Irresistible & Emerald vs Santa Elena and Ninfa – 26 April 1797
Following its victory at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in February 1797, the British Mediterranean Fleet under Admiral Sir John Jervis had settled into a blockade of the remnants of the Spanish fleet in Cadiz. In April, down the coast from that city, two Spanish frigates fought a British ship of the line in a battle that, according to the commander-in-chief, was one of the most notable actions that had come to his attention.
The Spanish frigates Santa Elena 34, Captain Don Juan de Carranza, and her consort, the Ninfa 34, Captain Don Ignacio Fonnegra y Camino, had departed Havana on 25 March for Cadiz, carrying (according to Spanish sources) ‘documents and belongings’. Seeking to avoid British naval vessels in the Atlantic and being made aware during their voyage home of the Spanish defeat at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, they had followed a longer than usual course to reach home waters.
Arriving off Cadiz on the evening of 25 April, the Spanish frigates stumbled into a state of confusion. Jervis had just allowed 40 neutral vessels to come out of the port following representations by their country’s’ consuls, and so the British thought that the two frigates were a couple of Venetian vessels that had earlier left Cadiz. As a result, the Saint Elena and Ninfa passed through the blockading fleet that night without being inspected; indeed, the Ninfa even spoke to one British ship in English and was allowed to pass. It was only at six o’clock the next morning, 26 April, that they were identified as Spanish frigates, and the Irresistible 74, Captain George Martin, and Emerald 36, Captain Velters Berkeley, were ordered to chase. At some point, the Santa Elena and Ninfa were seen to meet with some local fishing boats. British sources later speculated that they transferred treasure onto one of these vessels, but Spanish sources claim that in fact they carried no treasure.
When the Irresistible and Emerald set off in their pursuit, the wind was coming in from the north and the Spanish ships were in the south-east to leeward of Torregorda on the southern side of the Cadiz peninsula. Captain Carranza signalled his compatriot to attempt to enter the San Pedro river which lay on the far side of the isthmus, but with the wind inshore dying away, they were obliged to sail further south along the Spanish coast away from Cadiz. Out to sea, the two British vessels continued to enjoy the benefit of the breeze, and they began to close in .
The Irresistible had been commissioned at the end of the American Revolutionary War fourteen years previously and had first seen action in the early years of the French Revolutionary War when participating in Admiral Jervis’ expedition to the West Indies. She had subsequently fought at the Battle of Groix in 1795 and at that of Cape St. Vincent just ten weeks earlier. Her armament consisted of twenty-eight 32-pounder cannons on her lower gun deck, twenty-eight 18-pounder cannons on her upper gun deck and eighteen 9-pounder cannons on her quarterdeck and forecastle, giving her a broadside weight of metal of 781 pounds. Her crew nominally numbered 600 men, and her 33-year-old captain, the gentlemanly George Martin (the son of Captain William Martin and nephew of Vice-Admiral Sir Joshua Rowley) was a post captain of 14 years’ experience who would eventually rise through the ranks to become the Admiral of the Fleet..
The Emerald had been commissioned in August 1795 but had only joined the Mediterranean Fleet at the beginning of 1797. Following the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, Captain Berkeley, an experienced 43-year-old officer who was nevertheless a post captain of just seven years’ seniority, had been dispatched in command of a small squadron to hunt down the disabled Santísima Trinidad 130, but unaccountably he had failed to bring her to action when it was advantageous to do so, resulting in a great deal of personal criticism that would later result in his resignation. His frigate was armed with twenty-six 18-pounder cannons on her gun deck in addition to eight 32-pound carronades and ten 9-pounder cannons on her quarterdeck and forecastle, giving her a broadside weight of metal of 407 pounds. Her design compliment was 264 men.
The Santa Elena had been constructed at Ferrol in 1783, although it had been another couple of years before she had been commissioned. She was designed to carry twenty-six 12-pounder cannons, and eight 6-pounder cannons, but was regarded as a poor sailer with an underwhelming manoeuvrability. The more highly regarded Ninfa had been built to a later design with a similar armament and had been launched at Mahon in 1795. It should be stated that in his later dispatch, Captain Martin affirmed that both frigates carried just 26 guns apiece and had been crewed by 350 men. The combined broadside weight of metal of the Santa Elena and Ninfa was thus about a quarter of that boasted by their pursuers.
Seeking to escape the onrushing British ships, the Spanish raced into Conil Bay, at the northern entrance to which lay a dangerous rock-strewn reef named the Laja de Cape Rocha. Captains Martin and Berkeley skilfully negotiated their way through the hazards and chased the frigates into the bay where they anchored at 2.30 p.m. With the Irresistible coming within a half-cannon shot, a ferocious action ensued, which by British accounts lasted ninety-minutes and according to Spanish narratives continued for the best part of three hours. What is not in doubt is that the outgunned Spanish vessels fought tenaciously against their superior opponents. When the intensity of the battle caused the Ninfa to run short of shot, her commander hailed Captain Carranza for instructions – he was told to fire the remainder of his ammunition and then scuttle or burn his ship. Instead, the Ninfa struck her colours at about 4 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Santa Elena kept on firing whilst also disembarking some of her men into the boats, an undertaking made all the more difficult when a shot from the Irresistible crashed into her launch, killing four men outright. Unlike the crew of the Ninfa, the officers and men of the Santa Elena were unwilling to see either themselves or their ship fall into the hands of the British. With water filling the hold, the anchor cable was cut and the ship drifted ashore, enabling many of her crew to escape. An hour after the Ninfa struck, the Santa Elena, then on the point of sinking, hauled down her own colours.
During the action the Spanish lost eighteen men killed and thirty wounded, the Irresistible one man killed and one wounded, whilst the Emerald suffered not a single casualty. Curiously, one of the men initially reported as killed aboard the Ninfa was a Scotsman by the name of Thomas Muir of Huntershill, an advocate who had controversially been found guilty of seditious practices in 1793 and had been sentenced to transportation to Australia for fourteen years. He had later escaped from Botany Bay and had ended up at Nootka Sound, from where he had travelled down the west coast of America and across Panama before reaching Cuba. Suspecting that he might be a spy, the Spanish authorities had placed him aboard the Ninfa to be dealt with in Spain. In the event, Muir actually survived the engagement, but since his bad facial wound made him unrecognisable, he escaped British justice once more. However, his health never recovered, and he died in Paris just under two years later.
The Santa Elena was later hauled off by the Irresistible, but as she was in such a damaged condition there was little that could be done but to sink her. The Ninfa was bought into the Navy and named the Hamadryad, yet she did not even see out the year, for she was wrecked in Algiers Bay during a storm on Christmas Day 1797 when under the command of Captain Thomas Elphinstone.
Sir John Jervis’ letter dated 29 April and enclosing Captain Martin’s report, reached the Admiralty on 20 May and it was soon published in the newspapers. The demanding admiral’s enthusiastic praise of the Irresistible’s achievement must have been particularly welcome to the authorities (and to the public) at a time when the mutinies at home were causing so much damage to the reputation of the Navy.