Robert Jenkins (captain)

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Robert Jenkins (verifiably 1731-1745) was an English merchant captain .

English caricature from 1738 for the War of Jenkins' Ear. In the background Robert Jenkins loses his ear while an English warship loses out in a fight against a Spanish ship.

Life

When Jenkins was on the way home from the West Indies to England with the Brigg Rebecca , members of the Spanish Coast Guard under Juan de Léon Fandino boarded the ship on April 9, 1731 , ransacked the hold and cut off Jenkins' ear.

After arriving in England on June 11, 1731, Jenkins filed a complaint about the incident with King George II . A report from the British Commander in Chief in the West Indies confirmed Jenkins' account.

At first, the case did not cause any major stir. In March 1738, however, Jenkins repeated his report in great detail and dramatically before a committee of the British House of Commons , even showing Parliament an alcohol-soaked ear which he passed off as his.

As a result, the latent anti-Spanish sentiment in England continued to heat up, and Jenkins' report was further exaggerated by the English press and opposition. The war between England and Spain in 1739 that was ultimately triggered by the incident was known as the " War of Jenkins 'Ear " (translated as: Jenkins' ear war , but the use of the English term is common in German-language literature).

Jenkins was then given command of a ship of the British East India Company and later became governor of the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic.

In 1741 he was sent from England to St. Helena to investigate allegations of corruption against the governor there, and from May 1741 to March 1742 he administered the island.

Afterwards he was active again as a seafarer. It is reported that he was able to save his own ship and three other ships under his care while fighting a pirate ship.

literature

  • Jenkins, Robert . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 15 : Italy - Kyshtym . London 1911, p. 318 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
  • TH Brooke: History of the Island of St Helena . 2nd Edition. London 1824
  • HR Janisch: Extracts from the St Helena Records . 1885
personal data
SURNAME Jenkins, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English commercial captain
DATE OF BIRTH before 1731
DATE OF DEATH after 1745