At dawn, the lookout at the Igueste watchtower spotted a British fleet on the horizon , made up of four ships of the line , three frigates, a cutter and a bombardier, notifying the Castle of San Cristóbal by means of bonfires. A total of 2,000 marines came and their ships carried 393 cannons .

Once “ a rebato ” had been played , General Gutiérrez , General Commander of the Canary Islands, gathered his Staff and set the planned schedule in motion; that is to say, that women, the elderly and children went up to La Laguna in search of refuge, while the public offices of the Treasury , Tabacos, Post Office, and commercial stores were evicted.

1,000 men from the Canary Islands Militias Regiments of Abona, Güimar, La Laguna, La Orotava and Garachico arrived in Santa Cruz , joining the 600 soldiers of the Canary Islands Infantry Battalion , 387 artillerymen who defended the castles and batteries with their 89 cannons , the 60 men of the Cuban and Havana flags, the 110 sailors of the French corvette La Mutine, the pilots and sailors of the merchantmen stocked in the bay , and the voluntary countrymen.

At dawn, 23 boats full of Englishmen tried to land on Bufadero beach, but the assault was aborted thanks to the sight of a peasant woman from San Andrés who was going to the market to sell her products and alerted the soldiers from the castle of Paso Alto.

At ten o’clock in the morning , three English frigates approached the Valleseco beach, disembarking 1,200 men who seized Mesa del Ramonal. Quickly , a detachment commanded by the Marquis de la Fuente de las Palmas occupied the height of Paso Alto, facing the enemy.

At sunset, 300 men from the Infantry battalion , plus 50 Rozadores de La Laguna (volunteer countrymen who used rozaderas as weapons), prevented the English troops from advancing through those places . 500 militiamen would also join , led by the mayor of Taganana, Andrés Perdomo Álvarez . During the night, the English forces, taking advantage of the darkness, began their descent towards the beach, returning to their ships, leaving more than one soldier dead along the way.

At three in the afternoon, the enemy squadron put to sea and headed southeast, losing sight of it near Barranco Hondo. Despite the apparent withdrawal, during the night, at the suggestion of Lieutenant Francisco Grandy Giraud, they placed a cannon -El Tigre- in a new embrasure opened in the Santo Domingo bastion, in order to cover the Alameda beach that was unguarded.

At six in the morning , the British squadron appeared again off Santa Cruz, anchoring off Valleseco, and at nine it was joined by a new 50-gun ship , with which the attacker force already had nine units and Nelson gathered his officers on the Theseus -captain ship- to study the strategy they would carry out to take Santa Cruz. Such was his faith in victory that he even decided to take part in the attack, leading the landing force.

At seven in the evening, a frigate and a howitzer approached the coast and began shelling the castle of Paso Alto, launching a total of 43 bombs that did not cause appreciable damage . To this action , the fort responded with the fire of its cannons.

At dawn, the British landing craft divided into several groups. The one that headed towards the pier and the Castillo San Cristóbal was split in two. One of them, under the command of Captain Troubridge , managed to reach the dock stairs and disabled the seven existing cannons in his battery. Then they tried to reach the Castle but, being rejected, they made a detour and hid in the upper part of the Plaza de la Pila (La Candelaria) where, at four in the morning, when they were discovered by the soldiers of the Batallón of the Canary Islands, they fled and took refuge in the convent of Santo Domingo, a place occupied today by La Recova Art Center and the Guimerá Theater.

However, the second group of boats, in which Rear Admiral Nelson came, could not make it due to the strong waves, running aground on Alameda beach; so that when Nelson was about to jump ashore and drew his sword to encourage his men, he would be hit by shrapnel from the Tigre cannon . Nelson would be taken to his flagship, where his right arm was amputated at the shoulder.

The Fox cutter , which was escorting the aforementioned boats , was hit below the waterline and , in the midst of a terrifying fire, sank in the bay with its 300 sailors, the power powder and assault material.

Another group of boats, commanded by Samuel Hood, managed to disembark at La Carnicería beach and went up the Santos Ravine until they also took refuge in the Dominican convent. At dawn, the English began to send signals to their ships from the bell tower of the convent, requesting help , while urging General Gutiérrez to hand over the plaza, under the threat of burning down the town. To which Gutiérrez turned a blind eye .

Meanwhile , Lieutenant Grandy had put the dock battery back into service , so that when 15 boats full of English sailors headed there , with the intention of helping their comrades who were in the Convent, the cannons opened fire on them, sinking several boats, and the rest returned to their boats.

At seven in the morning , when discouragement spread among the English troops, they requested a parley; For this, Commander Samuel Hood was taken blindfolded to the castle of San Cristóbal, where he still dared to demand that General Gutiérrez surrender , but, given the firm response received : “ The plaza still has men and gunpowder left for its defense ” , he gave up his attitude and agreed to capitulate.

Immediately, the mayor Carlos Adán went to the British flagship , where Nelson would be informed of the conditions of the Capitulation , to which he agreed and signed with his left hand; that is to say, that the troops belonging to HM Británica were embarked with their weapons and that the prisoners were returned. In consideration of which, the British squadron was required not to attack Santa Cruz, nor any of the Canary Islands.

At nine o’clock in the morning , in the Plaza de la Candelaria, the defeated British had bread , fruit and wine, and were then transferred to their ships in the boats of the chicharrero fishermen or in their own boats, that they had remained intact. The following day the wounded who had been treated in the two hospitals of Santa Cruz would be re-embarked .

Nelson, impressed by such a kind act of nobility of the people of Tenerife , addressed General Gutiérrez a letter -signed with his left hand- in which he expressed his gratitude for such deferences, at the same time that he became to in the messenger of his own defeat. In gratitude, he gave him some night vision glasses , a cheese and a barrel of English beer, to which Gutiérrez responded with another letter and gave him two “limetones” (barrels) of wine.

The people of Santa Cruz could not imagine what that victory would mean for the future of their town. Four days later , the Royal mayor met the authorities and residents of the Lugar and Puerto in the church of Pilar, agreeing to designate Santa Cruz and the Apostle Santiago as compatriots , on whose day they had The triumph over the English consummated, and General Gutiérrez was in charge of bringing what had happened to the Court.

Six years later , on August 28, 1803, King Carlos IV granted Santa Cruz the privilege of “Villazgo” and gave it its own coat of arms; Since then, this Place would be called: “Muy Leal, Noble e Invicta Villa, Puerto y Plaza de Santa Cruz de Santiago de Tenerife”.

25 years later , on January 27, 1822, Fernando VII would sign the Royal Decree establishing the division of the Spanish territory into 52 provinces, being Santa Cruz de Tenerife designated Capital of the Canary Islands, which it would be maintained until September 23, 1927, when the government of General Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja decreed the division of the Canary Islands into two provinces: Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.