Robert Jenkins was a British ship captain. In 1731, he was pulled over for smuggling in the Caribbean. The Spanish captain abused him and cut off his left ear with his sword. Seven years later, he appeared before Parliament with his severed ear in a jar. Some politicians were looking for an excuse for a war with Spain which had been enforcing its monopoly over trade in Central and South America. There was also a little matter of a border dispute between Georgia and Spanish Florida. The resulting conflict ended up merging with the War of the Austrian Succession (1739-1748). The British sent a fleet under Admiral Edward Vernon to the Caribbean. “Old Grog” was known for wearing a grogram cloak in bad weather. When he ordered that the daily rum ration be diluted with water. The disgruntled tars named the mixture “grog”. One of the officers under Vernon was a Lawrence Washington, brother of the future President. Washington admired his commanding officer so much that he renamed his plantation Mount Vernon. Lawrence was with Vernon when he won a spectacular victory at Porto Bello, Panama. He captured the port with only six men-of-war. When he was feted at a banquet in London, “Rule Britannia” was played for the first time in public. Unfortunately, subsequent actions in the Caribbean were big failures with serious losses to the British in ships and men.
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2016/10/28/the-war-of-jenkins-ear/
– The Greatest War Stories Never Told pp. 40-41
British ships provide covering fire at Porto Bello while marines in rowboats head to shore. The victory took the British just a day to accomplish, but they occupied the town for three destructive weeks.
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