Horatio Nelson, a tough opponent for a match with tiny Tenerife.

Horatio Nelson may have been a champion in a different field nowadays. However in his era, only the Royal Navy could provide glory and riches, as British ambition was entirely geared towards the seas.

When the British admiral heard in 1797 that valuable freight was on its way to
Tenerife, he wrote to a friend that he intended to quickly go for a cruzade to this island. That's how much he underestimated his opponents of Santa Cruz.

Loss of first two rounds:

Loss of the first two Rounds of the fight where the sea port had been approached via land for night attacks led to Round 3 eventually, only, 2 days later.

Horatio Nelson was well equipped for a swift navy battle match. A land battle showed not to be so easy. Also, it was rather unlikely
that more than 900 men were chosen for the task, contrary to reports that up to 3000 attackers took part in Admiral Nelson's silent Tenerife expedition.

Facts or fiction?

Horatio Nelson's 1797, July 25, squadron:

• The four HMS Liner ships Theseus, Culloden, Zealous and Leander
  with 296 total guns and 200 men per ship sound like a puzzle.
• The three frigates Seahorse (38), Emerald(36) Terpsichore(32)
  with numbers in brackets totalling 106 are in contrast
  to 100 men reported on bord of each ship.
• The 32foot cutter Fox may have seated 10 rowers each.
• Then there was the tiny canon boat Bombardera also called Canonera
  and an artillery of 80.

Facts about vessels of XVII and XVIII

• Line ships like Sir Horatio Nelson's
  were meant to be fast and swift
• Frigates by 1797 were the best compromise of their period
  for attack, defense, speed and bounty
• Daus (daos) or caravelles were the ocean jumbo jets
  of the explorers -- without the speed, while they were ideal targets
  for famous pirates like Horatio Nelson, Francis Drake, Robert Blake and
  the fowl play Pirate Pegfoot; daus were not part of the battle Santa Cruz 1797.

Lord Nelson's battle manpower:

Adding officers and captains would bring up the squadron's manpower to about 1300 by the utmost. In fact, the threat for Plan 3 was to send 1000 soldiers to take Santa Cruz, eventually. This seemed to be enough, as the Tenerife port was a mere fishing village with little military personal at the time.

Socio economic situation of Nelson's era:

Besides, ordinary men on ships in the late 17th and 18th century had to fulfill all kinds of functions and the less mouths to be fed on their trips, the better. Meantime, money for financing war or pirating exeditions was very tight. The Royal navy was doing just that in the eyes of the Spanish. But this was as normal as slave trading in those days.

This was one of reasons, why the admiral or pirate Horatio Nelson was respected.

Tenerife's hero of the 25th of July:

Meantime, a man by the name of Don Antonio Gutierrez de Otero coached his people well for the fighting against Admiral Nelson.

Gutiérrez was born in Burgos, Spain on May 08, 1728 to a father, who was Colonel of Infantry.

Little Antonio was enroled in his birth place at a
military academy at the tender age of seven.

The Santa Cruz champion Don Antonio:

Commander Gutierrez Don Antonio managed to have 1700 men and many mules for military equipment transport thanks to the help of the Santa Cruz mayor. All was needed to not only protect the port of San Christóbal de la Laguna, which was the nearby capital. Its county Aguere as well as the whole of Tenerife were at stake. Hired soldiers, some of which were French and Italians, were waiting on stand-by together with Santa Cruz Chicharreros. Many ordinary recruited country folks from all corners of the former Guanche kingdoms were joining in full alert.

They were strategically placed on hills which were overlooking

First 2 rounds Santa Cruz battle lost:

The British under Horatio Nelson were all discovered by the Tinerfeños and repelled when they showed up in the above cited locations.

It should be mentioned that the gorge called Barranco Bufadero with its lava crevices struck the men from Great Britain as spooky and dangerous. Consequently, the Brits wanted a new fighting strategy in a different spot instead. A regrouping of the men from Europe's north was in dire need and accepted.

Not to interfer with sacred places or witches'coves:

Little did the brave marines know about witches coves and rituals above the Barranco Bufadero of Anaga Taganana. Nor had they had word about other disturbing Guanche history in the location. Witch hunts by the weird women could have been a threat if any of the men had split off.

The 1st Viscount Horatio Nelson should have been informed, that such places are tabu.

Minor fort Torre San Andres famous but broken:

Please note that the Torre San Andres near Barranco Bufadero made history.

Canons fired from this minor round fort are said to have destroyed part of Admiral Nelson's fleet.

Today this castillo or Torre San Andres by the village of the same name is almost in shambles.
Again and again it was destroyed by heavy floods from the nearby Barranco gorge. There does not seem to be interest in restauring it.

Castillo Torre San Andres has served its purpose.

A fresh start to take on the fight:

Two days after his first lost offensive, Horatio Nelson placed his teams with captains in fighting positions again. They crossed the Santa Cruz Bay and were heading for a frontal attack of the later Tenerife capital. The fighting style was disciplined and audacious.

However again, nothing was scored.

Santa Cruz Tenerife won again.

The Milanese Chief engineer and Colonel Louis Bontempo who was of the same age as Don Antonio had cooperated well for a better fort. This Italian was also familiar with the fame of Horatio Nelson and could but admire him.

There are stories about a cronic asthma illness of D. Antonio Gutierrez during the whole episode of Nelson's attack. In fact, the Spaniard died not long afterwards in 1799. However, what counts is that the Tenerife military commander had not taken a rest, when he was needed..

The decisive moment of the battle of 1797:

Thanks to a canon, fate assisted the fiercely fighting Tinerfeños. who had spread out their defense well.

Dreadful grape ammunition which was used with the bronze tiger canon from Castillo San Christóbal was an ugly incidence of the whole match.

But the spirit of the hardened Admiral was not broken, as depicted beside.

Rather rare generosity towards the losing party:

Gutierrez had no bad feelings for the British Admiral Nelson, although his parties had suffered losses themselves.

Instead, every possible diplomacy was used by the Tenerife commander to end the three days of high adrenalin in the island's favor and for lasting peace.

The brilliant strokes of Gutierrez which paid off:

The later knighted admiral of Queen Elizabeth the Second was allowed to leave for surgery on his own flagship after he was wounded.

No prisoners of war, nor arms, nor medals were taken. The only trophy which is still spread out on a table of the Military Museum Museo Militar on the bottom of the fabulous Avenue Rambla Santa Cruz is a huge flag which Lord Horatio Nelson had to leave behind as a victory token.

Back in England, the 250 men lost in action were given honours while 128 wounded were happy to be alive. They all had a heroes' welcome when they left the schooners which the generous Don Antonio De Gutierrez had provided. Horatio Nelson who had already lost an eye in a previous battle was now also a one armed champion. The wise diplomatic Spanish lieutnant Gutierrez had saved England's face and his own island's future with almost unheard of fair play.

A history emblem 1797 celebrates the Tenerife victory of the battle of 3 rounds with 3 lion heads in its center.

There is also a more simple modern history emblem.

A rather eleborate general history emblem of Santa Cruz exists, as well.

After a year of recovery, Admiral Nelson reached more fame. This has been commemorated by the obelisk of Trafalgar square until today.

What about Santa Cruz de Tenerife?

Tenerife could now prosper in peace which was the best victory of all.

By the way, they say that some interesting navigation charts besides cordial letters were later exchanged by the commanders of the big fights of Tenerife Santa Cruz. Some of the ones shown at Museo Militar may date back to that time.

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From Horatio Nelson back to Santa Cruz Tenerife. which is today's capital of Tenerife, which is the biggest of all major seven Canary Islands.

3 and 4 Star Santa Cruz Tenerife hotels near museums and history as well close to the the former Plaza Castillo San Christóbal which is now part of the capital's center of trade and commerce.

The fight in its vicinity had been a sore spot in Admiral Horatio Nelson's memory because of the loss of his arm until his death on October 21, 1805.

General Nelson's tragic end:

He passed away, while less than 50 years old. He was still young and handsome.

He left his big love Lady Emma Hamilton, whom he had met late in life, but no sons.

A naval military man should perrish in action like all those who lost their lives in battle following him.

47 year old Horatio Nelson was not killed by any ordinary soldier , but by a French sharp shooter sniper.

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