The forgotten Admiral: Don Blas de Lezo y Olavarrieta

[Turbamulta]

History is made of good and bad stories, hopefully more true than not. But when I see something or someone vastly left out of history, it makes me want to use my little and limited knowledge of good writing skills to try to do something about it. This particular someone is Don Blas de Lezo (1688 - 1741). Spain's (Basque) Admiral served his country skillfully and fought battles fifty years before England's well known admiral Horatio Nelson. He fought his best battles physically handicapped with only one eye, one arm, and one leg. It is known that he did not tolerate cowardism.

In 1704 he lost his left leg during the battle of Velez-Malaga (Gibralter). A few years later as a lieutenant in the navy he lost his left eye during a siege of the Castle of Santa Catharine in the port of Toulon, France. In 1713 he underwent an arm amputation at Barcelona in battle. In each battle he left a piece of himself in exchange for a little glory. Before the war ended in 1713, de Lezo rose as one of the brandest young officers in the fleet. He was so brave he almost lost his life on two occasions during bold attacks. It is stated in Spanish archives of royalty when de Lezo's mangled body was seen, he was more appropriate to preside over scenes of terror than to adorn the retinue of a queen.

In 1716 he was appointed to senior rank of captain and command of the sixty-gun ship "Lanfranco", his first navio. Before being assigned to the "Lanfranco", he was given command of a small frigate, and he captured the heavily armed English ship, "Stanhope", an East-Indiaman privateer. This battle is shown in a painting which an embarassed England has to see the partially dismasted "Stanhope" under tow by de Lezo's little frigate with the cream-colored flag bearing the coat of arms of Spanish bourbons flying over the red ensign of the captured English ship. For the next fourteen years, de Lezo spent continuous sea service along the west coast of South America. He exterminated piracy in epidemic stages there. When war broke out in 1727 against England, de Lezo captured six English and six Dutch heavily armed ships carrying cargos worth millions.

During a well deserved leave from South America, de Lezo went to Cadiz, Spain, to be in charge of a Mediterranean squadron. In 1731 he took six war ships (navios) to the Republic of Genoa to tell the leading officials of the the two million in currency of the era the Genoan government still owed Spain. However, they did not want to pay. He demanded surrender of funds and a salute to the Spanish flag or, pointing to his timepiece, he said that at a stated time he would raise the city and turn it to ashes. After hearing what he had to say, the officials voted to give Spain's money back to him and to salute the flag. After receiving the money he immediately sailed away.

After this service he went to battle against the Islamic Algerians of North Africa, and also battered them into submission, though costly to his forces.

Now was England's turn. She sent the largest military and naval force of that time (thirty thousand troops and sailors as well as one hundred and twenty ships) to the Caribbean and was very successful until meeting de Lezo at Cartagena, Colombia in 1740. Failure to take Cartagena was the largest and worst defeat suffered by England at the hands of the Spanish in the eighteenth century. England used American colonists with Lawrence Washington, brother of George, commanding 2,763 marines and also 2,000 Jamaican macheteros against the massively outnumbered Spaniards. De Lezo's forces might have totalled 6,000 troops and a very much smaller fleet protecting the harbor. Malaria and dysentary set in on both sides during the siege and made things much worse than what would have been.

Don Blas de Lezo accounted for the English defeat. He displayed all qualities in battle; stubborn resolve and sound leadership. England was so confident of victory that Admiral Vernon beforehand had many bronze medals struck to commemorate the event. They show the eventual victor, de Lezo, kneeling to the defeated Admiral Vernon (kind of hard to do with one leg, huh??). By the way, I believe the medal shows de Lezo with two legs.

After Vernon had taken Portobelo in 1739 with relative ease (because there were more civilians than troops there), he set sail with his invading force destined for Cartagena. The English were very cautious of de Lezo when put on the offensive, but the braggart Vernon in misjudgement wrote de Lezo a letter and a challenge. He answered Vernon's letter in Cartagena: "If I had been in Portebelo, you would not have assaulted the fortress of my master, the King, with impunity because I could have supplied the valor the defenders of Portebelo lacked and checked their cowardice..." It is known Admiral Vernon left Cartagena in bitter defeat and embarassment in 1741 sailing back to England for showers of a hero's welcome.

In all, Blas de Lezo had 39 years of superior sea duty that the best Englishmen would be jealous of even the much heralded Admiral Nelson. In ending this history note, the badly defeated Admiral Vernon was vindicated and was later entombed with other British heroes at West Minister Abby. The tough, victorious Basque from Spain has no known grave. His wasted worn out body with tropical disease finally gave out on September 7, 1741, in the city he saved.

When England's Admiral Nelson made his famous but unjustified remark in 1793 that the DONS knew how to make ships and not men, he had left out one truly brilliant Spanish naval hero, Don Blas de Lezo, an equal to any Englishmen who ever sailed the high seas in a SHIP OF THE LINE UNDER FULL SAIL.

I also read fairly recently an article in World Coin News by Thomas H. Sebring, 4-98 issue, in which he mentions de Lezo "escaping" England's Admiral Vernon. Well it would be like two prize fighters in a boxing ring where the underdog knocks out the champion, and later the champion after waking up saying "the guy that knocked me out escaped!"

There was not much information about de Lezo in English texts. I had to look in Spanish references for translations. Also there is some new info about England's disaster in Cartagena which has surfaced in recent years. Naturally, England will not publish it. They are still not up to giving this man his just dues to this day. I hope by printing this account I have helped history in some way.

James Eley 7-24-98

Updated: 1-4-2004
I needed to insert this information long overdue on this page. My intentions with this page on my site was to inform the public all over the world about this man. Now as I look on the internet I do notice the interest he has generated. Today I have to say this "History Page" is ranked second to my "Home Page", all my other pages are overshadowed by "Don Blas de Lezo." When I first posted this page on my site I did not find anything about this interesting man anywhere on the internet. So that was the main reason for doing this. I thank all others who have joined with me on getting him this needed recognition. Who knows, some day there might be a movie about him but finding a qualified actor would be difficult. He would need these qualifications. One arm, one eye, and one leg, plus be able to act.

Source: http://members.aol.com/GlobTreasr/history.html


More (and better) info about the Battle of Cartagena:

If one was trying to envisage the perfect military hero, Don Blas de Lezo would be a prime candidate. Indeed, if he was from the English speaking world, numerous movies and books would have already immortalized him: a gallant man who although incapacitated by leg and arm amputations, and the loss of one eye, saved a city against overwhelming odds. Locals today joke about him, waving their fists whenever his name is mentioned and cursing: "because of him, we don't speak English!"


Cartagena was the focus of trade between South America and the rest of the world thanks to its position on the Caribbean and deep-water harbour; gold and silver plundered from the Incas were transported back to Spain from here, in annual convoys. Other European nations knew this, and pirates and buccaneers from France and England had sacked and looted Cartagena on previous occasions: Robert Baal in 1544, Martin Cote in 1569, and Sir Francis Drake in 1586. In each instance, buildings were destroyed in addition to huge ransoms being extracted, so the resident Governor, using local merchants' money, started building a fort in the 17th century. The most imposing structure in Cartagena became the trapezoid-shaped Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas. It has no vertical walls, and was designed to deflect cannon balls much like the Stealth Bomber deflects radar. The Fort was completed in 1654, and though continually improved and strengthened in ensuing years, Cartagena was taken again by the French pirates de Pointis and Ducasse in 1697. This was the most devastating attack in Cartagena's history.




In the 1700's, friction between Spain and England grew after the English captain of The Rebecca, Robert Jenkins, had his ear severed by the Spanish customs officer Juan Leon Fandiño, as punishment for smuggling transgressions in Florida. Jenkins was told a similar fate was in store for the English King should he visit. When news of this reached England, Sir Edward Vernon, Member of Parliament, and Prime Ministerial aspirant, was enraged and persuaded Parliament to declare war on Spain in 1739. He was made an Admiral and given mandate to attack Spanish dominions (at the same time, Commodore George Anson was sent to plunder the Pacific shores of Chile and Peru). After conquering Portobelo, a smaller fortress-town in what is now Panama, with only six warships, Vernon boasted that he could take Cartagena and all its riches for England's Exchequer.



Vernon was able to secure funding to assemble a massive fleet for his venture: 180 ships, over 2000 canon and more than 28,000 men (this dwarfs the "invincible" Spanish Armada that Phillip II used to try to conquer England: it only totalled 126 vessels). Earlier sackings of Cartagena had been successful with as few as 1000 men. Some 2700 of the men were recruited in the North American Colonies, under the command of an officer named Lawrence Washington, a half-brother of George Washington. Vernon also enlisted 2000 Jamaican macheteros. Cartagena's defences were miniscule in comparison: 3000 soldiers, some native Indian archers, black slaves and six ships and their crew. But Vernon's gathering of such a large force proved impossible to keep secret, and Cartagena was well prepared for attack when Vernon's fleet arrived at 9am on 13 March 1741.The fort was riddled with tunnels and storage areas, in which the Spanish stockpiled enough arms and food to sustain the populace during a prolonged attack. The Viceroy Sebastian de Eslava and Don Blas de Lezo were in charge of defence, but they were seriously outnumbered. Cartagena's population was only 20,000, with fewer than 6000 men under arms.



Vernon landed men on Isla Tierrabomba and after firing thousands of rounds of shells on the smaller Castillo de San Luis. The entry to the bay was guarded by escolleras, or shallow, man-made underwater breakwaters, and a heavy chain that could be drawn across the entrance between the two forts. But the English were able to breach them and launched a prolonged attack by firing for 16 days and nights, at an average of 62 rounds an hour?too much for Don Blas and his Colonel De Naux to sustain for long. In a vain attempt to prevent Vernon's entry, the Spaniards sank their last remaining ships at the harbour entrance. Don Blas was at the front line of action, and was wounded in his thigh and only arm, and was forced to retreat to the walled city. Vernon entered the harbour, sent Washington and the North Americans to take the Convento de La Popa on the hill overlooking San Felipe, and launched a barrage of artillery that street by street was slowly crumbling Cartagena. Confident that victory was his, he sent a message to England that Cartagena was about to fall. The English authorities, on receiving this advice, minted commemorative victory coins.



Yet Don Blas' men refused to surrender. Held up in the fort, they repulsed attack after attack. The Bay of Cartagena was filled with bodies of the enemy: injuries, malaria, cholera, dysentry and scurvy were beginning to fell the English (the historian Enrique Román Bazurto noted that the English brought these diseases with them).Don Blas was a veteran himself of city-seige tactics: he had been sent to Genoa earlier in his career to obtain payment for the Spanish Crown, and was able to get it simply by surrounding the city with Armada canon and threatening to raze the entire town. Vernon ordered an all-out night-time assault by his marines on the fort on the 20 April. The Jamaican machete wielding slaves led the assault, followed by the English artillery, both of whom were easy targets for the Spanish from their lofty positions. The attack was repelled, and Don Blas seized an opportunity, ordering his remaining 600 men into a do-or-die bayonet-charge counter attack, that left 800 English dead, 1000 taken prisoner, and Vernon's ships full of sick and wounded. It was Cartagena's finest hour.



Other assaults up till the 25th proved fruitless. Vernon started to argue with General Woort about tactics, while desertions and deaths to tropical diseases mounted. On the 28th April Vernon started to withdraw, and on the 20th May he set sail for Jamaica, his political aspirations of one day being Prime Minister of England as decimated as his men: he had lost 18,000 men, about half due to disease, the rest to Spanish military superiority. The English only managed to capture 200 prisoners. Five ships of the English fleet were burnt at sea for lack of sailors to sail them home; another sank on the way to Jamaica. Vernon was welcomed home a hero, and is buried in Westminster Abbey, though King George II never allowed the details of this embarrassing defeat be published. Vernon's efforts are also remembered in the USA - Lawrence Washington named his family estate Mount Vernon in his honour. Eslava was rewarded for his efforts by being made Viceroy of Peru, though he chose to continue to live in Cartagena. His house can still be seen at Plaza del Tejadillo, a short walk from Plaza Santo Domingo. Don Blas, wounded in the great Siege of Cartagena, died of his injuries in September of the same year. He has no known grave, though local legend has it that his body was interned in the Iglesia de de la Orden Tercera, next to cartagena's Convention Center, but there is no tomb to see; perhaps he was buried at sea, perhaps he was pickled and sent to Spain only to be lost, or perhaps his tomb was not completed in the rush to re-build Cartagena. This rush was temporarily suspended in 1742 when Vernon, hearing of Don Blas's death, returned with another naval squadron, but ultimately never launched an attack.



Today, Cartagena's population is approaching one million, and welcomes foreign naval vessels for the tourist dollars they bring. Spain is no longer the colonial master, and no gold is shipped in convoys. The fort is featured on phone cards and attracts great crowds of visitors everyday. Just last week an amateur scuba-diving friend of mine discovered some rusting cannons and brought up some cannon balls, which are commonly used as doorstops in Cartagena.



At the foot of the fort, is a statue of a man. The plinth on which it stands has large reproductions of the victory coins that the English had prematurely minted, showing Don Blas kneeling before Vernon with the motto "The Spanish Pride pull'd down by Admiral Vernon" and "True British Heroes Took Cartagena April 1741". The man is brandishing a sword in his left arm, because he lost his right arm in the Battle of Barcelona; minus one leg lost in the Battle of Gibraltar; and wearing an eye patch covering his left eye lost in the Battle of Toulon. This same man lost his life in the Battle for Cartagena, the last of his 23 campaigns. This man is Don Blas de Lezo.


Source: http://www.cartagenainfo.net/glenndavid/blasdelezo.html

[Menydh]

The Day that Spain Defeated England

Spain has never been grateful with her heroes. A good evidence of this is this book which tells, after more than two and a half centuries, for the first time of the life of one such hero. I'm refering to the Admiral Don Blas de Lezo who took part in the Spanish War of Succesion fighting Edward Vernon in 1704, in the battle of Gibraltar.

In that battle he had his left leg amputated without anestesia, and Alejandro de Borbón wrote to Louis XIV telling him that he had never known anyone with so much courage. Felipe V granted him a "merced de hábito", an honour reserved to the most relevant persons in the Kingdom. The king wanted to make him Chamber Stuart, but Blas de Lezo prefered to stay in the Navy. He was given difficult missions, and he carried them all magnificently. Blas de Lezo socoured Peniscola, a city loyal to Felipe V. Then went to Genoa to finish off with the British ship Resolution. In 1706 he took part in the siege of Barcelona, which was being blocked by the British Navy. In Toulon he lost his left eye from the splinter of a canon. Later in 1712, while in command of the ship Campanella and during the bombarding of Barcelona to give support to the armies of Felipe V, a bullet took his right arm.

With 23 years old this man, with only one leg, one eye and one arm --in Cartagena de Indias they called him "half-man"--, persisted in his will: to defend the Spanish Nation from the British Empire. After 1715, the year when he took part in the reconquest of the Island of Majorca, Blas de Lezo was sent to the South Sea of Peru, where he cleansed the area of corsaires and pirates. There he was promoted to Admiral of the Navy. He returned to Cádiz in 1730, and in 1731 he was given the mission to go to Genoa and obtain two million of pesos that this city owed to the Spanish Crown. He entered the harbour with 6 warships, threatened to shell the city, and got the money and forced the Genoans to render honours to the flag of Spain. In 1732 he reconquered the fortress of Oran (N. Africa), and was finally sent to Cartagena de Indias (S. America) in 1737, where he lived the most glorious event of his life.

In 1741 he defended Cartagena de Indias during 67 days with great courage and intelligence, from an attack launched against the city by the British Armada. This was the most serious defeat of the British Empire in its entire history, and without a doubt it has also been the history event that the English have hidden with more care.

Humiliated by the defeat, the English had to hide the coins and medals which they had previously engraved to celebrate a victory that never was. They were so convinced of the defeat of Cartagena that they issued coins which read in their back: "The British heroes took Cartagena on April 1st, 1741" and "The Spanish arrogance, humiliated by Admiral Vernon".

In fact it was right the opposite. It was the most important single defeat that England ever suffered. With only 6 ships and 2,830 men, and much imaginations, Blas de Lezo defeated Vernon who arrived with 180 ships and nearly 25,000 men.

Pablo Victoria, the author of the book El día que España derrotó a Inglaterra, suggests in his book that if the English had conquered Cartagena de Indias, without doubt the British Empire would have defeated the Spanish Empire in America. The plans of the English did not stop at the conquest of that city, which was the key to the route of the American treasuries and key to the Antilles, but they wanted to destroy the Spanish fleets in the Pacific, advance from Cartagena inland to Nueva Granada, and conquer Peru and its rich silver ore until defeating the Empire.

This book is a great historical fresco about the Spanish Americas which will delight those who wish to compare the contribution of Spain to the Western Civilisation to that of the Anglo-Saxon world. The Catholic character of the Hispanic in front of the Protestantism represented by England is one of the threads running behind this story, full of sociological analyses and suggestive historical judgements.

This is the first biography of the illustrious Basque navigator, whose contribution stopped the Spanish Empire from crumbling one century before it did. The author, Pablo Victoria, is a Colombian former senator and member of parliament.

[Menydh]

When King George II of England knew of the shameful defeat, he prohibited that a word about it be written.