The English painter Samuel Scott (1702-1772) specialised in marine painting and views of London. A strong influence of the art of Willem van de Velde the Younger can be detected, particularly in his early work. This painting refers to Commodore (later Admiral) Charles Wager’s assault on a Spanish treasure fleet off Cartagena in modern-day Colombia on 28 May 1708. Wager’s vessel, the ‘Expedition’, 70 guns, is shown in the centre attacking the Spanish flagship, the ‘San José’, 60 guns. The force of the gunfire seems to blow the Spanish vessel apart in a cloud of smoke and flames, reflected on the water. The other two English ships to the right are the ‘Kingston’, 60 guns, and ‘Portland’, 54 guns. However, Wager was not well supported by his squadron whose captains were court martialled for not having performed their duty, and duly dismissed from their posts (Campbell and Berkenhout, ‘Lives of the British Admirals…’, vol.3 (London, 1785), p.210). Whilst Wager obtained enough from the supporting Spanish ships to make him rich, the ‘San José’ and the bulk of the fleet’s gold, silver and emeralds sank several hundred feet to the seabed, earning her the unofficial title of “holy grail of shipwrecks”. This picture may have been the original used for the design of Wager’s monument in the north transept of Westminster Abbey, completed 1747 by the Flemish-born sculptor Peter Scheemakers, who is recorded in a sale catalogue of 1756 as owning a picture by “Mr Scot (sic)” of very nearly identical size (the present item is in fact two inches wider) entitled “The Taking the Galeons by Sir Charles Wager”. Wager’s death (24 May 1743) and the monument’s unveiling have therefore served as earliest and latest respective dates for its production. Scott seems to have used a drawing by van de Velde as a model for this composition and the ships are probably also based on older models rather than eyewitness accounts of the event.
June 8, 1708 the count of Casa Alegre knew a squadron of English warships was lurking in the area, but he thought he could avoid it. As captain of the Spanish galleon San José, he was charged with leading the Tierra Firma fleet from the Caribbean back to Spain, 17 ships in all, loaded with several years’ worth of treasure from the New World, enough perhaps to turn the tide of war in Europe. Casa Alegre had no doubt the English would be after the precious cargo. If he could reach the harbor of Cartagena de Indias, on the coast of what is now Colombia, the fleet would be safe.
Then they appeared on the horizon to the north. Four English sails. To give the fleet’s merchant ships a chance to reach the harbor, Casa Alegre had no choice but to turn and fight. He hoisted the red battle flag up the mainmast and sailed toward the enemy, accompanied by two armed galleons.
As in a bar brawl, the two most fearsome combatants sought each other out. At sunset, the 70-gun HMS Expedition, helmed by Commodore Charles Wager, took on the 62-gun San José. For more than an hour, they traded broadsides, sailing past each other while firing their cannons at close range, pulverizing wood and bone.
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