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HMS Speedy - Cochrane’s Action against the Gamo, by Ivan Berryman, 2025 On 6 May 1801, HMS Speedy was cruising off the Spanish Coast when a large enemy frigate was sighted, a xebec-rigged vessel named Gamo, commanded by Don Francisco de Torres. Instead of evading the Spanish ship, which was carrying seven times the firepower of the tiny Speedy, Captain Thomas John Cochrane instead brought his ship so close to the Spanish frigate that the Spanish were unable to bring their guns to bear, whilst Speedy was able to fire repeatedly up through the Gamo’s hull and decks, de Torres being killed in the opening broadside. After repelling boarders, Cochrane despatched his entire crew, bar the ship’s doctor, to seize the Gamo and take her as a prize, tearing down the Spanish colours to convince her crew that she had struck and fallen to their tiny British opponent.

#naval art #naval history #hms speedy #gamo #19th century #age of sail #art #sailing ship

Possibly the craziest naval battle of the age of sail!

Back in 1800, Thomas Cochrane, the guy who inspired Jack Aubrey from "Master and Commander," got his first command: a little sloop called the Speedy. It had 14 four-pounder guns and a crew of about 80 men. Mostly, Cochrane did convoy duty, but he also got a few chances to go on cruises where he was told to harass the enemy for a month at a time. He was really good at this and ended up sending off almost half his crew in captured ships (prizes). He pissed off the Spanish so much that they sent a frigate after him called the El Gamo, which had 32 guns (ranging from 8 to 32 pounders) and about 320 men.

One fine morning, the El Gamo caught up to the Speedy, which Cochrane had disguised as a Danish vessel. He even found someone who spoke Danish to pretend to be the captain, and they managed to get away. A little while later, though, the El Gamo found them again but didn't fall for the same trick. The 32-gun frigate, with a broadside weight (total weight of cannonballs if the ship fired a salvo) of close to 200 pounds and six times as many men, was up against the little sloop with such a light broadside weight that Cochrane claimed he could walk around with it in his pocket (28 pounds).

Knowing he was in deep trouble, Cochrane closed in on the El Gamo, pointed his guns up as high as he could, loaded them with three cannonballs each, and fired. This first salvo killed the captain of the El Gamo. When the El Gamo fired their entire broadside, they missed! The Speedy was so small that the cannonballs from the El Gamo shot over the top and only damaged the sails. No matter how hard they tried, the El Gamo couldn't get their guns to point down enough. So, they tried boarding. But every time they tried, the Speedy would pull away. Whenever the El Gamo tried to shoot at them, the Speedy would come in close again and then pull away when they tried to board.

This went on until the Speedy couldn't sail anymore. So, Cochrane brought the two ships together and boarded the El Gamo. Fifty-three men stormed onto the El Gamo (the doctor stayed behind) and managed to capture the quarterdeck and pull down the flag, making the remaining crew of the El Gamo think they had surrendered.

The final tally was Speedy: three dead, nine wounded; El Gamo: 14 dead, 41 wounded, and 300 captured. This was just one of Cochrane's unbelievable actions.

Cochrane is a national hero in not just one, but FOUR countries due to his exploits in Chile, Peru, and Brazil.

#Thomas Cochrane #age of sail #hms speedy #royal navy

Heir to the ninth Earl of Dundonald, but to no fortune, Thomas Cochrane had already made his own at sea. That same year, soon after Nelson’s funeral, he had brought his frigate, the Pallas, into Plymouth Sound, after a successful cruise, with three golden candelabra lashed to her mastheads. He was even more famous for his capture of a Spanish frigate with a little sloop he had commanded, boarding the enemy and bringing her into Gibraltar with two hundred and sixty-three prisoners below deck. [...] A word from Joseph Marryat to Cochrane and the latter agreed to take the former’s son to sea with him as a first class volunteer.

— Tom Pocock, Captain Marryat: Seaman, Writer, and Adventurer

The Action and Capture of the Spanish Xebeque Frigate 'El Gamo' (detail) by Clarkson Stanfield c. 1845.

#frederick marryat #captain marryat #lord thomas cochrane #age of sail #thomas cochrane #napoleonic wars #earl of dundonald #clarkson stanfield #naval art #el gamo #hms speedy #lord cochrane #biography #tom pocock

Reading about the OG Master and Commander today, lads!

#lord thomas cochrane #thomas cochrane #age of sail #napoleonic era #yes that is a 's' signal flag underneath the book #I got it in honor of the the ships:#hms speedy #hms surprise #snow squall

HMS Speedy, the Royal Navy brig under Lord Cochrane, capturing the Spanish frigate El Gamo off the coast of Barcelona, on 6 May 1801.

by Charles Edward Dixon.

Speedy was cruising off Barcelona at dawn on 6 May 1801 when a large enemy frigate was sighted. The frigate, a xebec-rigged vessel named Gamo, commanded by Don Francisco de Torres and carrying 319 men, was armed with 8- and 12-pounder guns, with 24-pounder carronades. This amounted to a total broadside of 190 pounds, more than seven times that of Speedy. Gamo had "22 long 12-pounders, 8 9-pounders and 2 heavy carronades". Furthermore, Cochrane had only 54 men on board Speedy, having sent men away as prize crews for ships previously taken.

Instead of evading the Spanish frigate, Cochrane closed on her, and at 9.30 a.m. Gamo fired a gun and hoisted Spanish colours. In return Cochrane hoisted American colours. The Spanish hesitated, allowing Cochrane to get closer, hoist British colours, and evade the first broadside. Gamo fired another, which Cochrane again evaded, holding fire until Speedy ran alongside her and locked her yards in her rigging. Gamo attempted to fire upon her smaller opponent, but her guns were mounted too high and could not be depressed sufficiently, causing their shot to pass through Speedy's sails and rigging. Cochrane then opened fire with his 4-pounders double- and treble-shotted, their shots passing up through the sides and decks, the first broadside killing the Spanish captain and boatswain.

Seeing their disadvantage the Spanish second-in-command assembled a boarding party, at which Cochrane drew off, pounded their massed ranks with shot and musket fire, before drawing in close again. After having their attempts to board frustrated three times, the Spanish returned to their guns. Cochrane then decided to board the Gamo, and assembled his entire crew into two parties, leaving only the ship's doctor to command and crew Speedy. The British then rushed the Gamo, boarding from bow and waist, the boarders at the bow had their faces blackened to look like pirates. The Spanish faltered at this, and were then set-upon by the party that had boarded from the waist. There was a hard-fought battle between the two crews, until Cochrane called down to the doctor, at the time the only person on Speedy, ordering him to send the rest of the men over. At the same time he ordered the Spanish colours to be torn down. Thinking that their officers had surrendered the ship, the remaining Spanish seamen stopped fighting.