Edward Vernon
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Admiral Edward Vernon was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He had a long and distinguished career, rising to the rank of admiral after 46 years service. As a vice admiral during the War of Jenkins
Admiral Edward "Old Grog" Vernon. Portrait of Edward Vernon by Thomas Gainsborough, 1753
The Battle of Malaga (1704) by Isaac Sailmaker
The Capture of Puerto Bello by Samuel Scott, 1740
The Ghost of Hosier appears to Vernon as he rests at anchor after his victory. Coloured etching by C. Mosley, July 1740. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (PW 3959)
The Battle of Cartagena de Indias took place during the 1739 to 1748 War of Jenkins' Ear between Spain and Great Britain. The result of long-standing commercial tensions, the war was primarily fought
Edward Vernon
…1739 he was responsible for the capture of Portobelo, Panama, seen as expunging the failure of Admiral Hosier there in a previous conflict. However, his amphibious operation against the Spanish port of Cartagena de Indias was a disastrous defeat. Vernon also served as a Member of Parliament (MP) on three occasions and was…
British attack on Cartagena de Indias by Luis Fernández Gordillo. Oil on canvas, Naval Museum of Madrid
Botanical study, captioned "The Manzanilla Tree taken at Bocca chica to show / the men that they might neither cut not sleep near it, a bow was / pin'd at the top of every Sergeant's tent, in order to make the soldiers / acquainted with and to avoid it... F.M: J.G: (?) March the 12th 1741" – a reference to Vernon's invasion fleet, before the battle. Manzanilla (Hippomane mancinella) fruit are poisonous when eaten, and the sap causes blistering.
Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of Great Britain, from the studio of Jean-Baptiste van Loo, 1740
Sebastián de Eslava, Viceroy of New Granada from an 18th-century painting