Action of 13 October 1796

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Action of 13 October 1796
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars

Print by Thomas Whitcombe depicting HMS Terpsichore capturing the Mahonesa on 13 October 1796
Date13 October 1796
Location
off Cape Gata, Mediterranean Sea
Result British victory
Belligerents
 Great Britain Spain
Commanders and leaders
Richard Bowen
 Tomás de Ayalde
Strength
1 frigate 1 frigate
Casualties and losses
4 wounded 30 killed
30 wounded
1 frigate captured
250 captured

The action of 13 October 1796 was a minor naval engagement of the

Richard Bowen and the Spanish Navy 34-gun frigate Mahonesa under Captain Tomás de Ayalde. The action was the first battle of the Anglo-Spanish War
, coming just eight days after the Spanish declaration of war. In a battle lasting an hour and forty minutes, Mahonesa was captured.

Spain had been an ally of Britain in the first years of the

Sir John Jervis. The French dominance in the Italian campaign of 1796 made the British position tenuous, and with Spain's entry into the war Jervis was forced to disperse his limited forces further still, with forces watching Spanish shipping at Cádiz
.

Off Cartagena Bowen commanded the small frigate Terpsichore, which had been shadowing a large Spanish fleet which had left Cádiz a few days earlier. As he returned to

prize to Lisbon, where the damage was revealed to be too severe to repair. Bowen served in a number of engagements off Cádiz in the following months, until he was killed in July 1797 at the Battle of Santa Cruz
.

Background

In early 1793

Siege of Toulon, Spanish Admiral Juan de Lángara threatened to open fire on HMS Victory, the flagship of British Vice-Admiral Lord Hood during a dispute over strategy,[3] and at the culmination of the siege Spanish forces were accused of deliberately sabotaging a British attempt to destroy the French Mediterranean Fleet at anchor in harbour.[4]

As the war progressed the Spanish suffered a series of defeats on land in the

Napoleon Bonaparte systematically eliminated Britain's Italian allies,[9] while diplomatic negotiations brought Spain into an alliance with France, signing the Treaty of San Ildefonso in August. On 5 October Spain declared war on Britain and a large Spanish fleet sailed from Cádiz under Lángara to unite with the French at Toulon.[10]

British forces in the Mediterranean were commanded by Vice-Admiral

Richard Bowen, recently transferred from the North Sea command at Jervis' request. Bowen recognised the danger in Mann's desertion, and set sail for the Ligurian Sea to warn Jervis of Lángara's approach.[13]

Action

On 11 October, Lángara reached the Spanish Mediterranean

windward.[16]

Bowen's ship was undermanned, having landed 30 men for medical treatment at Gibraltar and with another 30 on board unfit for action,

wore around one another.[17] Terpsichore's masts were badly damaged and the rigging, sails, boats and anchors badly torn up by Spanish fire, but casualties among the crew were relatively light.[18] Mahonesa however was badly battered, suffering heavy casualties; the booms were shattered and the guns in the centre of the ship disabled.[16]

As the action continued, Ayalde found that his men were slipping away from their guns and that fewer and fewer could be persuaded to return. Recognising that defeat was now inevitable, he ordered sails set and attempted to retreat to Cartagena.

struck his colours and surrendered.[17]

Combatant summary

In this table, "Guns" refers to all cannon carried by the ship, including the maindeck guns which were taken into consideration when calculating its rate, as well as any carronades carried aboard.[19] Broadside weight records the combined weight of shot which could be fired in a single simultaneous discharge of an entire broadside.

Ship Commander Navy Guns Tons Broadside
weight 		Complement Casualties
Killed Wounded Total
HMS Terpsichore Captain
Richard Bowen
 32 682bm 276 pounds (125 kg) 182 0 4 4
Mahonesa Captain Tomás de Ayalde 34 921bm 180 pounds (82 kg) 275 30 30 60
Source: Clowes, p. 504

Aftermath

Bowen effected repairs on board Terpsichore and his

guineas.[23] Naval historian William James considered that Mahonesa and Terpsichore, both 12-pounder frigates, were "as fair a match as an English officer would wish to fight."[16] Bowen himself paid tribute to Ayalde's bravery in the action, considering that the Spanish captain had fought on long past the point where defeat was inevitable.[17]

With Mann's desertion and the Spanish declaration of war, Jervis found his fleet isolated and outnumbered. Acting on orders from the

Admiralty recognised the action with a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.[31]

Notes

  1. London Gazette reported how, on 24 May 1797, Mahonesa and HMS Romulus captured a 20-gun Spanish Corvette in a ruse de guerre. Approaching under false colours, Nuestra Senora del Rosario was taken without a shot being fired.[21] In addition, Winfield, in the second volume of his British Warships in the Age of Sail series, claims that Mahonesa served until August 1798.[22]

Sources

  1. ^ a b Ireland, p.144
  2. ^ Mostert, p.97
  3. ^ Mostert, p. 113
  4. ^ Clowes, p.212
  5. ^ a b Gardiner, p.89
  6. ^ Gardiner, p.116
  7. ^ James, p.273
  8. ^ Clowes, p.277
  9. ^ Mostert, p.182
  10. ^ a b Mostert, p.184
  11. ^ Clowes, p.286
  12. ^ Mostert, p.185
  13. ^ a b Campbell, p.79
  14. ^ James, p.311
  15. ^ James, p.357
  16. ^ a b c d e James, p.358
  17. ^ a b c d e f "No. 13954". The London Gazette. 22 November 1796. p. 1133.
  18. ^ Clowes, p.504
  19. ^ James, Vol. 1, p. 32
  20. ^ a b James, p.359
  21. ^ "No. 14023". The London Gazette. 27 June 1797. p. 615.
  22. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6
    .
  23. ^ Campbell, p.82
  24. ^ Mostert, p.198
  25. ^ Clowes, p. 320
  26. ^ Campbell, p.83
  27. ^ James, p.361
  28. ^ Campbell, p.87
  29. ^ Mostert, p.220
  30. ^ Campbell, p.89
  31. ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. pp. 236–245.

References

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