focused on the successful sailors and swept them away. Many British casualties were left scattered on the beach. An immense line of fire, ranged from Paso Alto to San Telmo castle, targeted the small vessels. Before midnight the cutter Fox was hit by crossfire from the heights and sunk, and more than half her crew drowned.

British forces led by Bowen rushed the battery covering the harbour, captured it and spiked its guns. They began to pursue the fleeing Spanish into the town, but were swept by a hail of grapeshot. Bowen and several of his men were killed, while Nelson, who was just landing from his boat, was hit in the right arm. Those soldiers who succeeded in reaching the beach were riddled with bullets from house terraces and windows. The citizens were so closely involved in repelling the attack to the point that, after the victory, some were given honours and medals.

Nelson was bleeding copiously and his stepson, Lieutenant Nisbet, cut a piece of his own neck handkerchief and tied it tightly around Nelson's arm to stop the bleeding. The admiral refused to use the frigate Seahorse that was stationed close by, to be taken back to his flagship, as it would imply that Captain Fremantle would have to hoist a flag of distress and thereby demoralise the crews. Instead, the sailors of his boat rowed hard back to the Theseus. The surgeon had been warned of the contingency and got his instruments ready. Nelson was cited as saying, as he pointed to his right arm “Doctor, I want to get rid of this useless piece of flesh here”. Nelson's operation was quick and aseptic. The limb was thrown over board, despite the admiral's wish to keep it.

The batteries increased the cannonade when they noticed that almost half of the thousand British soldiers had managed to land on the Carnicerías beach and were attempting to slip into the city. Captains Troubridge and Hood, leading 350 men, accomplished the taking of La Consolación convent. However, the rest of the troops were defeated when they tried to assault the San Cristóbal fortress from behind. Troubridge was aware of his desperate situation with no support from ships or more reinforcements coming to his aid, but sent a message to Gutierrez demanding the surrender of the San Jose or he would burn the town. Gutiérrez, a veteran soldier, refused. In the meantime, the Spanish general ordered the fire on the besieged British to be increased while he brought more artillerymen to the batteries closer to La Consolación.

The rest of the British forces achieved disembarkation in Las Carnicerías and proceeded through the Santos cliff. Despite the heavy fire from the Spanish fortresses, these men succeeded in joining Troubridge after being bottled up in Sto. Domingo square.

Gutiérrez had the Canarias battalion blockade the pier so that Troubridge could not make any escape back, nor could any support come in. Two columns headed for the harbour, one behind the Sto. Domingo square in order to hinder the British advance inside the city and the other along the coast. In the morning, a convalescent Nelson attempted to reinforce Troubridge by sending 15 boats into the pier. At around 1:00 am, Spanish gunfire swept the small squadron. Three of them were sunk with more than 30 drowned, the rest rowed back shocked.

Captain Troubridge sent another message to Gutiérrez through Captain Hood, requesting honourable terms for a withdrawal. Gutierrez agreed to this, and by 7.00 am a truce was signed that allowed the remaining British forces to return to their ships with full military honours. For his part Hood undertook not to burn the town, or make any further attacks on Tenerife or the Canary Islands.