The other day, when I wanted to talk about how we acquired Gibraltar, I realized that the captain of the English fleet, who missed the battle in the Mediterranean, decided to capture Gibraltar on the way back home, as he did not want Queen Anne to be disappointed.
Anywhere I explored Wikipedia, my understanding of the events was almost correct, but one thing that really stood out for me was that Captain George Rook was from what is Canterbury today, in an area called St. Lawrence .
I was actually born in the area of St. Stephens in Canterbury, but the last 26 years I spent with the Spaniards from the inside around Alicante, but I think it would make another article or two.
In the end, to the main character of this article, our own captain Rook, who was born in 1672 and after many successes in the Dutch wars, was appointed to the rear admiral in 1650. He was later posthumously awarded a knight after the destruction of 12 ships of the French enemy fleet. He was always admiral in 1696, and only a year later began a peace period that lasted only three years, and Rook continued to serve in the English Channel and the Mediterranean.
The great naval battles resumed again in 1700, when Captain Rook led the Anglo-Dutch squadron in the attack in Copenhagen, and after England declared war on France on May 15, 1702, Rook was again at the beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession,
In any case, the story of how Gibraltar was captured begins with Ruke commanding the unsuccessful Allied attack on Cadiz in 1702, and then in his driveway he destroyed the Spanish treasure fleet in the battle of Vigo Bay. This event was rewarded with gratitude from Parliament, and he allegedly commanded the Allied naval forces for the temporary capture of Gibraltar in July 1704.
Rooke later retired from service in February 1705 due to poor health and returned as a prodigal son to his estate in St. Lawrence, Canterbury, where he finally died in 1709. Only 9 years ago, in 2004, Captain Ruka made a statement in his memory in Gibraltar, and the Gibraltarians celebrated the 300th anniversary of the capture of the Rock.
Today, Gibraltar has become a political pawn for the Spanish government, and there always seems to be a sporadic problem here that helps fill the news time on the Internet, instead of seeing how politically corrupt successful Spanish governments are. I really was in Gibraltar a couple of times myself and stayed with my family in the Spanish border town of La Linea de la Concepción. The locals praised the residents of Cyprus for what they did to help the starving Spaniards during Franco’s reign, although they never received any mention of their bravery in the news.
Just a lighter tone to complete this article, and on one trip I made to see our family, I forgot my passport. At the border point, Guardia Civil reached me, only with the permission of the residents, which spoke of my citizenship as British. Unfortunately, the border police of Gibraltar returned me, which at least gave a smile to Guardia Civil.
About Captain George Hand: Wikipedia
