A FORGOTTEN HERO...BLAS DE LEZO

BLAS DE LEZO...A FORGOTTEN HERO

Today I want to dedicate this article to Blas de Lezo, a person who gave his life for an Empire, who gave his life for Spain, receiving in return the forgetfulness of his country and the abandonment of his memory, in fact nobody knows the concrete place where his remains are buried. 

Blas de Lezo y Olavarrieta is one of the best admirals of the History of Spain, but he is also one of the most forgotten heroes of this country. Perhaps, if Blas de Lezo would be born in USA everybody would know to him and his deeds. 

Perhaps, if Blas de Lezo would be born in USA everybody would know to him and his deeds.

In this little article I do not want to detail the biography of Blas de Lezo, I just want to make a brief review of his life as a military man and, in my opinion, his greatest feat which was the defense of Cartagena de Indias against the attack of the English Army. A simple homage to a hero.

But who was Blas de Lezo and which was his most important deed?

Well, I must star from de beginning. De Lezo was born on 3 February 1689 in Pasajes (Guipuzcoa). He commenced his naval career in 1701 as a midshipman. He was only 12 years old.

When he was 15 his left leg was hit by cannon shot during a battle with a English fleet. After the battle his leg was amputated under the knee.

Blas de Lezo continued fighting not only against the English but also against other enemies of Spain, and besides ascending in his military career in 1714 he lost use of his right arm in the siege of Barcelona. Thus by 25 or 27, de Lezo had lost his left eye, his left leg and the use of his right arm.

And we arrive to the most important deed of de Lezo... the defend of Cartagena de Indias 1741, because with only six (6) ships, el Galicia, el San Carlos, el San Felipe, el África, el Dragón y el Conquistador , and between 3000-4000 soldiers defeated the English Army composed of 195 ships and around 27.000 to 30.000 soldiers. It was the major defeat for the British Navy and Army of ever.

Unfortunately Blas de Lezo died months after the battle because of the plague caused by the number of English corpses that lay in the area

Finally, I only want to add that this deed of Blas de Lezo was very important to Spain because thanks to this heroic defense, Spain continued being a naval and territorial power in the Atlantic during a century more. 

The life of Blas de Lezo could be a good plot for a Hollywood Superproduction movie.