|
 |
|
Once
Gibraltar had fallen to the Anglo-Dutch fleet on 4th August 1704
and the Spaniards who did not wish to stay in Gibraltar under the
new rule had left on the 7th August, Admiral Sir George Rooke and
the new Governor of Gibraltar, Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt,
started work on repairing and strengthening the Rock's defences
against a Spanish and French counter-attack which they knew could
occur at any moment.
Rooke left some 2000 marines and sailors to help Hesse while he took most of the fleet across to Tetuan (just south of Ceuta) fo take on food and water. |
 |
|
Gibraltar
was now very vulnerable with its defensive forces split and the
Rock exposed to attack from both land and sea.
On the 22nd August, Rooke received a report from one of his patrol ships, HMS Centurion, that 66 French ships from the Toulon fleet were approaching the Straits. He sent some ships back to Gibraltar to pick up his naval gunners and some of the marines he had left there and then set off in pursuit. He caught up with them just off the coast of Malaga on Sunday 24th August. |
 |
Although
the fleets were evenly matched in numbers (Rooke had 51 ships, the
French had 50), the French ships were fresh and fully-equipped whereas
the Anglo-Dutch fleet was low on ammunition. Although no ships were sunk on either side, there was much loss of life - 3,048 French and 2,719 men from Rooke's fleet were killed. By the evening, most of Rooke's ships were nearly out of ammunition. |
|
During
the following day, the French kept their distance. On the next morning,
the French fleet was nowhere to be seen.
Rooke feared that they had slipped past him in the night and had made their way to Gibraltar. If the French fleet attacked Gibraltar from the sea while the Spanish army attacked it from the land then the Rock would surely be taken easily because Hesse had not enough men with him to put up a strong defence. Rooke rushed back to defend Gibraltar but as he neared the Rock he received the news that the French fleet had sailed in the opposite direction back to Toulon where they declared that they had defeated the English at Malaga. Gibraltar was kept safe in the hands of the Habsburg Alliance. (Remember that all this was to enable the Archduke Charles of Austria to become Charles III of Spain.) |