| Watts' West Indies and Virginia expedition | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theAnglo–Spanish War | |||||||
 Map of the Caribbean in 1594 byTheodor de Bry - the expedition took place in Cuba, Jamaica, & Hispaniola | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Spain |  England | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Rodrigo de Rada Vicente González | Christopher Newport Abraham Cocke | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 17 ships | 6 ships 400 men[3] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1galleon captured[4] 1 galleon sunk, 4 ships captured, 3 ships run aground[5] | 60 casualties[6] | ||||||
Watts' West Indies and Virginia expedition also known as theAction of Cape Tiburon[5] was an English expedition to theSpanish Main during theAnglo–Spanish War.[4][7] The expedition began on 10 May and ended by 18 July 1590 and was commanded by Abraham Cocke andChristopher Newport. This was financed by the highly renowned London merchantJohn Watts.[8] The English ships intercepted and dispersed Spanish convoys capturing, sinking, and grounding many ships off the Spanish colonies ofHispaniola, Cuba, and Jamaica.[1] Despite losing an arm, Newport was victorious and captured a good haul of booty.[9] A breakaway expedition from this discovered that theRoanoke Colony was completely deserted and which gave the nameThe Lost Colony.[10]
By the end of 1589 the immediate threat of a Spanish invasion of England had been abated. Attempts were now made by privateering expeditions orjoint-stock companies to raid theSpanish Main. In the Spring of 1590 a privateering expedition had been raised and financed in London by merchant John Watts. Watts gathered a naval force with a mixture of armed merchants ships and naval vessels loaned by the English crown.[11] The force composed of the 22-gun, 160-ton flagshipHopewell (aliasHarry and John) under Captain Abraham Cocke; the 160-tonLittle John of Christopher Newport, and the 35-ton pinnaceJohn Evangelist of William Lane (brother ofRalph Lane).[12]
Their objective was to raid the Spanish West Indies and to coup the rewards of the expedition, but also on the return voyage to help theRoanoke colonists. With them wasJohn White, an artist and friend of SirWalter Raleigh who had accompanied the previous expeditions to Roanoke. Raleigh had helped put together the fleet along with the aid of White himself who was desperate to go back to Roanoke and help the colonists.[11] As a result, two ships, theHopewell and theMoonlight were intended as a break off expedition to set sail for Roanoke.[13]
On 20 March the English set sail fromPlymouth and crossed the Atlantic without hindrance and reached the island ofDominica by 10 May.[14] They replenished forvictuals and two days later theHopewell andJohn Evangelist had steered Northwest towardsPuerto Rico, whilst leavingLittle John temporarily off Dominica to intercept arriving Spanish vessels. All three later rendezvoused atSaona Island.[15]
On 29 May off the south coast of Hispaniola, Abraham Cocke's formation of three ships were joined by Edward Spicer's 80-tonMoonlight (aliasMary Terlanye) and the 30-ton pinnaceConclude of Joseph Harris in the morning. Cocke's reunited trio of vessels then blockaded the southern coast of Santo Domingo for two weeks, capturing the 60-ton Spanish merchantmanTrinidad and two smaller island frigates on 17 and 24 June respectively.[5] After these captures the English broke off the blockade and moved further West towards theTiburon peninsula of Hispaniola.[14]
On 12 July whilst off the Tiburon, fourteen Spanish sail approached out of the east.[12] These ships were five days out ofSanto Domingo and were bound toward theSpanish plate fleet assembly point atHavana escorted by Captain Vicente González's galleon. The English ships took up position to pursue and were just in time as Newport'sLittle John andJohn Evangelist came up to join them.[15]
Cocke gave an immediate signal to attack; the Spanish who saw the English approach decided to scatter, and the armed ships attempted to form a defensive position to allow the lighter armed vessels to escape.[12] Suddenly on seeing Newport's ships come from behind Cocke's vessels, Gonzalez decided to retreat.[5] Most of the Spanish convoy decided to scatter south west and they were pursued until nightfall by the six privateers, who took a single prize, a pinnace.[1]
The following morning,Hopewell,Moonlight, andConclude then discovered the 350-ton, nine-gun Spanish vice flagship galleonBuen Jesús of Captain Manuel Fernández Correa and Master Leonardo Doria anchored nearby. Cocke then attacked surprising the Spanish; with theBuen Jesús unable to get away in the process of hauling its anchor a long range exchange of fire commenced in which six Spanish were killed and four wounded.[5] The English then closed amidships firing as they came alongside but as they attempted to board the vessel they were repelled.[12] Undeterred the English made a more determined attack and secured it despite a stout, four-hour resistance, most of which consisted ofhand-to-hand fighting.[15] As well as the ship being captured, sixty eight Spaniards were captured with another twenty killed or wounded while English losses were around fifteen.[16]
Whilst the fight forBuen Jesus was going onLittle John andJohn Evangelist chased González's main body which was headed South West toward the Colony of Santiago (present-day Jamaica) and all the while exchangedbroadsides with the Spanish flagship.[17] As soon as the Spanish arrived offCaguaya bay the English ships immediately drove at two of them.[18] With intense fire the English were able to force the two ships aground before the six or seven Spanish vessels that survived reachedSantiago de la Vega.[1] English boat parties then immediately attacked the grounded ships; the Spanish that did defend them were easily driven off.[15] An attempt to refloat both beached vessels then began as they used ropes and a helpful southerly wind.[14] The English managed to get one of the ships off the beach but the attempt was not successful with the other ship - already badly damaged it then sank.[5] The English then re-embarked their ships and together with the new prize sailed Northwest towardCape Corrientes.[17]
On 14 July Cocke gave theBuen Jesus to Newport for protection since her cargo was immense and needed to be transported back to England with haste. The cannons and firearms from the ship were stripped off before Newport's victorious privateers withdrew from the Jamaican coastline and headed East towards Cuba.[16]
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At sunset on 18 July, Newport'sLittle John andJohn Evangelist sighted three Spanish merchantmen offCayo Jutias (west ofHavana and north ofLos Órganos).[15] They proved to be stragglers from Commodore Rodrigo de Rada's convoy fromVeracruz, which had entered the Cuban capital five days earlier.[17] The English attacked in the darkness and opened fire compelling one ship to reverse course. The following morning the English closed in on the remaining pair: the 150-tonNuestra Señora del Rosario captained by Miguel de Acosta and a 60-ton pinnaceNuestra Señora de la Victoria under Juan de Borda.[6] The Spaniards had lashed both vessels together, and a long-range artillery exchange commenced which the English got the better of, severely damagingVictoria.[14] The English then closed amidships with theVictoria and managed to board her and ferocious hand-to-hand combat soon followed.[4] Newport killed the Spanish captain in the melee that followed but soon after his right arm was struck off by another Spaniard trying to protect his captain.[5] However Newport was saved by a sergeant-at-arms who killed his would be assailant.[15] The Spanish were soon driven from the vessel and the English suffered five killed and sixteen wounded (including Newport) while the Spanish losses were higher.[16]
The English then discoveredVictoria to be so badly holed that it sank within fifteen minutes, taking much of the silver within.[8] The next target, the Spanish vesselRosario, was swiftly boarded not long after.[9] Another vicious fight took place but again the English soon forced the Spanish from the vessel having suffered two killed and eight injured.[14] TheRosario too was badly damaged and sinking; the English had no choice and drove the vessel ashore at the western end of Cayo Jutias.[6] Soon after Newport despite being in pain and shock still sent orders and released the Spanish prisoners and sent them ashore.[5] The English then pillaged the vessel but found only a small haul of valuables after which was then broken up and burnt.[18] Newport with only half his arm ordered a return to England.[16]
Newport sailed back to England leaving Cocke in charge, so theHopewell and theMoonlight with John White sailed to Roanoke with their half of the mission complete.[19][10]
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Meanwhile, the other half of the expedition sought to land at the English colony of Roanoke. White's eventual landing at theOuter Banks was further imperilled by poor weather and the landing was hazardous and was beset by bad conditions and adverse currents.[16]
On August 18, 1590 he finally reached Roanoke Island, but he found his colony had been long deserted. The few clues about the colonists whereabouts included the letters "CRO" carved into a tree, and the word "CROATOAN" carved on a post of the fort. Croatoan was the name of a nearbyisland (modern-dayHatteras Island) and a local tribe of Native Americans.[10] The colonists had agreed that a message would be carved into a tree if they had moved and would include an image of aMaltese Cross if the decision was made by force. With no sign of the colonists and the weather becoming worse White returned toPlymouth on October 24, 1590.[20]
Newport returned home to a hero's welcome by early September and counted the large spoils of which was a profitable expedition.[1] The biggest and most profitable was the 300-tonBuen Jesus which sailed into Plymouth in September - the prize had been fromSeville, and was typical of Spanish trade at the time. On board: 200 boxes ofsugar, at least 5,000hides, 2,000hundredweight ofginger, 400 hundredweight ofguacayan wood, twelvehogsheads ofChile pepper, twenty hundredweight ofsarsaparilla, twenty hundredweight ofcane, and over 4,000ducats inpearls,gold, andsilver.[16]
The English expedition and the defeat of the convoys proved frustrating to the Spanish. Their commander Rodrigo de Rada wrote afterwards:
the shamelessness of these English ships has reached a point they have come very close to this harbour [Havana] even pursuing barges which bring water from a league away.[8]
Addicted to the prize hunting, Newport set out again, despite the loss of his arm - he owed his life to the ship's surgeon.[19] The following year as captain of theMargaret he combinedBarbary trade with Watt's most successfully financed expeditions; theBlockade of Western Cuba. Between 1592 and 1595, when captaining theGolden Dragon, Newport kept to the West Indies again. In 1592 he was given command of a flotilla of privateers and he pioneered attacks on the towns of the Spanish Caribbean. On his return he helped tocapture theMadre de Deus off theAzores and was chosen to sail her to England, making him a very rich man.[21]
Newport would be shown erroneously with an arm (played byChristopher Plummer) inTerrence Malick's film of theJamestown SettlementNew World and his statue atChristopher Newport University of which is named after him.[9]
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