page_title: HMS Santa Margarita (1779)
section_title: French Revolutionary Wars
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Santa Margarita (1779) / British career / French Revolutionary Wars
caption_attribution_description: English: The capture of the 'Amazone' by HM ship 'Santa Margarita', 29 July 1782 The two ships shown were frigates of 36 guns, the 'Santa Margarita' - a Spanish-built prize - with 255 men under Captain Elliot Salter and the 'Amazone', under the Viscomte de Montguioté, with 301 men, though the British ship fired a heavier broadside. The action took place off Cape Henry, Virginia, during the War of American Independence, when Salter came in sight of eight large warships out of 13 on the coast under the French Admiral de Vaudreuil and was initially chased by the 'Amazone', which he could not engage for fear of the enemy squadron coming up in her support. However, in the mid-afternoon the bigger ships were no longer in sight and, at the request of his crew, he tacked to fight the French frigate, closing to within pistol shot and opening fire about 5 p.m.. At that range they fought for an hour and a quarter before the' Amazone' surrendered with her captain dead, 70 killed, 70-80 more wounded, four feet of water in the hold and her masts and rigging badly damaged: the main and mizzen masts fell just as she struck. By comparison the British had five dead, 17 wounded and more manageable rigging damage. Salter put a lieutenant and 68 men - a third of his company- aboard his prize and took her in tow but the following morning found de Vaudreuil's full fleet back in sight. With regret he had to retrieve his men, abandon the 'Amazone' -still full of wounded- for the French to recover and make good an escape. This in itself was remarkable since he was chased by the French fleet for 48 hours and finally eluded them by his pilot's skill in running the ship amid the shoals at the mouth of the Delaware, where the enemy could not follow. Later in the year the young Nelson (then captain of the 'Albemarle') cited in a letter 'the dressing which Captain Salter gave the French frigate Amazon, for daring to leave the line-of-battle ships' in relation to the reluctance of another of de Vaudreuil's to follow that example and engage him off Boston. Salter appears to have been a good officer, commissioned lieutenant in 1765 and rising to captain in 1776. The 'Santa Margarita' was his last command and he died at Bath in early February 1790. He had at least one naval son, George, a lieutenant killed in 1803, and his daughter Maria married another naval officer, William Pierrepont, who made a fortune in prize-money in the late1790s before dying as a young rear-admiral. The Museum has an exceptionally fine pair of pastel portraits of her and him by John Russell RA (see PAJ2899 and PAJ2906). This painting if the first of a pair - which Salter may well have commissioned- to commemorate the action, though Dodd also engraved them: the other is BHC0450. Both bear early frame inscriptions repeating those in Graves's RA exhibitors' list, naming the artist as Ralph Dodd. This is, in fact, the name under which all paintings by Robert Dodd are listed in Graves but apparently in general confusion with his brother Ralph (c. 1756-1817). According to Archibald's 'Sea Painters', the latter is the ' R. Dodd, Architect' who exhibited engineering drawings at the Academy, 1799-1817, but also did paint marines - this and its pair having been received as by him. However, since both were exhibited at the Academy in 1784, shortly after Robert engraved them as his own work, they are now reattributed to him. The same donor who presented them to the Museum in 1947 also gave a pair of the prints at the same time: the print of this one is PAH7826. The capture of the 'Amazone' by HM ship 'Santa Margarita', 29 July 1782
context_page_description: HMS Santa Margarita was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had been built for service with the Spanish Navy, but was captured after five years in service, eventually spending nearly 60 years with the British.
context_section_description: Santa Margarita was recommissioned under Captain Eliab Harvey in 1793, and sailed to the Leeward Islands in December that year. She then formed part of the fleet in the West Indies under John Jervis, and was present at the capture of Martinique in February 1794.  By August 1794 she was in Sir John Borlase Warren's squadron, and was present at the destruction of Volontaire on the Penmarks on 23 August 1794, and the capture of Espion and the destruction of Alerte in Audierne Bay on that day.
  On 29 March 1795 she was sailing with HMS Cerberus when the two engaged and captured the 18-gun Jean Bart in the English Channel. Jean Bart was subsequently taken into service as HMS Arab. A few days earlier the squadron to which Cerberus and Santa Margarita belonged shared in the capture of Jean Bart and the recapture of Caldicot Castle.
  In April 1795 Santa Margarita came under the command of Captain Thomas Byam Martin.
  At the Action of 8 June 1796 she captured the French Tamise, which had previously been HMS Thames. Santa Margarita had two killed and three wounded in the action. She went on to capture the 16-gun privateer Buonoparte on 24 October 1796, and the 18-gun privateer Vengeur the following day. Buonoparte was the former packet King George. Santa Margarita sent both into Cork. Vengeur was armed with 18 guns and had a crew of 110 men. She was nine days out of Brest when Santa Margarita captured her. Vengeur had captured the ship Potomah, which had been sailing from Poole to Newfoundland with a cargo of merchandise; the British recaptured Potomah.
  Captain George Parker assumed command of Santa Margarita in December 1796. On 21 June 1797 she captured the privateer San Francisco (alias Los Amigos) off the Irish coast. San Francisco was pierced for 14 guns and had a crew of 53 men. She was from St Sebastian and had cruised between Scilly and Cape Clear for 20 days without having captured anything. She was apparently quite new and sailed well. Parker observed that with better luck she might have done some mischief.
  Parker went on to have further success against privateers. He captured the 16-gun Adour off Cape Clear on 10 July 1797 and the 16-gun Victorine on 8 August in the same area.
  Santa Margarita sailed to the Leeward Islands again in March 1798, and at the end of the year captured the 14-gun privateer Quatorze Juillet. 
  Lloyd's List (LL) reported on 28 May 1799 that the West Indiaman Juno, Watkins, master, had been captured. However, Santa Margarita had recaptured her and sent her into Martinico.
  Santa Margarita sailed to Jamaica in August 1801, coming under the command of Captain Augustus Leveson-Gower in April 1802, followed by Captain Henry Whitby in 1803.
caption: The capture of Amazone by HMS Santa Margarita, one of a pair by Robert Dodd
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