WALKS IN HISTORY: Rota and the independence of America.

            Back in December, I was lucky enough to be kindly invited over to an open house in the residence of Air Force coronel Carlos Ortiz, where I met with both Spaniards and Americans; some living on Base, some outside. The house is in the hill overlooking the mouth of the Salado river inside the Base. As I listened to the waves smashing into the rocks below I could not help but think about how important this place actually was to the birth of the United States. It might come as a surprise to many, but Rota was the site of an encounter between the United Kingdom and Spain that would in time prove decisive to the Revolutionary War. Surprised? I thought so...

            We must go back to the beginning of the XVIII century. At the time, the finishing touches were being given to the Iglesia de la O, the first regular English language national newspaper, The Daily Courant, was published for the first time in London, and Delaware was designated a separate colony. In Spain, the last king of the Habsburg dynasty -Carlos II “the Bewitched”- died without heirs, thus starting an European-wide war for his succession as well as a civil war inside the Spanish territories; on one side Spain and her American colonies, France, Bavaria and Savoy, against pretty much everyone else, especially Britain, Austria, the Netherlands and the half of Spain that belonged to the Crown of Aragón .

            The British in particular were very keen on taking advantage of the situation to weaken Spain and capture a naval base on peninsular shores. Thus, a large Anglo-Dutch naval squadron was organised (officially to support the Austrian contestant to the throne) under the command of admiral George Rooke. His first objective was simple: Cádiz. It would be the ideal place to establish a Royal Navy base from where to pester and raid Spanish trade with the Americas. Knowing that attacking Cádiz head-on was suicidal, Rooke decided to land his forces in a safer place, form up and then march on to Cádiz.

French map of the battle of Cádiz, 1702

           The landing ground chosen was the beach at the mouth of the Salado as well as the beaches at Fuentebravía. According to the local chronicle, the coastal defence forces did their best to weaken the invaders, but all the forts between Rota and El Puerto soon fell. The civil war had weakened the home defence too much. Initially, the Anglo-Dutch headquarters were established on the aforementioned hill which dominates the bay of Cádiz. Rota, El Puerto and Puerto Real were all captured in quick succession, but the real target, Cádiz, was untouched. In Rota there's the custom of putting pumpkins -and other vegetables- on windowsills so that the sun can dry them, making them last edible for longer. Well, tradition has it that most roteños “welcomed” the occupying “red-coats” with a shower of pumpkins from their windows. Even if no real injuries could be produced by these missiles, the message was clear to the British.

            Faced with an approaching winter and an unconquerable city, the British re-embarked the 30th of September after sacking as much as they could, including most of the works of art in the parish church and the fabled bronze culverin of Rota. This artillery piece was said to be able to knock out a ship 6 miles to sea. The defeat gave Admiral Rooke a lust for vengeance that would materialise two years later.

"El último de Gibraltar" by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau

             In 1704 Rooke returned bent on capturing a stronghold on the Spanish coast, Cádiz was off the script... but how about Gibraltar? Gibraltar was an impregnable fortress (and still is) when fully manned, but after four years of war surely it had to be weak. Rooke was not wrong, the 3000-strong garrison had been reduced to just 300 men, considering militias and professional soldiers, and held out gallantly only for five days in the face of a 61-ship squadron. Although at first the city was taken for the Austrian contestant to the Throne -the Archduke Charles of Habsburg-, soon the Austrian colours were lowered and the Union Jack replaced them on top of Gibraltar's Moorish castle.

            Gibraltar became a key post for the British and their nascent Empire as it helped secure its shipping lines with the Mediterranean and India and became a hub for the Royal Navy in the frequent wars with Spain. Its recovery became paramount to Spain and any chance to weaken the United Kingdom was seen as an opportunity to recover what the British called “the Rock” and Spaniards “el Peñón”.

            The chance came in 1775 with the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Spain promptly began to supply the Thirteen Colonies with arms, money and all sorts of supplies through Havana and New Orleans. However, it was not until the American victory at Saratoga that Spain entered the war full on. The British found themselves having to fight the colonists in the continent and their allies -Spain and France- in Europe and the Caribbean. The logistical apparatus just could not cope with such a wide front and the defeats soon piled up; especially after the Spanish Navy under Admiral Luís Córdova y Córdova captured a 52-ship-strong convoy at Cabo de Santa María in 1780.

"Surrender of Lord Cornwallis" by John Trombull, 1820

             Gibraltar was besieged by the allies in 1779 which put extra strain on the Royal Navy and the British economy. This siege would go on until 1783 in what would be known as the “Great Siege”. Gibraltar became a symbol for Britain and many squadrons were sent to relieve the desperate situation of the “red-coats” stationed there. These supply convoys were also needed in America, where the British army was in a dire need for reinforcements, but they never came. Cornwallis' last stand in Yorktown in 1781, assaulted by the Continental Army in the front and bombarded by the French Navy in the back, was the demonstration that London had placed Gibraltar higher in its' list of priorities than America. The British army in America had been left to take care of itself, but without popular support it broke down hopelessly.

            Had Gibraltar stayed in Spanish hands in 1704, probably Great Britain would have committed all its resources to suppressing the American rebellion. And maybe, just maybe, they would have won and the USA today could have a similar relation to the UK as Canada has.

            I like contrafactuals (“virtual history”) as much as I like History as it requires an informed and thoughtful approach to answer “what if” questions. What if the Brits had captured Cádiz and not Gibraltar? What if they could have been defeated on their first landing in the Salado? Would they have ceased attacks on the Spanish mainland? Would that have changed their policies with the American colonists? Would there never have been a need for the colonists to wage a war for independence?

           All this was on my mind as I stared down at the military harbour as the sun came down, the wind on my chest and the sound of the waves crashing not far off. Then someone called be back inside, there were people singing Spanish Christmas carols... and I just had to join in.

Publicado en el Rota Coastline, el 6 de febrero de 2014