Raid on Nassau

Raid on Nassau
Part of The War of the Spanish Succession
Island of New Providence, home to Nassau, in the Gulf of Providence, in the islands of the Bahamas [See further map below for context.]
Date October 1703 Location New Providence, Bahamas Result Franco-Spanish victory, Nassau is briefly occupied, then destroyed.
Belligerents
Spain  France	England
Commanders and leaders
Blas Moreno de Mondragón Claude Le Chesnaye	Gov. Ellis Lightwood  (POW)
Strength
2 frigates 300~400 men	300 men
Casualties and losses
few[clarification needed]	100 civilians killed 100 prisoners 22 guns

The Raid on Nassau, on the Bahamian island of New Providence, was a privately raised Franco-Spanish expedition against the English taking place in October 1703, during the War of the Spanish Succession; it was a Franco-Spanish victory, leading to Nassau's brief occupation, then its destruction.^[1][2] The joint Bourbon invasion was led by Blas Moreno Mondragón and Clause Le Chesnaye, with the attack focusing on Nassau, the capital of the English Bahamas, an important base of privateering for English corsairs in the Cuban and Saint Domingue's Caribbean seas.^{[not verified in body]} The town of Nassau was quickly taken^[3] and sacked, plundered and burnt down.^[2][3][4] The fort of Nassau was dismantled, and the English governor, with all the English soldiers were carried off prisoners.^[1] A year later, Sir Edward Birch, the new English governor, upon landing in Nassau, was so distraught at the ruin he found, that he returned to England after only a few months, without "unfurling his company-issued commission".^[2][5]