Action of August 1702 1702
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 4 September 1702 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1702 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Colombia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | South America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | War of the Spanish Succession | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of England, Kingdom of France | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 11.2410, -74.2060 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The action of August 1702 was an inconclusive naval battle of the War of the Spanish Succession fought between 19 and 25 August 1702 O.S.. An English squadron under Vice-Admiral of the White John Benbow engaged in a running battle with a smaller French squadron under Admiral Jean-Baptiste du Casse off Santa Marta, but insubordination from Benbow's captains prevented him from inflicting significant damage on du Casse's squadron, which escaped almost fully intact.
Benbow had been sent to the West Indies with a small squadron to prevent the French from capturing Spanish colonies there. At the same time, du Casse had sailed for Cartagena to force it to swear allegiance to Philip V. Benbow had set out to intercept du Casse's squadron upon receiving word of their movements. His squadron cited the French on 19 June, but many of the English captains refused to fully engage du Casse's ships, and one came aboard Benbow's squadron to plead with him to abandon the chase. The French squadron was able to escape with the loss of only a single galley.
Benbow lost a leg during the engagement and died of illness roughly two months later. Two of the English captains, Richard Kirkby and Cooper Wade, were convicted of cowardice and shot.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Action of August 1702 (revision 1381175904), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the War of the Spanish Succession
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- Battle of Cremona 1702
- Battle of Cádiz (1702) 1702
- Battle of Friedlingen 1702
- Battle of Luzzara 1702
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- Siege of Kaiserswerth 1702
- Siege of Landau (1702) 1702
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All 61 battles of the War of the Spanish Succession →
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