In 1731, Spanish coast guards boarded and searched the ship, Rebecca. In the process, they allegedly cut off the ear of British Captain Robert Jenkins. This led to the War of Jenkins’ Ear, a conflict between Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1742.
Eight years before the war, the Spanish coast guard suspected that the Rebecca was smuggling goods during its voyage from Jamaica to London, so they searched the ship. After they didn’t find any contraband, they allegedly used violence to force a confession out of the captain.
According to the story, one officer grabbed Robert Jenkins’ left ear and slit it with a cutlass. Then, another officer tore off Jenkins’ ear and handed it back to him. The Spanish officer threatened to do the same to King George if he dared to engage in illegal activity.
It wasn’t until 1738 that the story of Jenkins’ ear became well-known. During that time, the Spanish king was demanding back payments from British merchants for the right to sell enslaved people to Spanish colonies in the Americas.
But the British complained that Spanish naval forces were preventing legitimate British trade from occurring in the Americas and insisted upon the right to free trade.
What happened to Jenkins was viewed as an example of cruelty from the Spanish and an insult to Britain’s honor. In March 1738, Jenkins appeared before Parliament to talk about the incident with his ear. Legend has it that he kept the severed ear in a jar and presented it to officials.
Britain used the incident to start a war against Spain. On October 23, 1739, England declared war against Spain. The British were led by Admiral Edward Vernon.
In November 1739, he and his men attacked the Spanish fort at the silver-exporting town of Porto Bello on the coast of what is now Panama and won the battle.
The destruction of Porto Bello forced the Spanish to change their trading practices. They started using more smaller ships and trading at a wide variety of ports instead of using a few large ships to trade at just central ports.
Over the next few years, the British continued launching attacks on Spanish colonies in the Americas. Eventually, they were weakened by disease, poor strategy, and internal conflicts.
The British tried to attack Cuba in 1741, as well as Venezuela in 1743, but they had to retreat both times. By then, a majority of British forces had died in combat or from illness. Thousands of soldiers were lost on both sides, with no territory exchanging hands.
In 1743, the War of Jenkins’ Ear had merged into the larger War of the Austrian Succession, which was a dispute over the succession to the Austrian throne.
Somehow, it grew to involve the main European nations. In the middle of all the madness, Captain Jenkins and his severed ear were overshadowed and eventually forgotten.
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By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
