# Action of 6 May 1801

The action of 6 May 1801 was a single-ship action fought between the Spanish Navy xebec-frigate El Gamo and the Royal Navy sloop-of-war HMS Speedy during the War of the Second Coalition. Under the command of Commander Lord Cochrane, Speedy, with a crew of 54 men and mounting 14 guns, captured El Gamo, which mounted 32 guns and had 319 personnel onboard. The Spanish commander, Don Francisco de Torres, was one of 14 Spaniards killed during the engagement, with the British capturing the rest of El Gamo's crew and eventually selling the ship to the Regency of Algiers.

## Background

In March 1800, Royal Navy Commander Lord Cochrane, who had been operating in the Mediterranean and fought numerous actions from the British base at Port Mahon, Minorca, took command of the 14-gun sloop-of-war HMS Speedy. On 6 May 1801, Speedy was cruising off Barcelona at dawn when she sighted a large ship, which turned out to be El Gamo, a 32-gun xebec-frigate of the Spanish Navy which carried 318 men under Don Francisco de Torres. El Gamo was armed with 8- and 12-pounder long guns along with 24-pounder carronades, which amounted to a total broadside of 190 pounds, more than seven times that of Speedy. Furthermore, Speedy only had 54 men onboard, as Cochrane had detached members of the ship's crew as prize crews.

## Battle

Instead of evading the Spanish ship, Cochrane ordered his crew to close on her, and at 9.30 a.m. El Gamo fired a warning shot at Speedy and hoisted Spanish colours. In response, Cochrane ordered American colours to be hoisted. The Spanish hesitated, allowing Speedy to get closer, hoist British colours, and evade El Gamo's first broadside. Speedy evaded another broadside, holding her fire until she ran alongside the Spanish ship and locked her yards in El Gamo's rigging. The Spanish ship's guns were mounted too high and could not be sufficiently depressed, causing their shots to now pass through Speedy's sails and rigging. Cochrane's crew opened fire with 4-pounders guns loaded with double and triple shot, their shots passing up through El Gamo's sides and decks; the first British broadside killed de Torres and a Spanish boatswain.
Seeing their disadvantage, El Gamo's second-in-command mustered a boarding party, at which Speedy drew off, pounding the party's massed ranks with cannon shot and musket fire before closing in again. After thrice having their attempts to board the British ship frustrated, the Spanish returned to their guns. Cochrane then decided to board El Gamo, and assembled his remaining crew into two parties, leaving only the ship's doctor to command and crew Speedy. The first boarding party, consisting of 20 men under Cochrane's brother Archibald, boarded the Spanish ship from her bow after having darkened their faces to resemble Barbary corsairs. The Spanish rushed to repulse the first boarding party, but were then attacked by another party that boarded from El Gamo's stern. There was a hard-fought battle between the two crews, until Cochrane called down to the doctor, at the time the only person onboard Speedy, ordering him to send the rest of the men over. As the doctor was the only man left on the British ship, the order was given to make the Spaniards think they were outnumbered. At the same time, he ordered the Spanish ensign to be torn down. Thinking that their officers had surrendered the ship, the remaining Spaniards stopped fighting.

## Aftermath

British casualties during the engagement were only three men killed and nine wounded, while the Spanish lost 14 killed with the remaining 305 crewmembers of El Gamo, 41 of whom were wounded, becoming prisoners of war; a total casualty list that exceeded Speedy's entire complement. The British secured the Spanish prisoners below deck and made their way back to Port Mahon. Anguished that he had been defeated by such an inferior foe, the Spanish second-in-command asked Cochrane for a certificate assuring him that he had done all he could to defend his ship. Cochrane obliged, with the equivocal wording that he had "conducted himself like a true Spaniard". El Gamo was not incorporated into the British navy, which resulted in Cochrane only receiving a small amount of prize money; he was promoted to post-captain by the British Admiralty until August 1801. The Spanish ship was subsequently sold by the British to the Regency of Algiers as a merchant ship.

## Footnotes

* 1 2 Cordingly 2007, p. 58
* ↑ Adkins & Adkins 2007, p. xxii
* ↑ Cordingly 2007
* 1 2 Adkins & Adkins 2007, p. xxiii
* ↑ Henderson 2005, p. 245
* 1 2 3 Henderson 2005, p. 246
* ↑ Adkins & Adkins 2007, p. xxiv
* 1 2 3 4 Adkins & Adkins 2007, p. xxv
* ↑ Henderson 2005, p. 247