Journey of the glorious

The Glorioso, which had sailed from the New Mexico port of Veracruz (Mexico) and was carrying a declared cargo valued at 4,502,631 pesos and 7 maravedis silver, managed to repel two English attacks, one about two hundred kilometers north of the Azores and another one before the end of Finisterre before disembarking its cargo in the Galician port of Corcubión. After unloading his precious cargo and putting it safely, he stayed almost two months in the Corcubión estuary. After a failed attempt, he would definitely leave for Ferrol on October 11. Being anchored in Finisterre waiting for favorable winds, a strong gale crashed the ship's anchor forcing its captain to head towards Cádiz.

On his journey, the Glorioso was attacked successively by two English corsair frigates and by the ships Darmouth and Russell, the latter supported by two frigates in the vicinity of Cape St. Vincent. In the course of these last three confrontations, the Spanish ship disarmed a frigate, the King George; It blew up the Darmouth, killing almost all its crew and left completely dismasted and about to sink the ship's three bridges and 80 Russell cannons. Finally, after exhausting the ammunition of the glorious, Pedro Mesía ordered to lower the flag and surrendered to the captain Mathew Buckle, commander of the Russell. Buckle, after staying in the area for nine days repairing his battered ship, crowded the mouth of the port of Lisbon with his dam on October 30. Pedro Mesía, as well as the rest of the officers and the crew of the Glorioso, would be released the day after arriving in the Portuguese capital and placed under the custody of the Spanish ambassador. On November 7, 1747, he left for La Graña and Ferrol "the first troop of the glorious party". Successively the rest of the crew would do it, until the 30th of the same month Messiah did it to the capital of Spain. As for the Glorious, after staying in Lisbon for seven months, he sailed with an English crew in the direction of England, where he arrived in mid-May 1748. For the next eleven months he remained anchored in one of the docks of Portsmouth harbor.

As a result of these events, two British officers, John Crookshanks and Smith Callis, captains, respectively, of the frigate Lark and the ship Oxford, were submitted to a council of war. Only the first would be expelled from the Royal Navy for incompetence to the enemy.

The battles

Don Pedro Mesía de la Cerda,

capitán del Glorioso.

First combat

In July 1747, the Spanish ship San Ignacio de Loyola, alias Glorioso, launched in Havana in 1740 and sent by Captain Don Pedro Mesía de la Cerda, returned to Spain from Veracruz carrying a large cargo of silver, gold, medicinal goods, fine and wild grana, vanilla, sugar, balm, cocoa, hides and a valuable personal gift of the viceroy of the Philippines for King Ferdinand VI. On Tuesday, July 25, while sailing near the coast of the island of Flores, in the archipelago of the Azores, the crew of the glorious distinguished among the fog a convoy of English merchant ships. When at midday the fog began to dissipate, the Spaniards spotted ten British ships, three of which were warships: the Warwick line ship of 60 guns; the frigate Lark, 40 and the Montagu packet of 16; besides the transport of troops armed with 20 guns, Beaufort.

De la Cerda ordered to prepare for the fight and continued navigating northeast towards Ferrol, maintaining the windward. John Crookshanks, head of the convoy, after spotting the Spanish ship ordered his pursuit. With the passing of the hours and checking that he was moving away from the marked route, he ordered the captain of the Beaufort to remain with the rest of the transports to protect them, and began hunting for the lone vessel. By mid-afternoon the Montagu was already sailing in "the waters" of the Glorious. At around 9:00 pm, with the horizons obscured, the Spanish captain ordered his ship to turn to the southeast, in an attempt to mislead his pursuers in the darkness of the night. To avoid this, the Montagu fired several cannons and lit fires on board to mark its position. He also fired four cannon shots at the stern of the Glorioso, which did not reach him. Pedro Mesía then ordered to move four guns, two of 18 pounds to the lower house and two of 24 to the guardatimones, with which it could be shot from the stern of the ship against his pursuer, thus preventing the English packet from getting too close. After an erratic exchange of fire between both ships, which lasted all night, at 11 am on July 26, the other two British warships were already near the Spanish ship. The brigantine commander then moved away, to go talk to them.

At 2:00 pm the Montagu arrived on the Warwick, to return two hours later aft of the Glorious. It would be precisely then, at 4:00 PM, when there was a shower that left the Glorious without wind, although curiously it was not like that for the English ships, a circumstance that they took advantage of to approach the Spanish ship. At about 9:00 pm, with the horizons "abromados" and warning Pedro Mesía that the three enemy ships were coming at him, he took the initiative. He arrived suddenly on the Montagu, which had him stuck to his starboard fin, and fired some cannon shots at him. Captain Connelly, commander of the small English steamer, ordered to leave to not return. The maneuver had placed the Glorious on the port side of the Lark. The confrontation was short. The closed discharge of all the guns on the starboard side surprised the crew of the frigate, who, despite responding to the fire, saw their top table top crumble. After a cannonade that lasted, according to the witnesses, just over five minutes, John Crookshanks ordered separated from the Glorious. I would not go back.

In those moments, with almost no visibility, due to the clouds and mists that hid the moon, Pedro Mesía could have changed course and taken advantage of the darkness of the night to leave behind his pursuers. However, with great security, as if he had been planning it for days, he turned his boat round and headed for the Warwick, keeping the windward. When passing by the side of the English ship, all the guns of the port band and all the musketry embarked fired a closed discharge on the surprised enemy. Mesia again ordered to turn his ship round and stand beside the Warwick, which fired another shot closed with the artillery of his other band. In this way the two ships would exchange volleys until 12 at night, when the two were immobilized due to lack of wind. The confrontation, unshaken by both contenders, would continue until after three o'clock in the morning, when a little east-northeast wind came in, Captain Erskine, commander of the Warwick, decided that he had suffered enough punishment. He took advantage of the favorable wind and moved away from the Glorious forever. The Spanish casualties were five dead (including two civilians) and 42 injured, of which seven were seriously. In the following days, five of them would die. As for the material damage, the ship suffered four cannonball impacts on its hull at the height of the first battery and considerable damage to the rig. Most of them would be repaired in a few days. According to the report of the Spanish captain, 406 guns were fired from 24 to 420, from 18 to 18, from 180 to 8 and 4400 rifle shots. When the British Admiralty heard of this confrontation, Captain Crookshanks was subjected to a war council for denial of assistance and negligence in combat. Declared guilty, he was expelled from the Royal Navy.

Second combat

After this first combat, the Glorioso continued sailing towards Spain. On August 14, in the vicinity of Cape Finisterre, in Galicia, the lookouts of the Glorious one saw three candles on the horizon. According to the English sources it was the ship of line Oxford, of 50 guns; the frigate Shoreham, 24 and the sloop Falcon, 14. All of them belong to Admiral John Byng's squadron. At four o'clock in the afternoon, the three ships surpassed the Glorious one by both bands at a prudential distance without firing. The Oxford for leeward and the two small for windward. Nothing else to surpass the Spanish ship, the three ships got together to speak. Pedro Mesía, upon seeing that the larger ship was dizzy with his foremast to come upon him, took the initiative. He turned around and headed resolutely towards the English ship of greater size, winning the windward. When equal with the opposing boats, both bands shot all their guns on them. The frigate and the sloop, located to windward of the Glorioso, also fired on this. With the choppy sea, de la Cerda noticed that a lot of water had entered her through the ports of her first battery. So he turned the ship round again and this time, to the surprise of the British, he went down the leeward side of Oxford. With that movement he had managed to leave the three enemy ships on his port side, thus avoiding fighting between two fires again. But also, to use his two batteries in full on a ship that could not use his. Captain Smith Callis, commander of the Oxford, never wanted to present the entire side of his ship. After two volleys, he left the fire, ignominiously fleeing from combat. The duel had lasted almost three hours, a confrontation where the cannon shots were scarce, but where the tactical sense and the audacity of the Spanish captain had given him the victory. Proof of them were the few casualties, five minor injuries. The damage was also minimal: "One bullet in the topsail of a sailboat, another in the main yard and two others that passed the side for the second battery". The unfavorable opinion that the Spanish captain pointed out in his sailing diary about Callis, would be endorsed the next day, when the three ships again passed about two miles from the Glorioso's prow, without making any maneuver to seek the confrontation.

As had happened previously with his companion, Captain Callis was subjected to a council of war. But unlike Commodore Crookshanks, Callis was acquitted and reinstated with honor Two days later, the Glorioso managed to arrive at the port of Corcubión, remaining anchored in the mouth of the estuary. It would definitely be August 18 at night when the ship would reach the vicinity of the town of Corcubión, beginning to disembark its cargo the next morning.

Tercer combate

After unloading his precious cargo and transporting it to the interior with the help of the civilian population of the area, he stayed almost two months in the Corcubión estuary. There it would be repaired with the spare parts sent from La Graña, the tasks being directed by the tree-master of said arsenal, after setting sail towards Ferrol, on the night of October 5, the ship came across the following morning with a British squad formed by 15 ships, reason why it had to return again to Corcubión. It would definitely leave on October 11. He remained anchored in Finisterre for three days waiting for favorable wind to head back to Ferrol. On October 14, a strong wind crashed the ship's anchor, forcing its captain to head towards Cadiz.

On October 17, the watchmen of the Glorious one saw, at the height of Cape San Vicente, ten sails, two of which, taking advantage of the favorable wind, were heading towards the lone ship. These were the frigates King George and Prince Frederick, both belonging to a small corsair squadron under the command of Commodore George Walker. This squadron was known in the United Kingdom as "The Royal Family" due to the names of the frigates that composed it: King George, Prince Frederick, Prince George, Duke, Princess Amelia and Prince Edward Tender. Three months before, in July 1747, the six frigates had 114 guns and a thousand crewmen, but only three of them would face the Glorious, although only the King George, commanded by Walker himself, would face a direct gunner duel with the Spanish ship.

After the sighting, the wind stopped, leaving the ships standing. Around seven o'clock in the afternoon King George, the flagship of the group, managed to approach the Glorious and initiate an exchange of shots with the Spanish ship. With his first salvo, the Glorious demolished the main mast and dismantled two guns of the British frigate, having to endure the King George three hours of harsh punishment with hardly room to maneuver, losing eight men and suffering numerous injuries. The Prince Frederick appeared on the scene at about 10.30 at night, standing on the port side of the Glorious, and began firing in an attempt to distract the fire on his commander. Although Edward Dottin, captain of Prince Frederick, had taken the precaution of not offering the side of his ship to his opponent's big guns, the first shots of this one caused three serious injuries to his crew, suffering two of them the amputation of his legs. Half an hour later, the Glorious one moved away from the combat without neither of the two frigates doing anything to prevent it.

Fourth combat

At dawn the next day, three frigates of the Royal Navy, with the ship of three bridges Russell, went to the hunt of the Glorious. Pedro Mesía, to avoid such an unequal confrontation, ordered to turn the ship and head northwest. At midmorning the lookouts located a solitary ship that came to meet him, without a flag to identify him. When overtaking the Spanish ship, hoisted the Danish and turned to reach his opponent. The already chief of the Spanish squad, suspicious of the maneuver, continued his course without flinching. It was the British ship of 50 guns, Darmouth. His captain, John Hamilton, seeing that his trick did not work, dropped the Danish flag and hoisted the British. When he reached the shooting distance, he started firing with his bow cannons. De la Cerda evaluated the situation and decided to wait for his opponent. Hamilton, aware perhaps of the lesser artillery power of his ship, did not want to expose his whole side, so that when his bow reached the height of the main pole of the Glorioso, he put part of his sails in front to stop the ship and started the artillery duel. This lasted almost three hours, until after three o'clock in the afternoon a tremendous explosion disintegrated the Darmouth. There were only 18 survivors, including a lieutenant.

Fifth combat

During the rest of the day, all the crew of the Glorious would remain repairing the trees of the ship, to be able to face with some guarantee to the ships that approached by the south. After twelve o'clock at night, with a full moon that allowed to see as if it were daylight, the Spanish commander checked with resignation how a ship of three bridges took advantage of the slight nocturnal breeze and it was placed to windward. It was the Russell, an 80-gun ship led by Captain Mathew Buckle. Two other frigates were located some distance on their stern. After a whole night firing with any weapon on board, the Glorious's guns stopped firing after six in the morning. There was no more to carry them.

Finally, on the morning of the 19th, with 33 dead and 130 wounded on board, the crew exhausted and their ammunition exhausted, Pedro Mesía de la Cerda surrendered the vessel. Upon boarding the Russell, he would discover the enormous damage inflicted on his opponent. Subsequent conversations with Captain Buckle and an English gentleman on board made him understand how close he had been to the victory. Maybe then he remembered the ammunition he had requested in Corcubión to replace the one consumed in the July and August bouts, and someone in an office did not consider that he had to supply it for such a short trip from Corcubión to Ferrol.

Consequences

After the battle, the British ships sailed to Lisbon, taking the Glorious with them. Commodore Walker, commander of the corsair squadron, was severely reprimanded by one of the owners for risking his ship against a superior enemy. Walker protested bitterly for it, arguing that if the prey had carried a treasure on board, their reproaches would not have occurred. As for the Spanish ship, it would remain in the Lisbon port for seven months, until its new English crew sailed with it in the direction of England. The expenses to take it to his country, amounted to the sum of 2165 pounds, 2 shillings and 5 pence. Of which, just over 465 pounds were destined for the repairs of the Spanish ship, and 1700 to pay the new endowment of the ship and its provisioning.On May 16, 1748, the Russell and the Glorioso arrived at the anchorage of Spithead. While the Russell set sail in the direction of Chatham, the main British English shipyard of the time, to be subjected to a comprehensive repair that could remedy its serious damage, the Glorious would stay for almost a year moored in one of the docks of the port of Portsmouth. There he would be subjected to several inspections and evaluations to determine his status. In September 1748, one of the leading shipbuilders of the Portsmouth shipyard wrote a report in which he confirmed by way of conclusion that "the ship, which was a strong and well-built ship, could be in a position to give good service if some damaged parts were replaced. "Finally, after multiple disputes between Mathew Buckle and the British Admiralty, the ship would be auctioned off by a curious method at a famous London location, Lloyd's Coffee House, on April 24. of 1749.

The captain of the Cerda, who had been promoted to squad leader while he was in Corcubión, would reach the rank of lieutenant general of the Royal Navy and viceroy of New Granada.

Many historians have praised the deed of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, aka the Glorious. Also those of English nationality, although in a brief manner. Phrases, such as that of Joseph Allen (c.1810-1864), who noted in his well-known work on the battles of the British Navy: "The defense of the Glorioso gained a place of honor in Spanish naval history." However, it would be George Walker, one of the British captains who was confronted by Pedro Mesía, perhaps the bravest of all, the one who knew best how to appreciate the feat of the lone Spanish ship. When the Russell and two frigates of the Royal Family began their pursuit again, having endured this two bloody battles in less than sixteen hours, he reflected on the fact with the following words: "And again began the persecution and the conquest of his bold and elusive enemy; because the Spaniards, and nobody really, have fought better with a boat than they did. "