The fourth Battle of Cape St Vincent was fought on 5 July 1833 and was a decisive encounter in Portugal's Liberal Wars. A naval squadron commanded by the British officer Charles Napier, RN on behalf of Dom Pedro, regent for the rightful Queen Maria II, defeated the navy of the usurper Dom Miguel. July 5 is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 179 days remaining. ... 1833 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The Liberal Wars, the War of the Two Brothers or Miguelite War was a war between progressive constitutionalists and authoritarian absolutists confronting one another in a war of royal succession that lasted from 1828 to 1834 in Portugal. ... Admiral Sir Charles Napier (6 March 1786–6 November 1860) was a British admiral whose 54 years in the Royal Navy included service in the Napoleonic Wars, Syrian War and the Crimean War, and a period commanding the Portuguese navy in the Liberal Wars. ... Pedro is the Spanish and Portuguese version of the name Peter, derived from the word Petros (Greek for rock, from πέτρα or Petra, a translation of the Aramaic Kephas or Cephas), through the Latin Petrus. ... Maria II, Queen of Portugal (April 4, 1819 - November 15, 1853). ... Miguel can refer to: Miguel, the name, meaning Michael in Spanish and Portuguese. ...

Background

While serving in the Azores, Napier had come to know members of the exiled Portuguese liberals, who had offered him command of the small fleet serving Dom Pedro, which largely consisted of a few old men-o'-war and some East Indiamen purchased from the British. In February 1833 Napier accepted their proposals, in succession to another British officer, Captain George Rose Sartorius, who was already serving as Admiral of Pedro's navy. Using the name 'Carlos da Ponza' in a transparent attempt to disguise his identity as a British officer to escape penalties under the Foreign Enlistment Act, in June 1833 Napier joined his new command in the Douro River off Oporto. ('Carlos da Ponza' = Charles of Ponza; one of Napier's most daring feats in the Napoleonic War had been the capture of the island of Ponza in the Mediterranean in 1813). Dom Pedro, currently being besieged in Oporto by the forces of Dom Miguel, bestowed on Napier his commission as Vice Admiral, Major General of the Portuguese Navy and Commander in Chief of the fleet. An eccentric but indomitable character, Napier restored the situation in the fleet, which had been close to mutiny because of lack of pay, and proposed a new strategy to break the siege. Flying his flag in the frigate Rainha do Portugal 46, commanded by Captain F.G. MacDonough and with his stepson Charles Elers Napier as Chief of Staff, on 20 June he sailed from Oporto with his small fleet, transporting the Duke of Terceira and half the constitutional army to the Algarve so that they could open a second front in the south of the country and march on Lisbon. After successfully disembarking this force, on the return voyage he encountered the considerably superior fleet of Dom Miguel off Cape St Vincent on 3 July 1833, and after two days of manouvering in calm and very light winds he brought them to action. Location Motto of the autonomous region: Antes morrer livres que em paz sujeitos (Portuguese: To die free rather than to be subjugated in peace) Official language Portuguese Capitals Ponta Delgada (Presidency of the autonomous government), Angra do Heroísmo (Supreme Court), Horta (Legislative Assembly) Other towns Praia da Vitória... East Indiamen, the name generally applied to the ships of the (British) Honourable East India Company during the 18th and 19th centuries. ... The Douro at Oporto The Douro (Spanish Duero, Latin Durius, Portuguese Douro) is one of the major rivers of Spain and Portugal, flowing from its source near Soria across central Spain and Portugal to its outlet at Oporto. ... The Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1804 until 1815. ... Ponza and the Pontine Islands. ... A modern view of the ancient city of Porto, the city that gave the name to the country. ... Frigate is a name which has been used for several distinct types of warships at different times. ... António José de Sousa Manoel de Menezes Severim de Noronha (1792- 26 April 1860), First Duke of Terceira, Seventh Count and First Marquess of Vila-Flor, was a Portuguese soldier and statesman and a leader of the Constitutionalist side in the Liberal Wars, as well as a Prime Minister... Algarve NUTS II region, and the district of Faro in Portugal Vilamouras marina Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Algarve The Algarve (pron. ... District or region Lisbon Mayor   - Party Carmona Rodrigues PSD Area 84. ...

The battle

Napier’s command was essentially a mere squadron of six ships: three frigates, a corvette, a brig and a schooner, mounting a total of 176 guns. (He had some small steamers under his command which he hoped to use as tugs, but they abandoned him while the two forces were becalmed on the 4th of July: thus the subsequent battle was perhaps the last engagement of consequence between two fleets of sailing warships.) On 5th July the wind eventually got up and at 4.00 p.m. he attacked the Miguelite force of 3 ships of the line, a frigate, a xebec, 3 corvettes and 2 brigs, mounting altogether 372 guns. Knowing he could not long sustain a cannonade from such a superior opponent, Napier closed against enemy fire and boarded, so that the battle was decided in hand-to-hand fighting. In the event the Liberal forces captured all three ships of the line, a frigate and a corvette, whose crews agreed to fight from now on for Maria II; another ship came over the next day; the remnant of the Miguelite force fled to Lisbon or Madeira. Napier’s losses were about 30 killed (including the captain of Rainha do Portugal and two other captains) and about 60 wounded (including Charles Elers Napier), as against somewhere between 200 and 300 of the enemy. On 6 July, receiving news of the victory, Dom Pedro named Napier as Viscount Cape St Vincent in the peerage of Portugal. Immediately afterwards his fleet was ravaged by cholera (which was raging on mainland Portugal), with appalling loss of life, but he was able to bring it safe into Lisbon, which the Miguelistas had precipitately abandoned after being defeated by Terceira’s army advancing from the south at the Battle of Almada. Napier visited Rear-Admiral Sir William Parker of the British navy who was in the vicinity of the Tagus, and was received according to his Portuguese rank as an Admiral. Though he was subsequently struck off the Navy List at the insistence of the French, he was restored to his rank in the Royal Navy within two years and the Battle, largely won by British officers and crews fighting for Maria II, was viewed in England as bringing honour to the British navy. The sea victory, making possible the capture of Lisbon from the Miguelites, was the single most important event contributing to Miguel's eventual defeat and overthrow in 1834. French steam corvette Dupleix (1856-1887) Canadian corvettes on antisubmarine convoy escort duty during World War II. A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, smaller than a frigate. ... In sailing, a brig is a vessel with two masts at least one of which is square rigged. ... Two-masted fishing schooner A schooner (IPA: ) is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts. ... Ships of the line were 1st, 2nd, or 3rd-rated ships in the rating system of the Royal Navy. ... XEBEC is a subsidary of the anime studio Production I.G. that specialises in the production of television anime. ... Maria II, Queen of Portugal (April 4, 1819 - November 15, 1853). ... Motto: Das ilhas, as mais belas e livres (Of the islands, the most beautiful and free) Anthem: A Portuguesa (national) Hino da Região Autónoma da Madeira (local) Capital Funchal Largest city Funchal Official language(s) Portuguese Government Autonomous region  - President Alberto João Jardim Independence    - Settled 1420   - Autonomy... District or region Setúbal Mayor   - Party Emília Sousa CDU Area 70. ... The second Admiral Sir William Parker was born on December 1, 1781, at Almington, Staffordshire, England. ...

Ships involved:

Loyalist fleet (Charles Napier)

Rainha de Portugal 46 (flag, commodore Wilkinson, captain MacDonough)
Donna Maria 42 (Peake)
Dom Pedro 50 (Thomas Goble)
Villa Flor 18 (Ruxton)
Portuense 20 (Blackstone)
Faro 6
a few steam tugs and transports

Miguelite fleet

Não Rainha 74 (Barradas) - Captured by Rainha de Portugal
Dom João 74 - Captured
Martino de Freitas 50 - Captured
Duchesa da Braganza 56 - Captured by Donna Maria
Isabel Maria 22 (corvette) - Captured
Principessa Reale 24 (corvette)
Tejo 20 (corvette)
Sybille 20 (corvette)
Audaz 18 (brig)
Activa (xebec)
several other brigs

Sources

Main source for this entry is Napier's own narrative of the battle in his An Account of the War in Portugal between Don Pedro and Don Miguel (London, 1836)