Siege of Havana
Siege of Havana | |||||||
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Part of the Anglo-Spanish War (1762–63) | |||||||
The Capture of Havana, 1762, Taking the Town, 14 August, Dominic Serres | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Spain | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
George Keppel George Pocock George Eliott Ralph Burton Joseph Goreham Benoni Danks |
Juan de Prado Gutierre de Hevia Luis de Velasco † José de Velasco | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
31,000 23 ships of the line 11 frigates 4 sloops 3 bomb ketches 1 cutter 160 transport ships[4][5] |
11,670[6][7] 10 ships of the line[7] 2 frigates 2 sloops 100 merchant ships[8] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
5,366 killed, wounded, captured, missing, sick, or died of disease[9] 1 ship of line scuttled 2 ships of the line sunk[10][11][12] |
11,670 killed, wounded, captured, missing, sick, or died of disease[13][14] 10 ships of the line captured 2 frigates captured 2 sloops captured 100 merchant ships captured[15] |
History of Cuba |
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Governorate of Cuba (1511–1519) |
Viceroyalty of New Spain (1535–1821) |
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Captaincy General of Cuba (1607–1898) |
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US Military Government (1898–1902) |
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Republic of Cuba (1902–1959) |
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Republic of Cuba (1959–) |
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Timeline |
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Topical |
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Cuba portal |
The siege of Havana was a successful
The Spanish authorities decided on a strategy of delaying the British attack until the strength of the city's defences and the onset of seasonal rains inflicting tropical diseases would significantly reduce the size of the British force via
The surrender of Havana led to substantial rewards for the British naval and military leaders and smaller amounts of prize money for other officers and men. The Spanish governor, Admiral and other military and civil office holders were court-martialled upon their return to Spain and punished for their failures to conduct a better defence and allowing the Spanish fleet present to fall intact into the hands of the British. Havana remained under British occupation until February 1763, when it was returned to Spain under the 1763 Treaty of Paris that formally ended the war.
Background
Havana in the late 18th century was a major port and naval base, and also the strongest fortress in Spanish America. Its royal shipyard with access to abundant supplies of resistant hardwoods was capable of building first-rate ships of the line and had been developed by the Bourbon monarchy as the most important of its three naval shipyards.[16][17] There had been several previous plans to attack Havana, including one proposed to Vernon in 1739, which he rejected in favour of an attack on Porto Bello,[18] but no successful attack since it was comprehensively fortified,[19] and the strength of its fortifications and difficulty that large sailing warships would have in making an undetected approach from the north convinced the Spanish commanders it would be virtually impossible to capture, if its fortifications were in good order and it was properly garrisoned. Its wealth and ability to feed its population also suggested that it could resist being starved into surrender.[20][21]
Britain had been formally at war with France since May 1756, but Spain under
Spanish preparations
Before involving his country in the conflict raging in Europe and across the world, Charles III made provisions to defend the Spanish colonies against the Royal Navy. For the defence of Cuba, he appointed Juan de Prado as Captain General of Cuba, which was an administrative rather than a military position. De Prado arrived at Havana in February 1761 and began construction efforts to improve the fortifications of the city, although the work was incomplete at the time of the siege.[23]
In June 1761, a flotilla of seven
- España Infantry Regiment (481 men)
- Aragón Infantry Regiment (265 men)
- Havana Infantry Regiment (856 men)
- Edinburgh's Dragoons (150 men)
- Army gunners (104 men)
- Navy gunners and marines (750 men )
Havana had one of the finest natural harbours in the
British preparations
Two days after the declaration of war with Spain, on the advice of
These plans were modified to meet circumstances, as Rodney and Robert Monckton commanding the troops had captured Martinique before Pocock sailed, 3,000 British and American troops from New York did not arrive at Havana until late July, and the plan to take up to 2,000 slaves from Jamaica to act as pioneers only produced 600 slaves, as many owners were reluctant to part with them without a scheme for compensation.[30][31] A plan by Amherst to assemble a force of 8,000 men for an attack on Louisiana was dismissed by Albemarle as impractical as it would have left too few troops in the North American colonies.[32]
During the month of February, British troops embarked; they consisted of:
- 22nd Regiment of Foot
- 34th Regiment of Foot
- 56th Regiment of Foot
- 72nd Richmond's Regiment of Foot[33]
On 5 March the British expedition sailed from
Siege
The normal approach to Havana, on the north coast of Cuba, was to sail west parallel to the south coast of the island on the prevailing south-easterly wind, then to round its western tip and sail east towards Havana, against the wind. This last section, more than 200 miles long, would take a large squadron at least one week, and probably several, to complete, giving ample warning for Havana to prepare. To the north of Havana, reaching as far as the Bahamas, is a wide expanse of shallow water, reefs and small islands or cays, accessible only to small boats except for one deep water channel, the Old Bahama Channel which is only some 10 miles wide at its narrowest. Although the Spanish navigators that charted it thought too dangerous for large warships, it was surveyed by a British frigate, whose captain left parties of his men in the cays to mark the extremities of the channel, allowing the whole fleet to pass through it, safely and undetected.[39][40]
On 6 June the British force came into sight of Havana. Immediately, 12 British ships of the line were sent to the mouth of the entrance channel to block in the Spanish fleet.
Although Prado had received information of the presence of British ships two days before its arrival from a frigate that had escaped from the port of
There were initially 12 Spanish ships of the line in the harbour,[49] besides two others newly constructed but not manned, and also several smaller warships and around 100 merchant ships. The presence of so many merchant ships dissuaded the council from ordering the Spanish fleet to disrupt the British landings, which was also in accordance with the instructions that Admiral Hevia had received when he left Spain to protect Cuba's commerce[50] The fleet's gunners and marines were sent to garrison the fortresses of Morro and Punta which were placed under the command of naval officers.[51] Most of the shot and powder of the fleet as well as its best guns were also transferred to these two fortresses. Meanwhile, regular troops were assigned to the defence of the city. Prado also ordered all women, children and the old and infirm to leave the city, leaving only men able to bear arms.[52]
The channel entrance was immediately closed with the boom chain. Additionally, three ships of the line (Asia (64), Europa (64) and Neptuno (74)) were selected on account of their poor condition and sunk behind the boom chain. Although this made the remaining Spanish warships unable to leave the harbour, they were clearly outnumbered by the British fleet, and this move made the sailors available to defend the city. Realising the importance of the Morro, the Spanish commanders gave it top priority.[53]
The following day British troops were landed northeast of Havana, and began advancing west the next day.
Siege of El Morro
On 11 June a British party stormed a detached redoubt on the La Cabaña heights.[56] Only then did the British command realise how strong the Morro was, surrounded by brushwood and protected by a large ditch.[57] With the arrival of their siege train the next day, the British began erecting batteries among the trees on La Cabaña hill overlooking the Morro (some 7 metres (23 ft) higher) as well as the city and the bay. Surprisingly, this hill had been left undefended by the Spanish army despite its well-known strategic importance.[58] Charles III of Spain had earlier instructed Prado to fortify this hill, a task that he considered the most urgent of those relating to the fortifications. The task had been started but no guns had been installed.[59][23]
Two days later a British detachment landed at
By 22 June, four British batteries totalling twelve heavy guns and 38 mortars opened fire on the Morro from La Cabaña. Mackellar gradually advanced his breastworks towards the ditch under cover of these batteries so by the end of the month the British had increased their daily direct hits on the Morro to 500.[62] Velasco was losing as many as 30 men each day, and the workload of repairing the fortress every night was so exhausting that men had to be rotated into the fort from the city every three days. Velasco finally managed to convince Prado that a raid was necessary against the British batteries. At dawn on 29 June 988 men (a mixed company of grenadiers, marines, engineers, and slaves) attacked the siege works. They reached the British batteries from the rear and started to spike guns, but British reaction was swift, and the attackers were repulsed before they caused any serious damage.[63]
On 1 July, the British launched a combined land and naval attack on the Morro. The fleet detached four ships of the line for this purpose: HMS Stirling Castle, HMS Dragon, HMS Marlborough and HMS Cambridge.[64] The naval and land artillery simultaneously opened fire on the Morro. However, naval guns were ineffective, the fort being located too high.[65] Counter-fire from thirty guns of the Morro inflicted 192 casualties and seriously damaged the ships, one of which was later scuttled, forcing them to withdraw. Meanwhile, the bombardment by the land artillery was far more effective. By the end of the day, only three Spanish guns were still effective on the side of the Morro facing the British batteries. The next day however British breastworks around the Morro caught fire and the batteries were burned down, destroying the product of much of the work undertaken since mid June.[66] Velasco immediately capitalised on this event, remounting many guns and repairing breaches in the fortifications of the Morro.[67]
Since its arrival at Havana, the British army had heavily suffered from malaria and yellow fever and was now at half strength.[68] Since the hurricane season was approaching, Albemarle was now engaged in a race against time. He ordered the batteries to be rebuilt with the help of men of the fleet. Many 32-pounder guns were taken from the lower deck of several ships to equip these new batteries.
By 17 July the new British batteries had progressively silenced most of Velasco's guns, leaving only two of them operational. With the absence of artillery cover, it now became impossible for the Spanish troops to repair the damage being inflicted on the Morro.[69] Mackellar was also able to resume construction of siege works to approach the fortress. With the army in such a bad condition, work progressed rather slowly. All hope of the British army now resided in the expected arrival of reinforcements from North America.
The progress of siege works over the next few days allowed the British to begin the mining towards the right bastion of the Morro.[70] Meanwhile, the now unopposed British artillery was daily hitting the Morro up to 600 times, causing some sixty casualties. Velasco had now no hope but to destroy British siege works and so on 22 July 1,300 regulars, seamen and militia sallied from Havana in three columns and attacked the siege works surrounding the Morro. The British repelled the Spanish sortie who thus withdrew to their lines and the siege works were left relatively intact.[71]
On 24 July Albemarle offered Velasco the opportunity to surrender, allowing him to write his own terms of capitulation. Velasco answered that the issue would rather be settled by force of arms. Three days later the reinforcements from North America led by Colonel Burton finally arrived.[72][73] These reinforcements, who had been attacked by the French during their journey, with the loss through capture of some 500 men, consisted of:[74]
- 46th Thomas Murray's Regiment of Foot
- 58th Anstruther's Regiment of Foot
- American provincials (3,000 men)
- Gorham's and Danks' Rangers – which were combined into a 253-man ranger corps.
By 25 July 5, 000 soldiers and 3,000 sailors were sick.[75]
On 29 July the mine near the right bastion of the Morro fort was completed and ready to explode.[76] Albemarle vainly feigned an assault, hoping that Velasco would finally decide to surrender. On the contrary, Velasco decided to launch a desperate attack from the sea upon the British miners in the ditch.[77] At 2:00 am the next day two Spanish schooners attacked the miners from the sea. Their attack was unsuccessful and they had to withdraw. At 1:00 pm the British finally detonated the mine. The debris of the explosion partly filled the ditch but Albemarle judged it passable,[78] and launched an assault, sending 699 picked men against the right bastion. Before the Spanish could react, sixteen men gained a foothold on the bastion.[79] Velasco rushed to the breach with his troops, and was mortally wounded during the ensuing hand-to-hand fighting. The Spanish troops fell back, leaving the British in control of the Morro fort.[80] Velasco was transported back to Havana, but by 31 July had died of his wounds.[81]
The British then occupied a position commanding the city of Havana as well as the bay.[82] Artillery batteries were brought up along the north side of the entrance channel from the Morro fort to La Cabaña hill, where they could be trained directly on the town.[83]
Surrender
On 11 August, after Prado had rejected the demand for surrender sent to him by Albemarle, the British batteries opened fire on Havana.
The next day, Prado was informed that there was only sufficient ammunition for a few more days. He made belated plans to remove the bullion in Havana to another part of the island, but the city was surrounded.[87] Negotiations of the articles of capitulation of the city and the fleet went on, and Prado and his army obtained the honours of war on 13 August.[88] Hevia neglected to burn his fleet which fell intact in the hands of the British.[89]
The great losses of men in the attack on Havana put to an end any possibility of an attack on Louisiana, and the French took advantage of the removal of so many troops from Canada to capture Newfoundland with a small force of fifteen hundred troops. Newfoundland was recaptured in the Battle of Signal Hill on 15 September 1762. [90]
Aftermath
On 14 August the British entered the city. They had obtained possession of the most important harbour in the
After the capture, Prize money payments of £122,697 each were made to Pocock as naval commander and to Albemarle as military commander, with £24,539 paid to Commodore Keppel, the naval second-in-command who was Albemarle's younger brother. Each of the 42 naval captains present received £1,600 as prize money.[97] The military second-in-command, Lieutenant-General Eliott, received the same amount as Commodore Keppel, as the two shared a fifteenth part of the prize pool, as against the third shared by their commanders.[98] Elliot was able to buy Bayley Park in East Sussex which he altered and enlarged.[99] Privates in the army received just over £4 and ordinary seamen rather less than £4 each.[100]
During the siege the British had lost 2,764 killed, wounded, captured or deserted,
Charles III appointed a commission of generals to try Prado and others considered culpable for the loss of Havana on their return to Spain. Prado, Hevia and nine other military and civil officials were accused of treason and their trial was, in effect, a court martial, although it examined their actions during Prado's governorship as well as tactical decisions taken during the siege and although Prado and several officials were not military officers. The commission placed most of the blame on Prado and Hevia, finding them to have failed to fortify the Cabaña hill properly and to have abandoned it too easily; to have crippled the Spanish fleet by sinking blockships that prevented the remainder taking action against the British and surrendered them intact rather than burning them; they had not mounted any significant counterattacks and, finally, had not removed the royal treasury before the surrender. After a lengthy trial, Prado was found guilty and sentenced to death, but was reprieved and died in prison. Hevia was sentenced to 10 years' house arrest and the loss of his office and titles, but was later pardoned and reinstated: a leading official, Julián de Arriaga, was dismissed from office.
It was clear to the Spanish authorities that their regular army in Cuba could not match the strength that the British army in America could concentrate against it. It was therefore necessary to form a disciplined colonial militia, with adequate weapons and training, supervised by experienced officers and non-commissioned officers, with an organisation and uniforms similar to the regulars. The regular garrison of about 3,200 would be backed by a disciplined militia of eight infantry battalions and one regiment each of cavalry and dragoons, totaling 7,500 soldiers, with many of the officers from prominent Cuban families.[108] Havana and Manila were returned to Spain as a result of the Treaty of Paris signed in February 1763, but the British occupation lasted until two months later, when a newly appointed Captain General of Cuba, Alejandro O'Reilly, arrived to re-establish Spanish rule. Spain agreed to cede Florida and France returned Menorca to Great Britain.[109] The loss of Florida and the Spanish acceptance of British occupation of the Miskito Coast heightened Cuba's value as the first line of defence for the Spanish South American colonies.[110] Spain received French Louisiana as a payment for intervening in the war on the side of the French and as compensation for having lost Florida.[111]
Gallery
Numerous paintings and drawings of the battle were made, notably by Dominic Serres:
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The Morro Castle and the Boom Defence Before the Attack
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The Landing, 7 June
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Landing Cannon and Stores, 30 June
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Approach of British forces before Morro Castle
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Storming of Morro Castle, 30 July
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Bombardment of the Morro Castle (Rafael Monleón)
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El Morro fortressin Havana, built in 1589
See also
- Great Britain in the Seven Years War
- British occupation of Manila
References
- ^ Johnson, p. 60 ("suffered a major defeat when Havana fell in 1762").
- ^ Bradley, p. 227 ("a serious military reverse").
- ^ Guiteras, p. 168.
- ^ a b Marley, p. 291.
- ^ Syret, p. 69.
- ^ Syret, pp. 70–71.
- ^ a b Marley, p. 292.
- ^ Syret, p. 72.
- ^ Redcoats: The British Soldier and War in the Americas, 1755–1763. Brumwell, p. 46.
- ^ Shortly after the siege Stirling Castle was declared unserviceable and was stripped and scuttled. Winfield, p. 49.
- ^ Marlborough sank in the Atlantic due the extensive damage received. Marlborough (96) (1706). Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy.
- ^ Temple was lost while returning to Britain for repairs. Lavery, p. 177.
- ^ Marley, p. 295.
- ^ Syret, pp. 309–310.
- ^ Orden de batalla en la captura de La Habana en 1762. Revista de Historia Naval.
- ^ Roger, p. 50.
- ^ Schneider, pp. 72–73.
- ^ Bradley, p. 201.
- ^ Schneider, p. 21.
- ^ Roger, pp. 50–51.
- ^ Schneider, pp. 61, 106.
- ^ Danley and Speelman, pp. 431–432.
- ^ a b Schneider, p. 82.
- ^ Greentree, p. 15.
- ^ Greentree, p. 20.
- ^ Greentree, p. 30.
- ^ Schneider, p. 68.
- ^ Schneider, p. 54.
- ^ Bradley, pp. 223–224.
- ^ Pocock, p. 197.
- ^ Schneider, p. 128.
- ^ Danley and Speelman, p. 320.
- ^ Fortescue, p. 541.
- ^ Thomas, p. 2.
- ^ Pocock, pp. 208–209.
- ^ Bradley, pp. 224–225.
- ^ Pocock, pp. 210–211.
- ^ Pocock, p. 212.
- ^ Bradley, p. 225.
- ^ Roger, pp. 50–52.
- ^ Pocock, pp. 217–218.
- ^ Pocock, pp. 223–224.
- ^ Pocock, p. 210.
- ^ Thomas, p. 3.
- ^ Schneider, p. 120.
- ^ Johnson, pp. 52–53.
- ^ Schneider, pp. 126–127.
- ^ Schneider, pp. 121, 126–127.
- ^ Thomas, p. 1.
- ^ Thomas, pp. 3–4.
- ^ a b Schneider, p. 121.
- ^ Schneider, p. 135.
- ^ Schneider, p. 122.
- ^ Guiteras, pp. 79–80.
- ^ Pocock, p. 221.
- ^ Guiteras, p. 84.
- ^ Pocock, p. 226.
- ^ Pocock, p. 227.
- ^ Bradley, pp. 226–227.
- ^ Pocock, pp. 223–224.
- ^ Bradley, pp. 227–228.
- ^ Pocock, p. 229.
- ^ Pocock, pp. 230–231.
- ^ Guiteras, pp. 95–96.
- ^ Pocock, pp. 231–232.
- ^ Pocock, p. 237.
- ^ Guiteras, p. 97.
- ^ Pocock, p. 230.
- ^ Guiteras, p. 104.
- ^ Guiteras, pp. 104–105.
- ^ Guiteras, pp. 107–108.
- ^ Guiteras, pp. 116–117.
- ^ Pocock, p. 222.
- ^ Fortescue, p. 543.
- ^ Thomas, p. 5.
- ^ Schneider, p. 151.
- ^ Pocock, p. 239.
- ^ Schneider, p. 155.
- ^ Pocock, p. 226.
- ^ Guiteras, pp. 124–125.
- ^ Schneider, pp. 116, 124.
- ^ Pocock, pp. 226–227.
- ^ Guiteras, p. 142.
- ^ Guiteras, p. 144.
- ^ Pocock, p. 228.
- ^ Guiteras, pp. 146–147.
- ^ Thomas, p. 5.
- ^ Guiteras, pp. 149, 163.
- ^ Pocock, p. 229.
- ^ Fortescue, p. 544.
- ^ Cobbett, p. 282.
- ISBN 9780853540038..
- ^ Clowes, p. 247.
- ^ Cobbett, pp. 280–282.
- ^ Clowes, p. 247.
- ^ Cobbett, p. 282.
- ^ Roger, p. 257.
- ^ Pocock, p. 216.
- ^ Schneider, p. 179.
- ^ Cobbett, p. 283.
- ^ Diefendorf & Dorsey, p. 202.
- ^ Winfield, p. 49.
- ^ Lavery, p. 177.
- ^ Schneider, pp. 224, 227–229.
- ^ Cobbett, p. 283.
- ^ Schneider, p. 6.
- ^ Schneider, p. 222.
- ^ Kuethe, pp. 696–697, 700.
- ^ Schneider, pp. 219, 224.
- ^ Schneider, pp. 224–225.
- ^ Schneider, p. 225.
Sources
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- Clowes, W. L. (1898). The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Time to the Present, Vol. III, Sampson Low, Marston and Company, London.
- Corbett, J.S, (1907). England in the Seven Years' War: A Study in Combined Strategy, Vol II, Longmans, Green and Co| location = New York
- Danley, Mark and Speelman, Patrick (2012). The Seven Years' War: Global Views, Brill, Leiden. ISBN 978-9-00423-408-6
- Diefendorf, Jeffry M. and Dorsey, K. (2006). City, country, empire: landscapes in environmental history. Univ of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 978-0-8229-5876-5
- Fortescue, J. W. (1899), A History of the British Army Vol. II, MacMillan, London.
- Greentree, David (2010). A Far-Flung Gamble, Havana 1762; Osprey Raid Series #15, Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-987-4
- Johnson, Sherry (2011). Climate and Catastrophe in Cuba and the Atlantic World in the Age of Revolution. Univ of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807869345.
- José Guiteras, Pedro (1856). Historia de la conquista de la Habana. (1762), Perry and McMillan, Philadelphia.
- La toma de La Habana por los ingleses (Spanish)
- Kuethe, Alan (1981). The Development of the Cuban Military As a Sociopolitical Elite, 1763–83. The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 61, No. 4, pp. 695–704
- Lavery, Brian (2003). The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
- Marley, David (1998). Wars of the Americas: a chronology of armed conflict in the New World, 1492 to the present. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-87436-837-6
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- Rodger, N. A. M. (1986). The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy. Fontana Press. ISBN 0-006-86152-0.
- Schneider, Elena A (2018). The Occupation of Havana: War, Trade, and Slavery in the Atlantic World. UNC Press Books. ISBN 9781469645360.
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Further reading
- Gardiner, A. Bird (1898). The Havana expedition of 1762 in the war with Spain. Providence. ISBN 9785872655411.
- Pezuela y Lobo, Jacobo de (1859) Sitio y rendición de la Habana en 1762: Fragmento de la historia inédita de la isla de Cuba, M. Rivadeneyra, Madrid.
- Sanchez-Galarraga, Jorge, "Luis de Velasco — Siege of Havana, 1762", Seven Years War Association Journal Vol. XII No. 2
- Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships of the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-295-5.