In the spring 1797, two English frigates boarded a Spanish frigate and a French corvette in the Santa Cruz roadstead and, taking advantage of the darkness, took them out of the bay with hardly any resistance. This action made Rear Admiral Nelson think that it would be easy to take over the Port and Plaza de Santa Cruz, and he proposed to Admiral Jervis an ambitious plan to prevent Spain from continuing to use the Canarian ports in its stopovers with America and Africa. On July 15, the British abandoned the blockade of the port of Cádiz and headed for Tenerife.
Friday July 21
At dawn, the lookout from the Igueste watchtower spotted a British fleet on the horizon, made up of four ships of the line, three frigates, a cutter and a bombard, communicating it to the Castillo de San Cristóbal by means of bonfires. In total, 2,000 marines came and their ships carried 393 cannons.
Once sounded “to alarm”, General Gutiérrez, Commander General of the Canary Islands, gathered his Staff and launched the planned plan; that is to say, that women, the elderly and children went up to La Laguna in search of refuge, at the same time that the public offices of the Treasury, Tobacco, Post Office, and commercial warehouses were evicted.
1,000 men from the Canarian Militia Regiments of Abona, Güimar, La Laguna, La Orotava and Garachico arrived in Santa Cruz, joining the 600 soldiers of the Canarian Infantry Battalion, the 387 artillerymen who defended the castles and batteries with its 89 cannons, the 60 men of the flags of Cuba and Havana, the 110 sailors of the French corvette La Mutine, the pilots and sailors of the merchant ships stationed in the bay, and the civilian volunteers.
Saturday July 22
At dawn, 23 boats full of Englishmen tried to disembark on Bufadero beach, but the assault was aborted thanks to the sighting of a peasant from San Andrés who was going to the arcade to sell her products and alerted the soldiers of the castle of Paso Tall.
At ten o’clock in the morning, three English frigates approached Valleseco beach, landing 1,200 men who seized the Mesa del Ramonal. Quickly, a detachment commanded by the Marquis de la Fuente de las Palmas occupied the Height of Paso Alto, standing in front of the enemy.
At sunset, 300 men from the Infantry battalion, plus 50 Rozadores from La Laguna (civilian volunteers who used brushcutters as weapons), prevented the English troops from advancing through those places. 500 militiamen would also join, led by the mayor of Taganana, Andrés Perdomo Álvarez. During the night, the English forces, taking advantage of the darkness, began the descent towards the beach, returning to their ships, leaving more than one dead soldier on the way.
Sunday July 23
At three in the afternoon, the enemy squadron put to sea and headed southeast, losing sight of Barranco Hondo. Despite the apparent retreat, during the night, at the suggestion of Lieutenant Francisco Grandy Giraud, they placed a cannon -El Tigre- in a new embrasure opened in the bastion of Santo Domingo, in order to cover the Alameda beach, which was unguarded.
Monday July 24
At six in the morning, the British squadron appeared again in front of Santa Cruz, anchoring in front of Valleseso and at nine it was joined by a new ship with 50 cannons, with which the attacking force already had nine units and Nelson gathered in the Theseus -captain ship- to his officers to study the strategy they would carry out to take Santa Cruz. Such was his faith in victory that he even decides to take part in the attack, leading the landing force.
At seven in the evening, a frigate and a howitzer approached the coast and began to shell the castle of Paso Alto, launching a total of 43 bombs that did not cause appreciable damage. To this action, the fort responded with the fire of its pieces.
Tuesday, July 25
At dawn, the British landing craft divided into several groups. The one that headed towards the pier and Castillo San Cristóbal split into two. One of them, under the command of Captain Troubridge, managed to reach the dock stairs and disabled the seven existing guns in its battery. They then tried to reach the Castle but, being repulsed, made a detour and hid in the upper part of the Plaza de la Pila (La Candelaria) where, at four in the morning, upon being discovered by the soldiers of the Canary Islands Battalion , fled and took refuge in the convent of Santo Domingo, a site now occupied by the Recova Art Center and the Guimerá Theater.
However, the second group of boats, in which Rear Admiral Nelson came, could not make it due to strong waves, going to beach their keels on the Alameda beach; so that when Nelson was about to jump to the ground and drew his sword to encourage his men he would be hit by the shrapnel fire from the Tiger cannon. Nelson would be taken to his flagship, where his right arm was amputated at his shoulder.
The Fox cutter, which was escorting the aforementioned boats, was hit below the waterline and, in the midst of a terrible fire, sank in the bay with its 300 sailors, gunpowder and assault material.
Another group of boats, commanded by Samuel Hood, managed to land on the Carnicería beach and climbed up the Santos ravine until they also took shelter in the Dominican convent. At dawn, the English began to send signals to their ships from the bell tower of the convent, requesting help, while urging General Gutiérrez to hand over the plaza, under the threat of setting fire to the town, to which Gutiérrez did. deaf ears.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Grandy had recommissioned the dock battery, so that when 15 boats full of English sailors headed there, with the intention of helping their comrades who were in the Convent, the cannons opened fire against them sinking several boats, returning the others to their ships.
At seven o’clock in the morning, when discouragement spread in the English troops, they asked to parley; To do this, Commander Samuel Hood was taken blindfolded to the castle of San Cristóbal, where he still dared to demand that General Gutiérrez surrender, but, given the firm reply received: “the plaza still has men and gunpowder for his defense”, he desisted from his attitude and agreed to capitulate.
Immediately, the sea captain Carlos Adán went to the British flagship, where Nelson would be informed of the conditions of the Capitulation, to which he agreed and signed with his left hand; that is to say, that the troops belonging to the British SM were embarked with their weapons and that the prisoners were returned. In consideration of which, the British Squadron undertook not to attack Santa Cruz, nor any of the Canary Islands.
Wednesday, July 26
At nine in the morning, in the Plaza de la Candelaria, bread, fruit and wine were distributed to the vanquished British, who were then transferred to their ships in the boats of the chicharrero fishermen or in their own boats that had remained intact. The following day the wounded who had been treated at the two hospitals in Santa Cruz would be re-embarked.
Nelson, impressed by such a kind act of chivalry of the people of Tenerife, addressed a letter to General Gutiérrez -signed with his left hand- in which he expressed his gratitude for such deferences, while at the same time becoming the messenger of his own defeat. In gratitude, he gave him some night vision goggles, a cheese and a barrel of English beer, to which Gutiérrez reciprocated with another letter and gave him two limetones (jugs) of local wine.
Privileges Earned
The Santacruceros could not imagine what that victory would mean for the future of their modest Villa. Four days later, the Royal Mayor met in the Pilar church with the authorities and residents of the Place and Port, agreeing to designate the Holy Cross and the Apostle Santiago as co-patrons, on whose day the triumph over the English had been consummated, taking charge of the General Gutiérrez to report what happened to the Court.
Six years later, on August 28, 1803, King Carlos IV granted Santa Cruz the privilege of Villazgo and granted it its own coat of arms; Since then, this Place would be called: Muy Leal, Noble and Invicta Villa, Puerto and Plaza de Santa Cruz de Santiago de Tenerife.
25 years later, on January 27, 1822, Ferdinand VII would sign the Royal Decree establishing the division of Spanish territory into 52 provinces, with Santa Cruz de Tenerife designated Capital of the Canary Islands, which he would maintain until January 23. September 1927, when the government of General Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja decreed the division of the Canary Islands into two provinces: Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas.
