Battle of Vigo Bay

23 October 1702, Rande, Vigo Bay, Galicia

Anglo-Dutch victory; the Franco-Spanish fleet destroyed

After failing to take Cádiz, Rooke's Anglo-Dutch fleet learned that the Spanish treasure fleet from the Americas, escorted by a French squadron under the Comte de Châteaurenault, had put into Vigo Bay. The ships lay in the narrow inner bay at Rande, behind a boom of masts and chains guarded by forts. Troops landed and stormed the forts, while Vice-Admiral Hopsonn in Torbay sailed straight at the boom and broke it, and the fleet poured through. Every French ship of the line was taken or burned, and all three Spanish galleons destroyed or captured. Most of the silver, however, had already been landed; the allies took far less than they hoped. The victory helped bring Portugal into the alliance.