Nelson’s Arm
22-25 JULY 1797
NELSON’S ARM
The Treaty of Lldefonso on 19 August 1796 allied Spain with France in Napoleon’s war against England. Now the combined French/Spanish navies of 38 ships-of-the-line threatened England’s Royal Navy’s control of the seas. A February 1797 attempt by British ADM John Jervis to knock out the Spanish fleet near Cape St. Vincent, Spain, resulted only in a draw, as did a follow-up attack on the repairing Spanish fleet at Cadiz. Jervis now sent RADM Horatio Nelson with eight ships to attack the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands, where the treasure convoys from America regularly called.
Nelson reach Santa Cruz on 17 July carrying 4000 assault troops and mounting 400 guns on HMS THESEUS, 74, (flag); HMS CULLODEN and ZEALOUS (both 74s); LEANDER, 50; SEAHORSE, 38; EMERALD, 36, and TERPSICHORE, 32. Ashore LTGEN Antonio Gutiérrez de Ortero y Santayana commanded a garrison of 1700 inside reinforced fortifications mounting 91 guns. Nelson’s plan involved a night landing of the troops onto a mole projecting from the harbor, from whence the troops would overwhelm the Castle de San Andrés under bombardment from Nelson’s warships. However, the initial attack this night failed after strong currents whisked the assault boats from their intended landings and shoals prevented Nelson’s ships from closing to gun range of the city. A second attempt on July 23 landed 1000 men despite more difficulty with the currents, but these became stranded for lack of naval gunfire support.
A frustrated Nelson vowed to lead the next assault himself, which he did under cover of nightfall on the 24th. As his launch nudged ashore, Nelson leapt to the beach, sword in hand. But he lurched violently backward into the launch, his sword flung from his grip, blood gushed across his uniform. A Spanish ball had struck his right arm above the elbow. The bleeding admiral was rowed back out in the direction of his flagship. But as the oarsmen pulled, Nelson spied British troops foundering in the water from upturned boats. He ordered them rescued–delaying treatment for his own wound. When he finally reached the surgeon aboard Theseus, his arm could not be saved.
This third assault failed as well. The gracious Spanish commander allowed those captured ashore to be repatriated under a flag of truce, and Nelson’s flotilla sailed away disgraced.
Nelson’s surgical site became infected and required months of recuperation in England before it finally healed. For the rest of his career his missing right arm constantly reminded him of his one major defeat in the King’s service.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 28 JUL 22
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Bennett, Geoffrey. Nelson the Commander. New York, NY: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1972, pp. 108-13.
Hibbert, Christopher. Nelson: A Personal History. Reading, MA: Perseus Books, 1994, pp. 119-26.
Warner, Oliver. Victory: The Life of Lord Nelson. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1958, pp. 118-23.
