Raid on Manila
Raid on Manila | |
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Part of the Spanish Philippines | |
Result |
British victory at Manila Spanish victory at Zamboanga |
14°31′N 120°56′E / 14.517°N 120.933°E
Battles of Manila |
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See also |
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Around Manila |
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The Raid on Manila of January 1798 was a
To ensure the safety of the merchant ships gathering at Macau in the winter of 1797–98, the British commander in the East Indies, Rear-Admiral
Anchored in Manila Bay, Cooke pretended that his ships were French vessels and successfully lured successive boatloads of Spanish officials aboard, taking them prisoner in turn. Once he had determined from his captives the state of defences in Manila, that the treasure ship had been unloaded at Cavite and that the Spanish squadron was undergoing extensive repairs and thus unavailable for operations, he sent a raiding party against a squadron of gunboats in the mouth of the Pasig River. Capturing the gunboats in a bloodless attack, Cooke then released his prisoners and sailed southwards, unsuccessfully assaulting Zamboanga before returning to Macau.
Background
In 1796, after three years of the
Some of the most important trade routes began at
Rainier's initial impulse on learning in November 1796 of the impending declaration of war between Britain and Spain was to draw up plans for a major invasion of the Philippines, centred on Manila in repetition of the successful British capture of Manila in 1762. Co-operating with the Governor-General of India Sir John Shore and Colonel Arthur Welleley among others, a substantial naval and military forces were earmarked for the operation which was in the advance planning stages,[8] when unexpected news arrived in India in August 1797 announcing the Treaty of Campo Formio which brought the War of the First Coalition to an end.[9] Britain now faced France and Spain alone, while emissaries from the Tipu Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore, an old opponent of Britain in Southern India, were seeking French assistance with a renewed outbreak of hostilities. The resources planned for the operation against Manila were therefore retained in India and the operation cancelled,[9] but the protection of the China Fleet was still essential and Rainier diverted some of his squadron eastwards to China.[7]
A number of merchant ships had gathered at Bombay in the spring of 1797 in preparation for the trip to Macau to load trade goods and join the China Fleet. To escort this force, Rainier provided the 40-gun
Cooke's raids
Reconnaissance of Manila
With his convoy safely at anchor in Macau and the China Fleet several weeks from sailing, Cooke decided to reconnoitre Manila and make observations on the port and the Spanish squadron based there.
Leaving the heavier warships at Macau, Cooke sailed on 5 January 1798 only with Sybille and Fox, the latter carrying a Mr. Bernard, an experienced linguist.
Dinner on Sybille
Late in the afternoon of 13 January 1798, Sybille and Fox arrived in Manila Bay, slipping unchallenged past the fortress of Corregidor and then sailing across the bay on the morning of 14 January, anchoring between Manila and Cavite.[16] From his vantage point Cooke could see the Spanish squadron dismasted and under repair in Cavite, the ships of the line San Pedro Apóstol, Europa and Montañés and the frigates Santa Maria de la Cabeza and Santa Lucía in dock and unfit for action. [17] Other sourcers says it was frigates Fama and Nuestra Señora del Pilar. To Cooke's disappointment he could also see the Manila galleon, Marquesetta being unloaded at the Cavite docks and another valuable merchant ship Rey Carlos aground in the harbour.[18] The Spanish had learned only shortly before Cooke's arrival that the British frigate HMS Resistance under Captain Edward Pakenham was in Philippine waters and had decided to remove the valuable cargo from the treasure ship rather than risk an attack.[19]
Fox was the first British ship into the anchorage, and was consequently approached by the guard boat, whose crew came aboard. Malcolm, like Cooke, spoke French fluently and with Bernard translating was able to persuade the officer in charge that the new arrivals were Forte and Prudente seeking supplies and Spanish reinforcements for commerce raiding operations.[20] The officer offered supplies but cautioned that none of the Spanish ships would be in a position to sail until March at the earliest.[21] Cooke then joined the party on the deck of Fox, claiming to be Commodore Latour, a French officer who, unknown to the Spanish, had been killed in the action of 9 September 1796 off Sumatra.[22] The Spanish officer was now completely convinced by the ruse, which had been augmented by fake French uniforms. Inviting the visitor below decks, Cooke then passed wine around and together they drank a series of toasts, including "the downfall of England".[19]
For an hour the officers drank, Malcolm and Cooke learning detailed information about the state of the defences and squadron in the Philippines, until a second boat pulled alongside Fox containing more officers keen to greet the French arrivals. This vessel was the personal
The harbour captain reached Fox shortly afterwards, furious at the seizure of the gunboats and demanding they be returned. Malcolm received him with a tirade of near incomprehensible French and brought him to join the other captured officers in his cabin, while the boat's crew were imprisoned below decks.[22] Shortly afterwards, at 16:00, Cooke and Malcolm hosted a large dinner for their officer captives and sent food and grog to the crew, the total number of Spanish sailors on Fox now numbering approximately 200. Once the meal was finished, Cooke allowed all of the captives to return to their boats and row for shore without the conditions of parole, although he retained the captured gunboats.[23]
Zamboanga
Cooke led his small squadron past Corregidor on 15 January and turned south. Four days later in a storm one of the gunboats broke its tow line and was never seen again, lost with its twelve crew.
With his frigates now requiring repairs, Cooke withdraw half a league from Zamboanga and spent three days refitting the masts and rigging of the ships.
Aftermath
Cooke's opportunistic diversion had determined that the Spanish forces in the Philippines posed no immediate threat, although the mission had cost 18 lives: Admiral Rainier later expressed his satisfaction with the outcome in a letter to the
The 1798 China Fleet sailed without further incident. During the ensuing year Resistance was destroyed by an accidental explosion in July in the Bangka Strait,[28] and the majority of Rainier's forces were focused on disrupting the French occupation of Suez in the Red Sea.[29] This diversion of British resources created gaps in the coverage in merchant shipping and Sercey was able to send the frigate Preneuse and corvette Brûle-Gueule to Manila late in the year to join the repaired Spanish squadron. At the beginning of February 1799, this combined force sailed to Macau, taking the British defences by surprise. The British commander Captain William Hargood counterattacked, advancing on the Franco-Spanish force which retreated during the day and disappeared under cover of darkness that evening in the Wanshan Archipelago.[30] The combined squadron then dispersed and the China Fleet was not attacked again until the Battle of Pulo Aura in 1804, at which a French squadron was again driven off in confusion.[5] The frigates Cooke had mimicked, Forte and Prudente were sent to operate independently against British trade in the Indian Ocean in early 1799. Prudente was captured by HMS Daedalus at the Action of 9 February 1799 near Southern Africa,[31] and Forte was intercepted by HMS Sybille under Cooke on 28 February near Balasore in Bengal. In the ensuing battle Forte was captured but Cooke mortally wounded, dying on 25 May.[32]
Citations
- ^ Henderson 1994, p. 104.
- ^ Parkinson 1954, p. 13.
- ^ Parkinson 1954, p. 98.
- ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ a b Woodman 2001b, p. 32
- ^ James 2002, p. 79.
- ^ a b c Parkinson 1954, p. 137.
- ^ Parkinson 1954, p. 117.
- ^ a b c Parkinson 1954, p. 119.
- ^ Clowes 1997, p. 486.
- ^ a b James 2002, p. 211.
- ^ a b c Henderson 1994, p. 49.
- ^ Parkinson 1954, p. 42.
- ^ Parkinson 1954, p. 43.
- ^ Henderson 1994, p. 48.
- ^ Henderson 1994, p. 50.
- ^ a b Parkinson 1954, p. 139.
- ^ a b James 2002, p. 213.
- ^ a b c Parkinson 1954, p. 138.
- ^ Henderson 1994, p. 51.
- ^ a b James 2002, p. 212.
- ^ a b c d Henderson 1994, p. 52.
- ^ a b James 2002, p. 214.
- ^ James 2002, p. 215.
- ^ a b c d e f Recuerdos de un hecho glorioso, Por esos mundos, No 161, June 1908, p. VIII–X.
- ^ a b c James 2002, p. 216.
- ^ Woodman 2001c, p. 114.
- ^ Grocott 2002, p. 58.
- ^ Parkinson 1954, p. .147.
- ^ Woodman 2001a, p. 161.
- ^ James 2002, p. 319.
- ^ Henderson 1994, p. 60.
References
- ISBN 1-86176-013-2. at Internet Archive
- Grocott, Terence (2002) [1997]. Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Era. London, England: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-164-5.
- Henderson, James, CBE (1994) [1970]. The Frigates. London: Leo Cooper. ISBN 0-85052-432-6.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ISBN 0-85177-906-9.
- Parkinson, C. Northcote (1954). War in the Eastern Seas, 1793 – 1815. London, England: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
- Woodman, Richard (2001a) [1996]. Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Nelson Against Napoleon: from the Nile to Copenhagen, 1798–1801. London, England: Chatham Pub. in association with the ISBN 1-86176-026-4.
- Woodman, Richard (2001b) [1998]. Gardiner, Robert (ed.). The Victory of Seapower: Winning the Napoleonic War 1806-1814. London, England: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-359-1.
- ISBN 1-84119-183-3.