The War of Jenkins' Ear (1739-1742) took its name from Robert Jenkins, captain of the Rebecca, who claimed that the Spanish had cut off his ear in 1731. Public opinion forced Robert Walpole's government to declare war on 23 October 1739, after Jenkins ear was produced, in a moment of high drama during a debate in the House of Commons. A year later the war merged into the War of the Austrian Succession. The stated reason for the war was the supposed Spanish mistreatment of English seamen; the war, however, is seen as resulting from the commercial rivalry between the Spanish and British in the Caribbean basin.