Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PLATES, CHARTS AND PLANS
- PREFACE
- METHOD OF DATING
- Chapter I Means and Ways: The Instrument
- Chapter II Ways and Means: The Use of the Instrument
- Chapter III Mediterranean Outline: Cadiz to Port Mahon
- Chapter IV The French Squadronal Attack on the Trade in the Channel Soundings, 1704
- Chapter V Barcelona, 1705
- CHAPTER VI Toulon, 1707
- CHAPTER VII Cruisers and Convoys in 1707
- CHAPTER VIII “The Alarm from Dunkirk”, 1708
- A Particulars of Typical Ships of Queen Anne's Navy
- B State of Her Majesty's Ships in Commission
- C Confederate Ships of the Line at Home and in the Mediterranean 1702 to 1710
- D State of the French Navy
- E Admiral Fairborne's Proposal for the Main Fleet in 1703
- F The Cruisers and Convoys Act, 1708
- Notes
- Index
- Plate section
Chapter III - Mediterranean Outline: Cadiz to Port Mahon
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PLATES, CHARTS AND PLANS
- PREFACE
- METHOD OF DATING
- Chapter I Means and Ways: The Instrument
- Chapter II Ways and Means: The Use of the Instrument
- Chapter III Mediterranean Outline: Cadiz to Port Mahon
- Chapter IV The French Squadronal Attack on the Trade in the Channel Soundings, 1704
- Chapter V Barcelona, 1705
- CHAPTER VI Toulon, 1707
- CHAPTER VII Cruisers and Convoys in 1707
- CHAPTER VIII “The Alarm from Dunkirk”, 1708
- A Particulars of Typical Ships of Queen Anne's Navy
- B State of Her Majesty's Ships in Commission
- C Confederate Ships of the Line at Home and in the Mediterranean 1702 to 1710
- D State of the French Navy
- E Admiral Fairborne's Proposal for the Main Fleet in 1703
- F The Cruisers and Convoys Act, 1708
- Notes
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
This sketch of the services of the Main Fleet in and about the Mediterranean begins with the attempt to take Cadiz for a base in 1702 and ends with the capture of Port Mahon and the establishment of a base there in 1708. It includes the raid on the Spanish treasure fleet at Vigo, when the Bourbons lost fifteen line of battle ships and a great quantity of treasure, the capture of Gibraltar and the battle of Malaga, but not the great conjunct expeditions in 1705 and 1707, when Barcelona was taken and Toulon attempted. These two expeditions illustrate two varieties of conjunct enterprise: at Barcelona, as at Cadiz, the fleet carried the army with it, landing the troops on the enemy's shore, whereas the army marched by road to Toulon, while the fleet carried the impedimenta. The naval side of their story has not been told fully in print, I believe, so I have kept it for separate and more detailed description in later chapters.
An attack upon Cadiz was the natural overture to service by the Main Fleet in the Mediterranean. The object of the expedition is made clear in a letter Marlborough wrote to Godolphin on 24 March/4 April 1702, soon after he reached the Hague to re-affirm the Grand Alliance under the new reign.
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- Information
- War at Sea Under Queen Anne 1702–1708 , pp. 71 - 100Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010