Battle of Cartagena de Indias

British attack on Cartagena de Indias by Luis Fernández Gordillo.
Oil on canvas, Naval Museum of Madrid.

Date	March–May 1741
Location	Cartagena de Indias, Viceroyalty of New Granada (present-day Colombia)
Result	Decisive Spanish victory

Belligerents

Great Britain

Spain

Commanders and leaders

Strength

27,400- 30,000 military personnel:

12,000 regulars, marines and militia
15,398 Royal Navy sailors

29 ships of the line
22 frigates
135 transports and other craft

3,000- 4,000 military personnel:

2,700 regulars and 400 marines
600 sailors and 300 militia
600 native archers
6 ships of the line and numerous shore-based guns

Casualties and losses

9,500–11,500 dead
7,500 wounded and sick
1,500 guns lost
6 Royal Navy ships lost
17 Royal Navy ships of the line heavily damaged
4 frigates and 27 transports lost

800 dead
1,200 wounded
6 ships lost
5 forts
3 batteries

27,400- 30,000 military personnel:

3,000- 4,000 military personnel:

The Battle of Cartagena de Indias was an amphibious military engagement between the forces of Britain under Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon and those of Spain under Admiral Blas de Lezo. It took place at the city of Cartagena de Indias in March 1741, in present-day Colombia. The battle was a significant episode of the War of Jenkins' Ear and a large-scale naval campaign. The war later was subsumed into the greater conflict of the War of the Austrian Succession. The battle resulted in a major defeat for the British Navy and Army.

The defeat caused heavy losses for the British: Disease (especially yellow fever), rather than deaths in combat, took the greatest toll among the British and Spanish forces.

The War of Jenkins' Ear was a conflict between Great Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1748. Under the 1729 Treaty of Seville, the British had agreed not to trade with the Spanish colonies except under limited conditions, under the Asiento de Negros slave trade and the Annual Ship under the Navio de Permiso. The Asiento allowed Britain a monopoly to supply 5,000 slaves a year to the Spanish colonies. The Navio de Permiso permitted a single yearly trading ship, the Annual Ship, which could carry 1000 tons of imports to the yearly trade fair in Porto Bello. Upon receiving these concessions from Spain, the British government granted a monopoly for both to the South Sea Company. The merchants and bankers in Britain, who were the driving force behind Britain's international commerce and trading, demanded more access to the lucrative Spanish markets of the Caribbean Basin. In turn, the Spanish colonists desired British-made goods, so a burgeoning black market of smuggled goods developed.

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Wikipedia