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Blas de Lezo y Olavarrieta (3 February 1689 – 7 September 1741) was a Spanish admiral best remembered for the Battle of Cartagena de Indias (1741) in modern-day Colombia, where the Spaniards resisted a siege by a combined British force under the command of Admiral Vernon. Although it has been repeatedly stated that in his lifetime he was known as "''Patapalo''" (Pegleg) and later as "''Mediohombre''" (Half-man), for the many wounds suffered in his long military career, there is no historical evidence for either assertion. He appears as "Admiral One-Leg" in James Michener's 1989 novel ''Caribbean'', while there is no mention of him as "medio hombre" until the publication of the school textbook ''Historia de Colombia para la Enseñanza Secundaria'', by Jesús María Henao and Gerardo Arrubla, whose third edition was published in Bogotá in 1920: "el famoso General de los galeones don Blas de Lezo, marino vascongado, quien en combates anteriores, en Málaga, Tolón y Barcelona había perdido la pierna izquierda, el ojo izquierdo y el brazo derecho; este medio hombre contribuyó poderosamente al triunfo que obtuvieron las armas castellanas".〔Jesús María Henao y Gerardo Arrobla (1920), Historia de Colombia para la enseñanza secundaria, Obra laureada con medalla de oro y diploma en el concurso nacional que se abrió para celebrar el primer centenario de la Independencia, y con la adopción oficial, Tomo I, tercera edición, notablemente adicionada y corregida, Librería Colombiana, Camacho Roldán y Tamayo, Bogotá.〕 == Biography == Born in Pasajes, in the Basque Province of Guipúzcoa in Spain, Blas de Lezo y Olavarrieta commenced his naval career in the French navy in 1701 as a midshipman. In 1704 he fought in the War of Spanish Succession as a crew member in the Franco-Spanish fleet which fought the combined forces of Great Britain and the Netherlands at the indecisive Battle of Vélez Málaga. There Lezo lost his left leg. He received a cannon-shot and he had his leg amputated under the knee. Promoted to ensign, he was present at the relief of Peñíscola, Spain, and Palermo in Sicily; his service in these and other actions resulted in his promotion to ship's lieutenant. The defence of Toulon cost him his left eye. In 1711 he served in the Navy under the orders of Andrés de Pez. In 1713 he was promoted to captain. In 1714 he lost his right arm in the Siege of Barcelona. Later in this campaign, at the head of one frigate, he captured the 70-gun ''Stanhope'' commanded by John Combs. Lezo served in the Pacific in 1720-1728. Although it has been claimed that he took many prizes during this period, documentary evidence indicates that in fact he took only two French frigates and not in the Pacific but in the Atlantic. He reached Callao with them in January 1720 although he had left Spain in 1716 as second-in-command of the Nuestra Señora del Carmen or Lanfranco as part of the expedition commanded by Juan Nicolás de Martinet. He was separated from the expedition while attempting to sail past Cape Horn. The prizes attributed to Lezo were taken by Martinet, who reached Callao in June 1717 and left the Pacific in 1719 before Lezo's arrival.〔http://abcblogs.abc.es/espejo-de-navegantes/2014/11/18/blas-de-lezo-una-revision-historica/〕 Lezo married in Peru in 1725. In 1730 he returned to Spain and was promoted to chief of the Mediterranean Fleet; with this force he went to the Republic of Genoa to enforce the payment of two million pesos owed to Spain that had been retained in the Bank of San Jorge. Deeming the honour of the Spanish flag to be at stake, Blas de Lezo threatened the city with bombardment. In 1732, on board the ''Santiago'', he and José Carrillo de Albornoz commanded the enormous expedition to Oran and Mers-el-Kébir with more than 300 ships and around 28,000 troops, comprising infantry, cavalry and artillery. In the Battle of Aïn-el-Turk they recaptured the cities lost to the Ottoman Empire in 1708. After the defeat, Bey Abu l-Hasan Ali I managed to reunite his troops and surrounded the city of Oran. Lezo returned to its aid with six ships and 5,000 men and managed to drive off the Algerian pirate after a hard fight. Dissatisfied with this he took his 60-gun flagship into the corsair's refuge of Mostaganem Bay, a bastion defended by two forts and 4,000 Moors. He inflicted heavy damage on the forts and town. In the following months he established a naval blockade, preventing the Algerians from receiving reinforcements from Istanbul, thereby gaining valuable time for the securing of Oran's defense, until an epidemic forced him to return to Cadiz. In 1734 the king promoted him to Lieutenant General of the Navy. He returned to South America with the ships ''Fuerte'' and ''Conquistador'' in 1737 as General Commander of Cartagena de Indias, in modern-day Colombia. There, outnumbered Spanish forces deployed in a succession of extremely strong fortifications managed to thwart the British admiral Edward Vernon's attempt to conquer Cartagena de Indias (1741). The operation lasted sixty-seven days until the British forces decided to withdraw and abandon the siege. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Blas de Lezo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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