Capture of the Bahamas (1782)

The Capture of the Bahamas (1782) refers to the Spanish capture of the British colony of the Bahamas in May 1782, during the American Revolutionary War. A Spanish naval force, led by Don Juan Manuel Cagigal, the Governor-General of Cuba, sailed to Nassau on New Providence island. The small British garrison, commanded by Governor John Maxwell, offered little resistance, and Nassau surrendered on May 8, 1782.

Cagigal took possession of the island, renamed Nassau "Ciudad de la Princesa" (Princess City) in honor of the Princess of Asturias, Maria Luisa, and installed a Spanish governor. The Spanish occupation was short-lived.

In April 1783, a Loyalist expedition led by Andrew Deveaux, acting independently and without direct British authorization, landed on New Providence with a small force. Deveaux, using clever tactics and exploiting the Spanish forces' depleted state (due to sickness and lack of supplies), bluffed the larger Spanish garrison into believing they were facing a much larger British force. The Spanish, under Governor Claraco, surrendered Nassau on April 18, 1783, restoring British control to the Bahamas even before news of the peace treaty officially ending the American Revolutionary War reached the islands. This recapture by Deveaux ensured the Bahamas remained a British colony at the end of the war.