During the War of the Quadruple Alliance, the Spanish supported the 1719 Jacobite Rising, which was quickly crushed. In retaliation, a British naval expedition under Lord Cobham landed 6,000 troops in the Spanish port of Vigo in October; they held it for ten days, destroyed vast quantities of stores and equipment, then re-embarked unopposed. Kerr commanded part of the landing force, which appears to have been his last active service command. In this period, the position of 'Colonel' implied ownership, not necessarily command and many delegated their duties to a subordinate.