1741
New World.
XVIII century.
Battle of Cartagena de Indias.

The British in the context of Caribbean piracy declared war on Spain on the called Jenkins Hear War.

The bombastic English hyper-nationalism created the largest fleet ever seen in history up to that time. Not even for the Battle of Trafalgar did they deploy so massive an armada as this one, which was composed of:

29 ships of the line

22 frigates

135 transport vessels

12,000 infantry soldiers

Stationed in Jamaica, it was destined to assault the Spanish paradise city of Cartagena de Indias, in the Viceroyalty of New Granada; a key stronghold for English slavers whose activity in the city had been banned by the war. From there departed cacao, sugar, and especially silver and gold from Peru, bound for Cádiz.

British nationalism was confident that it would finally bury this papist and decadent empire. To mark the occasion of their expected victory, they minted coins showing the Spanish king being beaten, surrendering, and depictions of the city itself. They also composed the famous anthem ‘Britannia Rules the Waves’ (whose origins they shamefully tend to downplay). There were pamphlets boasting that ‘Spain secures its colonies with castles and fortresses, England with money,’ mocking the Spanish forts that guarded the route of the treasure galleons.

Spain, for its part, had only a small militia coalition in the city, numbering about 1,100 men manning the coastal bastions and the city walls, supported by 600 Indian archers. And six ships of the line, which the Spanish commander Blas de Lezo sank at the mouth of the estuary where the city was located, to impede the passage of the English armada.

The defeat of Edward Vernon was total and the propaganda fastly hid any gossip about this defeat