Capture of HMS St. Fermin

The Capture of HMS St. Fermin was a naval engagement that took place off Málaga on 4 April 1781, during the American Revolutionary War. Spanish xebecs San Antonio and San Luis captured the sloop-of-war HMS St. Fermin.

Capture of HMS St. Fermin
Part of American Revolutionary War
Scale model of a xebec.
Date 4 April 1781 Location Off Málaga, Mediterranean Sea Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Spain	Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
J. Herrera-Dávila	J. Faulknor
Strength
2 xebecs	1 sloop-of-war
Casualties and losses
None	1 sloop-of-war captured 138 prisoners

Events

Background

At the end of December 1779, a large fleet sailed from Great Britain under the command of Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney, being one of the purposes of this British fleet to resupply Gibraltar, a place that was blocked by land and sea by the Spaniards. During the trip, Rodney intercepted a Spanish convoy of the Royal Guipuzcoan Company of Caracas at Cape Finisterre on 8 January 1780, capturing it completely.[1]

Among the ships captured by Rodney, was the 16-gun armed merchant San Fermín, being one of the captured ships that the admiral took to Gibraltar. The British commissioned San Fermín in that place as the 16-gun sloop of war HMS St. Fermin,[2] under Commander Jonathan Faulknor. Since then, he participated in some actions of the siege of Gibraltar.

Capture

On the evening of 3 April 1781 HMS St. Fermin departed from Gibraltar to Menorca with dispatches. At that time, the British maintained contact with the British forces there, at least until 1782 when the Spaniards conquered the island, sending fast sailships to avoid the Spanish blockade.

St. Fermin managed to pass the waters of the Strait of Gibraltar without problems, but the Spaniards had several naval stations in the area from where they could detect and intercept British ships. From the naval station of Punta del Carnero, an enclave south of Algeciras, two square-rigged xebecs of the Spanish Navy sailed to chase the British ship.[3] The xebecs were the 26-gun San Antonio under Captain José Herrera-Dávila and the 24-gun San Luis under Lieutenant Federico Gravina, manned by more than two hundred men.[3] That night, Faulknor saw the two Spanish ships approaching and did everything possible to escape.[4] At eleven o'clock at night the Spaniards lost sight of him, but half an hour later they saw him again. At four o'clock in the morning, the Spaniards were within walking distance of HMS St. Fermin, beginning the attack with their chase guns, responding to the British ship with their stern guns.[upper-alpha 1] Herrera-Davila's ship approached the British ship's port flap and fired several shots, which was enough for Faulknor to surrender.[5] The two Spanish ships could have made a boarding attack if the fight had continued. The night action took place about 10 miles off Málaga.[4]

Aftermath

The British ship had a crew of 138 men,[3][upper-alpha 2] taken prisoners, once they were marinated by a Spanish contingent in charge of Lieutenant Miguel Pedrueca. The Spanish took the captured ship to Cartagena.[4] He was then assigned to the naval service in the Spanish Navy as the 16-gun San Fermín, being excluded from the service in 1785.[5]

Notes

1. Hepper indicates that both Spanish ships were within walking distance of HMS St. Fermin and attacked him with his chase guns.[4] For his part, Vela says that only San Antonio reached him first, for being faster, so he was the only Spanish xebec who fired with his guns during the action.[5]
2. The HMS St. Fermin had on board a complement of 100 men plus 38 soldiers of the garrison of Gibraltar to support the British forces stationed in Menorca.

References

1. Fernández Duro, Cesáreo (1900). Armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón (in Spanish). VII. Madrid, España: Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval. p. 253.
2. Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present. Chatham. p. 352. ISBN 1-86176-281-X.
3. Vela 2017, p. 38.
4. Hepper 1994, p. 62.
5. Vela 2017, p. 39.

Bibliography

• Vela, Rubén (2017). Presas de la Armada Española, 1779-1828: listado de buques de guerra apresados e incorporados a la Real Armada por apresamiento (in Spanish). ISBN 1-86176-030-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)