page_title: Spanish treasure fleet
section_title: Effectiveness against Privateers
hierarchical_section_title: Spanish treasure fleet / Effectiveness against Privateers
caption_attribution_description: English: Shipyards over the Guadalquivir in XVI cent. Sevilla Español: Barcos en el río Guadalquivir, en Sevilla (siglo XVI)
context_page_description: The Spanish treasure fleet, or West Indies Fleet Spanish: Flota de Indias, was a convoy system of sea routes organized by the Spanish Empire from 1566 to 1790, which linked Spain with its territories in the Americas across the Atlantic. The convoys were general purpose cargo fleets used for transporting a wide variety of items, including agricultural goods, lumber, various metal resources such as silver and gold, gems, pearls, spices, sugar, tobacco, silk, and other exotic goods from the overseas territories of the Spanish Empire to the Spanish mainland. Spanish goods such as oil, wine, textiles, books and tools were transported in the opposite direction. The West Indies fleet was the first permanent transatlantic trade route in history. Similarly, the Manila galleons were the first permanent trade route across the Pacific.
context_section_description: Despite the general perception that many Spanish galleons were captured by foreign privateers, few fleets were actually lost to enemies in the course of the flota's two and a half centuries of operation. Only Piet Hein managed to capture the fleet in 1628 and bring its cargo to the Dutch Republic. In 1656 and 1657 Robert Blake also attacked the fleet in Cadiz and Tenerife, but the Spanish officers saved most of the silver and the English admiral managed to capture only a single galleon. The 1702 West Indies fleet was destroyed in the Battle of Vigo Bay during the War of the Spanish Succession, when the fleet was surprised at port unloading its goods, but the Spanish sailors had already unloaded most of its cargo. None of these attacks took place in open seas. In the case of the Manila galleons, only four were ever captured by British warships in nearly three centuries: the Santa Anna by Thomas Cavendish in 1589, the Encarnación in 1709 by Woodes Rogers, the Covadonga by George Anson in 1743, and the Santísima Trinidad in 1762. Two other British attempts were foiled by the Rosario in 1704 and the Begonia in 1710. These losses and those due to hurricanes were important economic blows to trade when they occurred. The fleets, however, must be counted as among the most successful naval operations in history. Moreover, from a commercial point of view, some key components of today's world economic system were made possible by the success of the Spanish West and East Indies fleets.
caption: A shipyard on the river Guadalquivir in 16th century Seville: detail from a townscape by Alonso Sánchez Coello
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