Oglethorpe's dream: A Colony of Georgia quest

Vote is closed....we will free them all update coming soon. As war with Spain is coming soon I'm doing a roll to see if the war will start early.....we are at war.

The seeds of conflict began with the separation of an ear from Jenkins following the boarding of his vessel by Spanish coast guards in 1731, Seven years before the war began. Popular response to the incident was tepid until several years later when opposition politicians and the British South sea company hoped to spur outrage against Spain, believing that a victorious war would improve Britain's trading opportunities in the Caribbean.

Also ostensibly providing the impetus to war against the Spanish Empire was a desire to pressure the Spanish not to renege on the lucrative asiento contract, which gave British slavers permission to sell slaves in the Spanish Colonies.

But how Georgia got into the situation it is now you need to know the background.

At the closing of the War Of Spanish Succession in 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht gave Britain a thirty year contract right to supply an unlimited number of slaves to the Spanish colonies. This provided British merchants an opening to smuggle goods into the closed markets of The Spanish Viceroyaltys of New Spain, Peru and New Granada.

But Britain and Spain were often at war during this period, fighting one another in the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–20), the Blockade of Porto Bello (1726) and the Anglo-Spanish War (1727–1729).

The Treaty of Seville Britian gave Spanish ships the right to stop and search British ships. That were shipping slaves to the Viceroyaltys to make shure the contract was being obeyed and respected.

Over time, the Spanish became suspicious British traders were abusing the contract and began to board ships and confiscate their cargoes. After very strained relations between 1727 and 1732, the situation improved between 1732 and 1737, Sir Robert Walpole supported Spain in the War of Polish succession.

But the cause of the problems remained and as opposition to Walpole grew so did Anti-Spanish sentiment. Eventually Walpole gave in and sent warships to the British West Indies. This invoked an immediate reaction from Spain who demanded financial compensation, and in turn the British demanded annulment of the "Visitation Right" which allowed the Spanish to board British vessels to check for smuggled cargo which was agreed to in the Treaty of Seville.

In response King Phillip V of Spain annulled the Contract rights in all Spanish Harbors and had all British ships confiscated.

While the attempted Convention of Pardo broke down early in talks. Britain decided it did not want to wait for another shot at war and withdrew its ambassador and declared war on December,7,1738.
(P.O.D in our timeline the convention didn't brake down)

Georgia's Governor while praying with all his heart for peace he was no fool James Oglethorpe knew that Georgia needed to prepare. Georgia decided on overall strategy to stay on the....

[] stay on the defensive-we must stay on the defensive we do not have the strength to go on the offensive

[] go on the offensive- we must go on the offensive if we want to keep an advantage

[] keep an open plan-we must keep an open mind be both offensive and defensive

Also members of the board of Trustees informed Oglethorpe that if they wanted to they could secure some ships for the Colony to purchase creating the Georgian Naval Militia but Georgia decided to....

[] purchase the ships-this will help in the war against Spain

[] no its to expensive-this money could be used elsewhere

Also Georgia was conscripting there men into the militia and the British were sending a division to help Georgia. But on the bright side Georgia had the entire British empire on there side.

voting closed..... we will buy the ships and keep and open mind in military terms

First attack on La Guaira

After arriving at Antigua in early February Vice Admiral Edward Vernon sent three ships under the command of Captain Thomas Waterhouse to intercept Spanish merchant ships that made the route between La Guaira and PortoBelo. Waterhouse spotted several small vessels in the port of La Guaira and decided to attack, implementing a rudimentary plan. The governor of the Province of Venezuela Brigadier Don Gabriel de Zuloaga had prepared the port defenses, and Spanish troops were well-commanded by Captain Don Francisco Saucedo. On 22 October, Waterhouse entered the port of La Guaira flying the Spanish flag. Expecting attack, the port gunners were not deceived by his ruse; they waited until the British squadron was within range and then simultaneously opened fire. After three hours of heavy shelling, Waterhouse ordered a withdrawal. The battered British squadron sailed to Jamaica to undertake emergency repairs. Trying later to explain his actions, Waterhouse argued that the capture of a few small Spanish vessels would not have justified the loss of his men.


Battle of Portobelo

One of the first major actions of the war was the British attempt to capture Portobelo on the 22nd of February. A silver-exporting town on the coast of Panama ; the move was intended to damage Spain's finances and weaken its naval capabilities. But a Spanish agent got word of the planned attack and subsequently reinforced the town defeating and repelling the six ships of the line sent by the British. Also while the attack was repelled this did change Spain's trading practices as they knew that there numerically inferior navy could not be everywhere so Rather than trading at centralized ports with a few large treasure fleets, they began using a larger number of smaller convoys trading at a wide variety of ports. They also began to travel around Cape Horn to trade on the west coast.


Thus concludes the first year of the war which was a while not disaster certainly not a draw or a victory. For Britain with the Spanish winning all the Battles this year. After Portobelo both Britain and Spain spent the rest of the year planning and sending reinforcements while France contemplates intervention.