Diamond Rock was a small British blockade and observation post whose geography made it unusually efficient. Its garrison suffered two killed and one wounded before 104 men surrendered as ammunition and water ran short. The attackers committed two ships of the line, smaller warships, and eleven gunboats, lost five gunboats, and suffered at least fifty casualties, possibly as many as one hundred. Their initial lack of scaling ladders shows how the sheer rock let a tiny garrison impose disproportionate costs, while its eventual loss caused anxiety in Britain during the invasion scare.
Notable Point · 33:08-38:38
Diamond Rock as economy of force
The Diamond Rock example shows how a tiny fortified observation post forced a much larger Franco-Spanish operation during the Trafalgar campaign.