The amphibious assault, however, had proved a disaster, but as Admiral George Rooke retreated home in early October, he received news that the Spanish treasure fleet from America, laden with silver and merchandise, had entered Vigo Bay in northern Spain.

[6] The engagement was an overwhelming naval success for the Allies: the entire French escort fleet, under the command of Châteaurenault, together with the Spanish galleons and transports under Manuel de Velasco, had either been captured or destroyed.

Nevertheless, the victory was a welcome boost to Allied morale and helped persuade Peter II of Portugal to abandon his earlier treaty with France and join the Grand Alliance.

[7] The first French squadron sailed in April 1701 under the Marquis de Coëtlogon, but the Spanish governors would not even permit him to buy victuals, and he returned empty handed.

The American theatre became a scene long remembered in popular English tradition following Admiral Benbow's running battle in August off Santa Marta.

The Allies, therefore, resolved upon an expedition, led by Admiral George Rooke, to capture the southern Spanish port of Cádiz, and at a stroke cut off Spain's transatlantic trade.

[11] The fleet comprised 56 vessels: 22 were Spanish, the rest French, including a large number of merchantmen which, by the end of the voyage, had sailed for France as soon as their safety across the Atlantic had been assured.

[11] When Châteaurenault had set out for the Caribbean in 1701, war between France and the Maritime Powers had not yet been declared, but the convoy had since received news of the outbreak of hostilities and of Rooke's blockade of Cádiz, the usual destination of the silver fleet from America.

[12] By mid-October the English government had learnt of the Spanish presence in Vigo Bay, and immediately sent off messengers to scour the seas for Rooke and Admiral Cloudesley Shovell, the latter of whom had been cruising with his squadron off Ushant.

[13] By now Rooke was returning home from the disastrous campaign against Cádiz, which, due to ill-discipline and poor co-operation, had forced the admiral to abandon the enterprise at the end of September.

Fortuitously, however, Rooke had already learnt the news of the Spanish convoy from one of his own ships – Captain Thomas Hardy in the Pembroke who had stayed behind to water in the Portuguese port of Lagos.

Châteaurenault had taken charge of the defensive measures, and had blocked the narrow entrance, across the Rande Strait, with a boom made largely of timber and chain tightly bound together.

But the naval encounter would not be a conventional line-of-battle engagement: Vigo Bay allowed no room for the deployment of a battle line, so Rooke had to adapt his tactics to the exigencies of the situation.

Fortunately for Hopsonn the fireship, laden with snuff from the Spanish Indies, suddenly blew up, and a great cloud enveloped the English vessel, partly extinguishing the flames thus enabling the crew to control the blaze.

The news that the treasure fleet had got safely to Vigo was initially the cause of celebration for the merchants of Holland but the subsequent reports of the battle were received with mixed feelings in Amsterdam as the wealth captured or destroyed belonged as much to the English and Dutch traders as it did to the Spanish.

In February 1703, Philip V issued a decree, by way of reprisal, to confiscate all the silver that had come with the treasure fleet belonging to the English and Dutch, totalling four million pesos.

In total, Philip managed to keep nearly seven million pesos, representing over half the silver from the fleet, amounting to the biggest sum in history obtained from the American trade by any Spanish king.

On the accession of the Bourbon Philip V to the Spanish throne, King Peter II of Portugal, anxious to remain friends with his more powerful neighbour, had signed an alliance with France in June 1701.

"The preservation of our overseas colonies makes it indispensable for us to have a good intelligence with the powers which now possess the command of the sea," commented José da Cunha Brochado, the Portuguese minister in London, "the cost is heavy, but for us such an understanding is essential.

An English expedition in 1825 led by William Evans utilized a diving bell, and over the course of a year managed to recover small amounts of silver, cannonballs, and other items.

Decades later, Cavalier Pino, using his invention the hydroscope, scanned the location and mapped out several ships, and with a series of careful experiments managed to recover several cannons and preserved wood.

[28] On 10 August 1990 after being surveyed by sonar side scan on behalf of 5º Centenario (Spanish Government 500th anniversary of America's discovery) remains of the wreckage Santo Cristo de Maracaibo were found off the Cíes Islands by R.O.V submarine at 79 metres depth.

The book's protagonist, Captain Nemo, draws his wealth and the funding for his submarine Nautilus from the cargoes of the ships sunk by the Grand Alliance fleet during the battle, which are depicted as never having offloaded their treasure and as being easily accessible to divers.