Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797)

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Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Part of the War of the First Coalition
The British Attack on Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Oil on canvas, 1848.
Date 22–25 July 1797 Location Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain 28°28′N 16°15′W / 28.467°N 16.250°W / 28.467; -16.250 Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Horatio Nelson (WIA)	Antonio Gutiérrez de Otero y Santayana
Strength
4,000 regulars and sailors 3 ships of the line 1 fourth rate 3 frigates 1 cutter 1 bomb-vessel 400 guns	1,700 regulars, militia, and sailors 91 guns
Casualties and losses
250 dead[1] 128 wounded approx. 300 captured 1 cutter sunk	30 dead 40 wounded

The Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was an amphibious assault by the Royal Navy on the Spanish port city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Launched by Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson on 22 July 1797, the assault was defeated, and on 25 July the remains of the landing party withdrew under a truce, having lost several hundred men. Nelson himself had been wounded in the arm, which was subsequently partially amputated: a stigma that he carried to his grave as a constant reminder of his failure.^[1]