Capture of Gibraltar (1704): How Britain Gained the Rock

The capture of Gibraltar in August 1704 was a small operation with enormous consequences. During the War of the Spanish Succession an Anglo-Dutch fleet under Admiral Sir George Rooke bombarded and stormed the lightly defended Spanish town at the foot of the Rock, which surrendered on 4 August 1704. Taken in the name of a rival claimant to the Spanish throne, Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713 and has remained British ever since.

Background: a war over the Spanish throne

When the childless Charles II of Spain died in 1700, he left his entire empire to Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV of France. England, the Dutch Republic and the Austrian Habsburgs feared a union of French and Spanish power and backed the Archduke Charles of Austria instead. The result was the War of the Spanish Succession, fought from 1701 to 1714.

The Allies wanted a base in the western Mediterranean to support their fleet and encourage revolts in Spain for “Charles III”, as they styled the archduke. An attempt on Barcelona in May 1704 failed. Rooke, cruising off the Spanish coast with a powerful Anglo-Dutch fleet and with Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, a former viceroy of Catalonia, looked for another target.

Gibraltar was an obvious choice. The town controlled the northern shore of the strait linking the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, yet Spain’s resources were stretched and its defences there had been neglected. A council of war held in late July 1704 agreed to attack.

What happened

On 1 August 1704 (New Style) around 1,800 to 2,000 English and Dutch marines under Hesse-Darmstadt landed on the sandy isthmus north of the town. This cut Gibraltar off from the Spanish mainland. A summons to surrender in the name of Charles III was rejected by the governor, Diego de Salinas, who had only a few hundred defenders, most of them militia rather than trained soldiers.

On the morning of 2 August a squadron under Rear-Admiral George Byng opened a heavy bombardment. Contemporary accounts claim that the ships fired many thousands of rounds in a few hours, and the defenders’ batteries on the waterfront were silenced. Sailors and marines in boats then attacked the New Mole, a fortified jetty at the southern end of the town.

The assault nearly ended in disaster. A magazine in a fort on the mole exploded, killing and wounding perhaps a hundred of the attackers. The survivors pressed on, however, and seized positions overlooking the town. With the fleet’s guns trained on Gibraltar and many civilians sheltering at the shrine of Our Lady of Europa near the southern tip, Salinas opened negotiations.

On 4 August 1704 the garrison capitulated on honourable terms. Soldiers could march out with their arms, and inhabitants who swore loyalty to Charles III were promised their property and religion. Almost all of the roughly 4,000 residents nevertheless chose to leave, many settling at nearby San Roque. During and after the capture, sailors and soldiers looted houses and desecrated churches, which deepened local bitterness.

Key people

Sir George Rooke (1650–1709) commanded the combined fleet. He was a cautious and experienced Tory admiral who later fought the inconclusive Battle of Vélez-Málaga to protect the new conquest.

Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt (1669–1705) led the landing and became the first governor under the Allies. He was a committed supporter of the Habsburg cause and was killed at Barcelona in 1705.

Diego de Salinas was the Spanish governor who defended the town with very limited forces. After the surrender he withdrew to Spanish territory.

George Byng (1663–1733), later Viscount Torrington, directed the bombardment and later became one of Britain’s leading admirals.

Gerard Callenburgh (1642–1722), a Dutch lieutenant-admiral, commanded the Dutch squadron in the fleet. His presence is a reminder that the capture was a joint Anglo-Dutch operation, even though in the end only Britain kept the prize.

Holding the Rock

Capturing Gibraltar was easier than keeping it. On 24 August 1704 a French fleet under the Count of Toulouse fought Rooke off Vélez-Málaga. The battle was tactically indecisive, but the French withdrew, leaving the Allies in control of the sea near the Rock.

From October 1704 to April 1705 a Franco-Spanish army under the Marquis of Villadarias, and later Marshal de Tessé, besieged Gibraltar. In November 1704 a party guided by a local goatherd, Simón Susarte, climbed the steep eastern face of the Rock by a hidden path in an attempt to surprise the garrison, but the raid was beaten back. Allied reinforcements and supplies arriving by sea, together with storms and disease in the besiegers’ camp, led to the siege being abandoned in spring 1705.

Consequences

Gibraltar had been taken for Charles III, but over the following years British influence there grew and the Dutch role faded. By the time peace was negotiated, Britain wanted the Rock for itself as a naval base and trading post.

Under Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Philip V, now recognised as King of Spain, ceded “the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications and forts thereunto belonging” to the British Crown. The article included restrictions on trade with Spain and gave Spain a right of first refusal if Britain ever wished to give the territory up.

The Dutch Republic, exhausted by the war, made no claim of its own. Spain tried to recover Gibraltar by force several times, most famously in the Great Siege of Gibraltar from 1779 to 1783. All attempts failed. The Rock became one of the key bases of the Royal Navy, guarding the route between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and later the route to India through the Suez Canal.

Myths and facts

Myth: Rooke captured Gibraltar for Queen Anne. The town was formally taken in the name of the Habsburg claimant “Charles III”, and Hesse-Darmstadt’s proclamation reflected this. A later tradition held that Rooke raised the English flag and claimed the Rock for Queen Anne, but historians treat this story with caution. Britain’s legal title rests on the Treaty of Utrecht, not on the 1704 capture.

Myth: Gibraltar was a strong fortress taken by a great siege. In 1704 the defences were in poor repair and the garrison was tiny. The real military achievement lay in holding the town against the counter-siege that followed.

Timeline

• 1700, November: Charles II of Spain dies, leaving his crown to Philip of Anjou.
• 1701: The War of the Spanish Succession begins.
• 1704, 1 August: Anglo-Dutch marines land on the isthmus north of Gibraltar.
• 1704, 2 August: The fleet bombards the town; the New Mole is stormed despite a deadly explosion.
• 1704, 4 August: Governor Diego de Salinas surrenders; most inhabitants leave for San Roque.
• 1704, 24 August: The Battle of Vélez-Málaga ends with the French fleet withdrawing.
• 1704, October: The Franco-Spanish siege of Gibraltar begins.
• 1705, April: The besiegers abandon the siege.
• 1713, 13 July: The Anglo-Spanish treaty at Utrecht cedes Gibraltar to Britain.

Why it matters

The capture of Gibraltar gave Britain a permanent foothold at one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints. It shaped British naval power for three centuries and created a sovereignty dispute with Spain that remains unresolved, making a few days of fighting in 1704 one of the most lasting results of the War of the Spanish Succession.