Blas de Lezo
Blas de Lezo y Olavarrieta (Pasajes, Guipúzcoa, February 3, 1689 - Cartagena de Indias, New Granada, September 7, 1741) was a Spanish admiral —known for the singular stamp that they gave him his numerous war wounds (one blind eye, a pinned arm, and a torn off leg). He is considered one of the best strategists in the history of the Spanish Armada, and is known for directing, together with Viceroy Sebastián de Eslava, the successful defense of Cartagena de Indias during the British siege of 1741. As a posthumous tribute, his descendants the marquisate of Ovieco, a noble title that still exists today.
Origins and early career as a sailor
Blas de Lezo y Olavarrieta was born in the district of Pasajes de San Pedro (Guipúzcoa) —at that time still part of San Sebastián— at the beginning of February 1689 and was baptized in the church of San Pedro in the same town on the day six following. Son of Pedro de Lezo and Agustina Olavarrieta, he belonged to a family with illustrious sailors among his ancestors, in a town dedicated, practically exclusively, to the sea. He was the third child of the couple, who had eight, of whom not all survived infancy. His parents belonged to the small, well-to-do local nobility, and Lezo had some important ancestors: his great-great-grandfather had been alderman of the town at the beginning of the century, another had been bishop of Peru the previous century, and his grandfather had been a captain and owner of a galleon. The ancestry practically deprived him of inheriting property, so he opted to undertake a military career, as a sailor.
He was educated at the College of France, an educational institution for children of the lower nobility of the area where he received basic instruction. At that time the French army was an ally of Spain in the War of Succession, which had just ended begin when Charles II died without issue. Given that Louis XIV wanted the greatest possible exchange of officers between the armies and squadrons of Spain and France, Lezo embarked, at the age of twelve, in 1702, in the French squadron —which, in practice, he had absorbed the Spanish, in a calamitous state, enlisting as a midshipman in the service of the count of Toulouse, Luis Alejandro de Borbón, son of Louis XIV.
War of Succession
The war pitted Philip of Anjou, supported by France and appointed heir by the late Spanish king, with Archduke Charles of Austria, supported by England, since the latter feared the power that the Bourbons would achieve on the continent in the event of of uniting the two crowns, Spanish and French. To recover Gibraltar - taken by Anglo-Dutch forces - and unblock access to the Mediterranean, the French and Spanish prepared a large army. The French squadron had left Toulon and Malaga Some Spanish galleys commanded by the Count of Fuencalada had joined it. In front of Vélez-Málaga, the most important naval battle of the conflict took place on August 24, 1704. In said combat, 96 Franco warships faced each other. -Spanish (51 ships of the line, six frigates, eight fireships and twelve galleys, for a total of 3,577 guns and 24,277 men) and the Anglo-Dutch fleet, commanded by Admiral Rooke and made up of 53 ships of the line, six frigates, pataches and fireships with a total of 3,614 guns and 22,543 men, resulting in 1,500 and 2,719 casualties at the end of the war, respectively.
Blas de Lezo participated in that battle fighting in an exemplary manner, until, shortly after the start of the fight, a cannonball destroyed his left leg, having to amputate it, without anesthesia, below the knee. Due to the courage shown both at that moment and in the combat itself, he was promoted in 1704 to lieutenant of a high-board vessel by Louis XIV, who had been notified by the French commander of Lezo's bravery. Felipe V also granted him a grace of habit, which entailed a series of privileges similar to those of the lower aristocracy.
He was offered to be a chambermaid in the Court of Felipe V. He rejected this position and, once he had recovered from the loss of his leg, he continued his service on board different ships, taking part in the operations that took place to rescue the plazas of Peñíscola and Palermo; in the attack on the seventy-gun English ship Resolution on the Genoese coast, which ended with its burning; as well as in the subsequent capture of two enemy ships in the western Mediterranean, which were taken to Pasajes and Bayonne, all in 1705. The command of the dams was awarded as a prize to officers who had distinguished themselves in service, as Lezo must have done in the combats of that year.
But he was immediately required by his superiors and in 1706 he was ordered to supply the besiegers of Barcelona under the command of a small flotilla, part of the fleet commanded by a French admiral for this purpose. He carried out his mission brilliantly, escaping a and again from the enemy ships and facilitating the provisioning of the army of Marshal de Tessé. To do this, it leaves floating and burning wet straw in order to create a dense cloud of smoke that would hide the Spanish ships, but also loads "its cannons with thin-framed shells with incendiary material inside, which, when fired, set British ships on fire." The British are powerless against this tactic.
Later, he was assigned to the fortress of Santa Catalina de Toulon, where he participated in the defense of the French naval base from the attack of the fleet of Prince Eugene of Savoy. In this action and after the impact of a cannon shot in the fortification, a splinter burst his left eye.
After a brief convalescence, he was posted to the port of Rochefort, on the French Atlantic coast, where he was promoted to lieutenant of the Coast Guard in 1707. Three years later he was promoted again to frigate captain. documentation that supports this assertion, that during his posting in Rochefort he harassed British maritime traffic, capturing some ships. It is assumed that the combat with the Stanhope commanded by John Combs took place around this time. A mutual cannonade was maintained until Lezo's maneuvers left the enemy ship within boarding distance, at which time he ordered the launch of the grappling hooks to carry it out.
In 1712, with the French and Spanish Armies separated again, he began to serve under Andrés de Pes. Although it is unknown in what actions he participated, it is known that he did so with distinction due to favorable reports from Pes, who they allowed Lezo to be promoted to sea captain a few months after leaving his service.
Later, he participated in the siege of Barcelona under the command of the Campanella, a ship with seventy guns of Genoese origin, with which he hindered the supply of the city and bombarded it. During the blockade and very Probably in one of the various naval operations that took place during that period, he received a bullet in the right forearm, which left him without mobility until the end of his days. Thus, at only twenty-six years old, the young Blas de Lezo he was already one-eyed, one-armed and lame. A few days later, he participated under the command of the Nuestra Señora de Begoña in the failed escort of the second wife of Philip V, Isabel de Farnesio, to Spain; the queen, after a few hours at sea, decided to abandon the fleet and travel by land.
Then Lezo's ship formed part of the fleet sent to conquer Majorca, still loyal to the Austrian claimant to the throne, who surrendered without resistance when the fleet with twenty-five thousand soldiers arrived in Alcudia on June 15, 1715.
Caribbean and Pacific
After the War of Succession, he was entrusted with the ship Peibo del Primer Lanfranco, a ship in a dire state. A year later, in 1716, he left for Havana with the Fleet of Galleons, with the usual mission of escorting merchant ships traveling to America and the special one of cleaning the waters of the region from privateering ships, which had been carried out by some dams the previous year. the command of a new Lanfranco, with sixty-two guns and also Genoese, like its namesake, also known as León Franco and Nuestra Señora del Pilar.
With this new ship, he joined a Spanish-French squadron under the command of Jean Nicolas Martinet —French in the service of the Spanish Crown— and Bartolomé de Urdizu —Martinet's deputy and captain of the only royal ship that joined those who contributed by the French corsairs—, who left in December 1716 for America with the task of clearing the so-called South Seas of corsairs and pirates, or what is the same, the coasts of Peru. The squadron was made up of a Spanish part by four warships and a frigate and, on the French side, by two ships of the line. After various delays, the bulk of the fleet reached El Callao on September 27, 1717. Urdizu and Lezo, however, had problems rounding Cape Horn and were delayed; They finally reached El Callao in January 1720, when the Peruvian authorities had already returned the French to Europe due to tensions between the two parties.
The first operations of the Spanish sailors in charge of reforming the viceregal fleet were against the two ships, the Success (70) and the Speed Well (70) of the English privateer John Clipperton, who managed to avoid the viceregal fleet for some time, but finally had to leave the area. The fleet then began to carry out surveillance and patrol tasks in the region, which ended up undermining Urbizu's health. Most of the patrol work, given his poor health, fell to Lezo.
When Urbizu was exhausted, he was replaced on February 16, 1723 by Lezo, with the title of General of His Catholic Majesty's Navy and chief of the South Sea Squadron, which was then small in size. In addition to Lanfranco de Lezo, was made up of the ships Conquistador and Triunfador and the frigate Peregrina.
In May 1725, he married a high-society Lima native, Josefa Pacheco de Bustos y Solís, twenty years his junior; The wedding was presided over by the Archbishop of Lima, Fray Diego Morcillo y Rubio de Auñón, who until the previous year had been Viceroy of Peru and had established good relations with Lezo.
To reinforce the fleet he commanded, he had the ships of the line he had repaired, he scrapped and sold the Peregrina, expensive to recover and poorly adapted to the waters of the region, and he had two more built ships. At the beginning of 1725 he sailed to combat privateering and smuggling according to the edicts promulgated the previous year by the new viceroy. After a few weeks of patrol, Lezo came across a Dutch squadron of five ships, which outnumbered his in artillery. During the battle, after a determined fight, he managed to knock down the mainmast of the captain and seize her, and put the rest of the ships to flight. Later, he attacked and seized an English fleet of six ships of war, of which three remained for the viceregal squad.
These successes and the growth of the fleet deterred the enemies and, paradoxically, led to a confrontation between the viceroy, the Marquis of Castelfuerte, who wanted to reduce the fleet to save expenses once the situation seemed under control, and Lezo, who was opposed to it. The relationship between them had also worsened due to the nepotistic appointment of the viceroy's nephew to the position of treasurer of revenue from maritime trade, which contravened the provisions and of which Lezo complained. viceroy, who tried to discredit him through an inspection —residence trial— of his work that found no fault in the performance of the sailor, disgusted by the dismantling of the fleet —the viceroy preferred to arm privateers than invest in reinforcing the fleet— and with ill health due to the long stay in the region and the unhealthy voyages, in September 1727 he wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, José Patiño to complain and request his retirement. Patiño accepted that he leave the command of the Peruvian squadron and called him to Spain, but he did not allow him to leave the Navy, aware of his worth. On February 13, 1728, he relieved him as head of the viceregal fleet and ordered him to return to the Iberian Peninsula, but Lezo, ill, could not do so until the year following; On August 18, 1730, he arrived with his family in Cádiz. After getting rid of an epidemic of black vomit that afflicted the city thanks to having been immunized in America, he went to Seville to visit the king, who was already showing signs of imbalance. mental; the actual hearing took place in late September or early October.
Marriage and offspring
On May 5, 1725, he had married the Creole lady Josefa Pacheco de Bustos in Lima, a native of Locumba (present-day Tacna), and daughter of the also Creoles José Carlos Pacheco y Benavides, and María Nicolasa de Bustos y Palacios. The couple had seven children: Blas Fernando, born in Lima and first Marquis of Ovieco (1726); Josefa Atanasia, also born in Lima (1728); Cayetano Tomas; Pedro Antonio; Augustine Antonia; Eduvigis Antonia, who professed as her older sister as an Augustinian Recollect; and Ignacia, who married the Marquis of Tabalosos. The five youngest children were born in the Iberian Peninsula and, of them, the two youngest sisters, in El Puerto de Santa María.
In the Mediterranean
Head of the Mediterranean Squadron
He was inactive in Cádiz for a year, until on November 3, 1731 he was appointed head of the Mediterranean naval squadron. This had three ships of the line, among them the Royal Family, with sixty guns and admiral of Lezo. The squadron played a fundamental role in the political ambitions of the king, who wanted to recover the territories lost in the Italian peninsula in the peace treaties of the war of succession. In recognition of his services to the king, in 1731 he granted the purple flag with the coat of arms of Felipe V, the Order of the Holy Spirit —highest French decoration— and the Order of the Golden Fleece —highest Spanish decoration— around and four anchors at its ends.
First missions in Italy
His first mission was to participate in December of that year in the escort of the Infante Carlos, who went to Italy to seize the duchies of Parma, Tuscany and Plasencia. Lezo commanded a squadron of twenty-five ships, part of a fleet largest in which the English participated.
When the Genoese were delayed in returning the two million pesos belonging to the Spanish Treasury that were deposited in the Bank of San Jorge, Patiño ordered Lezo to leave for the capital of the republic to claim them. Lezo anchored in that port with six ships and demanded an unprecedented tribute to the royal flag of Spain and the immediate return of the money. His six ships pointed their cannons at the Doria Palace, as a threat to the city's Senate. Showing the watch of the guards to the City commissioners, who were looking for a way to avoid the question of payment, set a deadline, after which the squadron would open fire on the city. Of the two million pesos received, half a million were delivered to the Infante Don Carlos and the rest was sent to Alicante to cover the expenses of the expedition that was getting ready to conquer Oran.
Expedition to Oran
In June 1732, he returned from Cádiz to Alicante to join this expedition. The objective of this expedition was to recover the square, which had been in Spanish hands from 1509 to 1709, when it had been lost during the war of succession. Retaking it was a matter of prestige for the Crown and a way of demonstrating the renewed Spanish military and naval power with the new dynasty. Lezo was left as lieutenant of the expedition's fleet captain, Francisco Cornejo, while José Carrillo de Albornoz, Count of Montemar, commanded the ground troops. Lezo participated in the operation aboard the Santiago, part of the fleet of twelve warships, two frigates, two bombards, seven galleys, eighteen galliots, twelve various ships and more than five hundred transports that made up the squadron of the expedition.
The siege of Oran began on June 29, with the landing of the twenty-six thousand men from Montemar. After several clashes, they seized the square on July 1. The last resistance, which had cost more, was put down. After the conquest of the city, the expedition returned to Spain on August 1, leaving behind a garrison. On September 2, Lezo was back in Cádiz.
When the expedition marched believing its goal accomplished, Bey Hassan, lord of Oran until the Spanish reconquest, managed to gather troops, ally with the bey of Algiers, and besiege it. He bombarded the castle of Mazalquivir and crushed a sortie of the defenders, in which more than fifteen hundred soldiers perished and the Spanish governor, Álvaro Navia Osorio y Vigil, also died. This aristocrat was the author of Military Reflections, Frederick the Great's bedside book. Given the desperate situation of the square, on November 13 Lezo was ordered to help her. He immediately left with the ships that were ready to make the crossing: two ships of the line, five minors, and twenty-five transports, which carried five thousand reinforcement soldiers to the garrison. After two days of sailing, he reached Oran, disrupted the harassment of the nine Algerian galleys, which withdrew when the Spanish squadron arrived and supplied the garrison.
Determined to put an end to the threat posed by the Algerian fleet, he decided to pursue it. In February 1733 he finally managed to locate the sixty-gun captain, who took refuge in the bay of Mostagán, defended by two fortified castles. He frightened Lezo, who entered the bay after the Algerian ship, ignoring the fire of the forts, managed to put to flight a galleass that came up unexpectedly to help the galley, boarded it, set it on fire, and then destroyed the castles. He then returned first to Oran and then Barcelona, where he collected four infantry regiments that he transferred to Africa. He then resumed patrolling the area, between Tetouan and Tunis for two months, until an epidemic that broke out in the squadron forced him to return to the city of Cádiz.
Last period in Cádiz
Until 1737, he maintained a continuous dispute with the viceroy of Peru over the salary owed to him, which until then he refused to pay, citing lack of funds. his wife's fortune as well as the income he obtained from various businesses, including the trade in silver, gold and slaves, which he had carried out through a representative during his stay in Peru. Part of the profits he invested in profitable promissory notes and debt; despite his continued fighting with the English, he maintained an account in a London bank.
On June 6, 1734, he was promoted to lieutenant general of the Navy and was appointed commander-in-chief of the Department of Cádiz. After a visit to Madrid two years later, in 1736, he was transferred to El Puerto de Santa María as general commander of the galleons, responsible for the security of transatlantic trade. He set out to prepare the squadron that escorted the last Armada of the Galleons of the Indies race, that of 1737. The preparations were delayed so much due to the various difficulties —preparing the warships, recruiting the crews, ensuring the haulage, etc.—, which Lezo aroused the displeasure of Patiño, who told him to speed them up. When the fleet was finally ready in November 1736, had to wait for the merchant ships to load the goods and could not leave until February 3, 1737. The convoy, made up of eight merchant ships, two registry ships and the two escort ships from Lezo, made the crossing without setbacks and arrived in Cartagena de Indias. The Lezo family —at that time, made up of his wife and six children, since one had died— remained in El Puerto de Santa María and did not accompany the sailor to his new destination in America.
Back to America: Cartagena de Indias
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He returned to America, to the New Kingdom of Granada, with the ships Fuerte and Conquistador in 1737 as commanding general of Cartagena de Indias, a place that he had to defend from a site (1741) to which the attack of the English admiral Edward Vernon had subjected it. In the first years in Cartagena, Lezo was in charge of coast guard work, which had to disrupt the growing smuggling, which ended up precipitating the new war with the United Kingdom With this same objective, together with the governor of Cartagena, he created a company of privateering shipowners. British smuggling had grown by taking advantage of the commercial concessions that the United Kingdom had obtained in the Treaty of Utrecht: to legal trade —five hundred tons expanded to a thousand in 1716—, were soon joined by smugglers, who threatened Spanish trade and tried not to pay royalties (taxes) to the Crown. Despite the British government's reluctance to confront Spain and thus encourage its rapprochement with France, the complaints of merchants affected by the activities of the coast guard and the weakening of Robert Walpole's cabinet ended up increasing the tension between the two countries and finally led to war.
The British justification for starting a conflict with Spain —the so-called War of the Asiento— was, among many other incidents, the seizure of a merchant ship commanded by Robert Jenkins off the coast of Florida in 1731. Juan de León Fandiño seized the ship and allegedly cut off the captain's ear while telling him: "Here is your ear: take it and take it to the King of England, so that he knows that it is not smuggled here." Overseas trade with Spanish America suffered the effects of intense smuggling at the hands of the Dutch and, fundamentally, the British.
Rejected at La Guaira on October 22, 1739, which he had intended to seize without encountering resistance, Vernon conquered Portobelo (Panama) in November, and challenged Lezo by letter in these terms:
Portobelo, November 27, 1739.Sir: This is delivered to V. E. by Don Francisco de Abarca and in some way V. E. may miss that its date is from Portovelo. In bearer justice, it is necessary to assure V.E. that the defense that was made here was by the Commander and under his command, not looking in the other spirits to make any defense. I hope that in the way that I have treated all, V.E. will be convinced that generosity to enemies is a virtue native to an English, which seems more evident on this occasion, for having practiced with the Spanish, with whom the English nation has a natural inclination, to live well that happens is the mutual interest of both Nations. Having shown on this occasion so many favors, and urbanities, in addition to the capitulate, I have complete confidence of the kindness of V.E. (although it depends on another) the Factors of the Company of the South Sea in Cartagena, will be immediately referred to the Jamaica, to which V. E. well knows they have indubitable right for treaties, even six months after the declaration of the war.
Captain Pelanco must thank God that he had fallen for capitulation in our hands, because, rather, his vile, and unworthy treatment of the English had had a corresponding punishment from another.[... ]
The Spanish sailor replied:
Cartagena, 27 December 1739.Exmo. Sister. - Very My lord: I received the one from V. E. of 27 November that handed me Don Francisco de Abarca and above all that led the Valandra that brought to Don Juan de Armendáriz. And in the intelligence of the contents of both I will say, that well instructed V. E. for the factors of Portovelo (as I do not ignore it) of the state in which the Plaza was located, took the resolution to go to attack with his esquadra, taking advantage of the timely occasion of his impossibility (to defend himself), to get his ends, those that if he could penetrate, and to believe that the reprisals and hostilities that V.
The way V.E. says he has treated his Enemies, is very characteristic of the generosity of V.E. but rarely experienced in the general of the nation, and without doubt the one that V.E. has practiced now, would be imitating the one that I have executed with the vassals of S.M. B. in the time that I find myself on these shores (and before now,) and because V.. ]
Then, and according to the plan drawn up, which the Spanish knew from the reports of a spy working in Jamaica, Vernon headed against Cartagena in March 1741. Before that, he had carried out two exploratory attacks, with few forces, in March and May 1740, which Lezo rejected.
The British fleet totaled two thousand guns arranged in almost one hundred and eighty ships, including ships with three decks (eight), ships of the line (twenty-eight), frigates (twelve), bombards (two) and transport ships (one hundred and thirty), and around thirty thousand combatants between sailors (fifteen thousand), soldiers (nine thousand regulars and four thousand from the North American militias) and black machete slaves from Jamaica (four thousand). Cartagena's defenses included three thousand men among troops regular (some thousand seven hundred and eighty), militiamen (five hundred), six hundred Indian arrow fighters brought from the interior, plus the large sailors and landing troops from the six warships available to the city (one hundred and fifty men): the Galicia, which was the flagship, the San Felipe, the San Carlos, the África, the Dragón and the Conquistador. After taking some of the city's defenses, the British assault on the San Felipe de Barajas castle, the last important bastion defending it, failed on April 20; With a large part of the troops sick, heavy casualties suffered in the fighting, and the arrival of the rainy season, the British decided to destroy the defenses within their reach and abandon the siege.
British losses were heavy: some 4,500 dead, six ships lost, and between seventeen and twenty badly damaged. The latter forced the British government to concentrate its forces on defending the metropolis, the North Atlantic, and the Mediterranean, and to scrap new campaigns in the Spanish colonies in the Americas. The defeat at Cartagena derailed British plans for the campaign and allowed Spanish rule in the region to continue for several more decades. they had rushed to mint coins and medals to celebrate it. These medals read on their obverse: "British heroes took Cartagena on April 1, 1741" and "Spanish pride humiliated by Vernon".
Death and posthumous punishment
On April 4, the day the British began the systematic bombardment of the castle of San Luis de Bocachica, one of the castles that protected the city, a cannonball had hit the table of Galicia around which the Spanish commanders were gathered in a meeting of war. The splinters from the table injured Lezo in the thigh and one hand; the infection of these wounds ended up causing his death. The bad The relationship between Lezo and Viceroy Sebastián de Eslava, head of the plaza and responsible for its defense, worsened once the British siege was lifted. The former had constantly advocated adopting more offensive measures and harassing the enemy, while Lezo the second had maintained a more prudent and defensive attitude, which for the sailor seemed inactivity and laziness in defense.
Lezo, increasingly ill, barely left his residence on May 20 and had a war by letter with the viceroy, trying to defend his actions during the siege, for which the viceroy even requested and obtained the punishment of the king for the sailor. Lezo tried to have his career recognized by obtaining a noble title, a request for which he obtained the support of José Patiño and part of his companions in arms of the Navy, but that the king, who he had received unfavorable reports from the viceroy and from other opponents of Lezo, he rejected. Blas de Lezo died in Cartagena de Indias of "some fevers, which in a few days he was declared a tabardillo" at eight in the morning on September 7. He was the only one of the main protagonists of the siege of Cartagena who did not receive any reward for his actions. His dismissal as head of the post and the order for him to return to the Iberian Peninsula to be reprimanded was approved on October 21. King Carlos III rewarded Lezo's son for his father's actions, naming him Marquis of Ovieco in 1760. He was buried, according to a letter written by his son, in the convent of Santo Domingo in Cartagena de Indias.
The Port of Santa María and Blas de Lezo
The Lezo family stayed in El Puerto de Santa María on several dates. The admiral had already been in 1719-20 and in 1730 in Cádiz. From there he left, already living in El Puerto de Santa María, on February 3, 1737 towards Cartagena directing what would be the last race to the Indies and where he would find, as has already been reflected, his fatal destiny.
After the investigations carried out in the registers of the time of the Mayor Priory church in Porto, it has been verified that Blas de Lezo, his wife, their children and an Afro-American servant named Antonio Lezo, lived since 1736 in a house on the street Larga, to be more exact at Larga, 70, now converted into rental apartments. After her death, her widow — known locally as "La Gobernadora" — and her children remained there until her death on March 31, 1743.
Josefa Pacheco was buried in the convent of Santo Domingo, located on the street of the same name. As of this date, the descendants of Blas de Lezo disappear from the Porto registers.
During his residence in the city, the Municipal Council, being aware of the prestige of the admiral, made different concessions to his family, among which he highlighted a water intake for the house.
Until a few years ago, the citizens of Porto continued to call the mansion the house of "La Gobernadora".
Her memory today
The Royal Spanish Navy honors the memory of Blas de Lezo with the highest honor that can be given to a Spanish sailor: it is an inveterate custom that one of its ships bear his name. The last one thus named is an Álvaro de Bazán class frigate: the Blas de Lezo (F-103). Previously, this name was carried by an Elcano-class gunboat, called General Lezo, which was in the Philippines in 1898, although it did not participate in the combats as its boilers were disassembled, the cruiser Blas de Lezo, which was lost in 1932 when touching a shoal off the coast of Finisterre and a destroyer from US aid, the Blas de Lezo (D-65). The Colombian Navy also had a ship named after the admiral, the ARC Blas de Lezo (BT-62), a Mettawee-class tanker, acquired from the United States Navy on November 26, 1947 and decommissioned in January. from 1965.
On March 12, 2014, the first monument dedicated to Blas de Lezo in Spain was inaugurated on Paseo de Canalejas in the city of Cádiz. The event was attended by the Colombian ambassador to Spain and an admiral of the Spanish Navy On the façade of the Provincial Council of Guipúzcoa, located in San Sebastián, there has been a bust of Blas de Lezo, a native of Pasajes, since 1885.
On November 15, 2014, King Juan Carlos inaugurated a 3.5-meter bronze sculpture —7 meters in total including the pedestal— in the Discovery Gardens of Plaza de Colón in Madrid with the effigy of the admiral, very close to that of two other illustrious sailors of the Spanish Navy such as Cristóbal Colón and Jorge Juan y Santacilia. The monument was paid for entirely by popular subscription with the contributions that a thousand citizens from all corners of Spain made to the Blas de Lezo Monument Association. Four days later, the Barcelona City Council approved a motion with the votes of CiU, ICV, ERC and DCst, and with the abstention of the PSC, in which the Madrid City Council was asked to remove the statue for Blas de Lezo having participated in the bombardment of Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession. The request was rejected at a press conference by the city council of the capital.
There is a plaque in his honor in the Panteón de Marinos Ilustres in San Fernando (Cádiz), where other heroes of the Spanish Navy rest. There is also a model of the battle of Cartagena de Indias in the Academy of Engineers of Hoyo of Manzanares (Madrid). Similarly, in the Naval Museum of Cartagena de Indias a set of models is exhibited with details of the fortifications of that bay and that describe the siege of the city by Admiral Vernon, the defense organized by Don Blas de Lezo, and his victory over the Englishman.
There are streets named after him in the cities of Almería, Córdoba, Valencia, Málaga, Alicante, Cartagena de Indias, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, San Sebastián, Cádiz, Huelva, Fuengirola, Rentería, Irún, Pasajes —his hometown —, and finally, after a collection of signatures, on April 28, 2010 it was approved to dedicate an avenue in the capital of Spain, Madrid.
In recent years there has been a resurgence of his figure among certain sectors of society.
Blas de Lezo is, on the contrary, a recognized hero in Cartagena de Indias, which pays homage to him in various ways: neighborhoods, avenues and squares commemorate him in their names; and his statue in front of the San Felipe de Barajas castle keeps the memory of the defender of their city alive among the people of Cartagena. On November 5, 2009, in Cartagena de Indias, a wish of Blas de Lezo was fulfilled, who in his will requested that a group of Spaniards put up a plaque commemorating that victory. In the inscription you can read:
Tribute to Admiral D. Blas de Lezo y Olabarrieta. This plaque was placed to honor the undefeated admiral who with his wit, courage and tenacity led the defense of Cartegena of Indias. He defeated here, in front of these same walls, a British army of 186 ships and 23 600 men, plus 4000 recruits from Virginia. It was even larger than the Spanish Invencible that the British had sent to the command of Admiral Vernon to conquer the key city and thus impose the English language throughout the then Spanish America. Today we met together, Spaniards and Colombians, with the last will of the Admiral, who wanted a plaque to be placed in the walls of Cartagena de Indias that said: Here Spain defeated England and its colonies. Cartagena de Indias, March 1741.
In addition, on November 21, 2009, a plaque was unveiled in his memory at 70 Larga Street in Puerto de Santa María, the city where Blas de Lezo lived before fighting the battle of Cartagena and where some of his their children. The military march Admiral Blas de Lezo, composed for the Royal Navy by Joaquín Drake García, and performed by the Tercio Sur Music Band (Marine Infantry), premiered at this event. The act was presided over by the Admiral of the Fleet, the mayor of the city and the president of the Club de Mar Puerto Sherry. The tombstone reads: «In 1736 the lieutenant general of the Navy D. Blas de Lezo y Olabarrieta, distinguished and invincible sailor, hero of the battle of Cartagena de Indias in which the English fleet suffered an attack, lived in this place with his family. humiliating defeat in 1741. The city of Puerto de Santa María in homage to his memory. November 21, 2009".
On September 21, 2018, a sculpture made by Francisco Martín was inaugurated in the town of Torre del Mar (Málaga), in homage to his figure.
Historical novels
The life of Blas de Lezo and his defense of Cartagena de Indias has been turned into a historical novel with varying degrees of fantasy by the following writers in recent years:
- Alonso Mendizábal, Carlos (2008), Blas de Lezo, the evil oneTwo suns, Burgos.
- Ribas Narváez, Ramiro (2009), The conjure of the lie. Defeat of England in Cartagena de IndiasAkron.
- Vázquez, Alber (2010), Halfman. The Battle England Hidden The World, Inédita Editores.
- Blasco Patiño, Felipe (2010), The man without a king. Could a single man change America's destiny? The disaster of the English Invincible Navy, Bohodón Ediciones, Madrid.
- Churches of Paul, Santiago (2011), The sailor who hunted lizards... and fought alongside Blas de Lezo.JM Editions.
- Name Bayona, Orlando (2012), Blas de Lezo. Admiral kick it. Anka Motz!Black sheep.
- Pérez-Foncea, Juan Antonio (2012), The Caribbean hero. The Last Battle of Blas de LezoBookslibres.
- Pascual, José Vicente (2013), Admiral on firm ground. The adventure of Blas de Lezo, the Spanish who defeated EnglandAltera, Madrid.
- Romero Valentín, Francisco Javier (2013), The countryman of JamaicaAmazon Media.
- López, David (2013), The adventurer VivarRocket.
- San Juan, Victor (2014), You will die for Cartagena, Punto de Vista Editores.
- Vidal, Rafael & José Pablo García (2014), Blas de Lezo. The undefeated marineSelf-release.
- Victoria, Paul (2014), The forbidden love of Cecilita Caxiao. The strange story of how the Lezo Blas war diary was savedAmazon Media.
- Artacho, Fernando de (2015), Admiral Midman, Algaida, Seville.