Kingdom of Sardinia (1700–1720) of forty ships under John Leake landing Austrian troops at Terranova Pausania in 1708. The Austrians were to give support to Charles' partisans on the island, while the British fleet went on to Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, where it anchored in the afternoon of August 11 or 12. The British fleet brought with it a force of 600 Marines and 1,000 Spanish troops loyal to Charles under the command of Major General Charles Wills. The British sent a letter to the Marqués de Jamaica ordering him to "render the town and kingdom of Sardinia to the obedience of King
Sardinia mainland peninsula. The Strait of Bonifacio is directly north of Sardinia and separates Sardinia from the French island of Corsica. The coasts of Sardinia [ long] are generally high and rocky, with long, relatively straight stretches of coastline, many outstanding headlands, a few wide, deep bays, rias, many inlets and with various smaller islands off the coast. The island has an ancient geoformation and, unlike Sicily and mainland Italy, is not earthquake-prone. Its rocks date in fact from the Palaeozoic Era (up to 500 million years old). Due to long erosion processes, the island's highlands, formed of granite, schist, trachyte,