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8/19/1702: Admiral Benbow's battle.
The very next morning at the engagement proved hot,
and brave Admiral Benbow received a chain-shot.
O when he was wounded, to his men he did say:
'Take me up in your arms, boys, and carry me away.'
C Tawney, Seamen Bold, "(The Death of) Admiral Benbow."
& Oxford Book of Sea Songs
The son of a tanner, Benbow rose to admiral & C-in-C of the West Indies
fleet. On 8/19/1702 his 7-ship fleet chased 4 French ships.
"The engagement is the most disgraceful episode in English naval history.
Benbow's captains were mutinous, and he was left unsupported in his
flagship the Breda. His right leg was shattered by a chain-shot, despite
which he remained on the quarter-deck till morning, when the flagrant
disobedience of the captains under him, and the disabled condition of his
ship, forced him reluctantly to abandon the chase." (EB)
At Jamaica, the
captains were court-martialed & shot, but Benbow died of his wounds
11/4/1702 (b3/10/1653).
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