Capture of the Bahamas (1783)

Capture of the Bahamas (1783)
Part of the Anglo-Spanish War
Map of New Providence and Nassau
Date 14–18 April, 1783 Location Nassau, Bahamas Result British/Loyalist victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Great Britain	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Andrew Deveaux	Don Antonio Claraco Sauz
Strength
227 regulars, militia and volunteers 7 vessels.	600 soldiers, sailors & marines 7 ships 50 cannon
Casualties and losses
None	600 surrendered (later repatriated) 7 ships scuttled 50 cannons captured

The Capture of the Bahamas took place in April 1783, late in the Anglo-Spanish War, when a Loyalist expedition under the command of Andrew Deveaux set out to retake the Bahamas from the Spanish. The expedition was successful and Nassau fell without a shot being fired. It was one of the last actions of the entire war.

The Bahamas had been taken by Spanish forces in May 1782. However Saint Augustine in East Florida was still in British hands, the Spanish thinking it too well defended to attack. A plan was devised to retake the Bahamas by launching an attack on Nassau. Andrew Deveaux was a Loyalist and veteran of the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War.

Major Deveaux departed from Saint Augustine with seventy followers and was joined at sea two days later by the 26-gun privateer brigantine Perseverance of Thomas Dow and the 16-gun, 120-man brigantine Whitby Warrior of Daniel Wheeler. The expedition anchored off Harbour and Eleuthera on 6 April, recruiting another 170 volunteers for an attempt against the Spanish garrison at New Providence.

Four days later the sloop Flor de Mayo reached New Providence with a message from the governor of Cuba Luis de Unzaga, saying that peace preliminaries had been signed back in Europe and that the Bahamas were to be restored to British rule in exchange for East Florida.

When Deveaux's flotilla drew near to New Providence on 13 April, the Spanish commander Claraco mistook it for smugglers. His customs patrols were surprised at dawn the following morning to find a heavily armed landing party storming ashore to occupy Fort Montagu and three guardboats. Claraco retreated into his citadel and a brief ceasefire was arranged; Deveaux rescinded it next day. The Spaniards scuttled their remaining warships on 16 April and huddled within the main fort, before deciding to surrender it two days later.

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