Rear Admiral Stewart's contemporary complaint to Havana's governor describes British merchant vessels being abused and plundered by Spanish guardacostas. The letter includes the alleged cutting off of Jenkins's ear and the removal of supplies needed for his ship to reach home safely. Historians can test such a dramatic story against multiple contemporary accounts and comparable conduct before accepting it as plausible. The episode is credible enough to explain the war's famous label, although money, colonial access, and the larger War of the Austrian Succession mattered more than one incident. Jenkins's story supplied a memorable name for a conflict driven by competing Spanish and British efforts to control Caribbean commerce.
Notable Point · 18:14-21:44
Jenkins's ear and the wider war
A contemporary complaint about guardacostas gives the War of Jenkins' Ear its name, but the conflict rested on broader commercial rivalry.