Action of 7 July 1799

Part of the Napoleonic Wars

Date	7 July 1799
Location	Bay of Gibraltar
Result	Spanish victory

Belligerents

Spain

Great Britain

Commanders and leaders

Flag-Lieut. Frederick Maitland (POW)

Strength

1 Frigate (34 guns)

1 Cutter (18 guns)

Casualties and losses

Unknown

1 Cutter captured

The Action of 7 July 1799 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars in which the Spanish 34-gun frigate Nuestra Señora del Carmen captured the Royal Navy's 18-gun Hired armed cutter Penelope, which was under the command of Sir Frederick Maitland.

In June 1799, the French and Spanish fleets under Admirals Mazarredo and Bruix, amounting to forty sail of the line, and upwards of thirty frigates and smaller vessels, joined up at Cartagena. On 7 July lookouts at Gibraltar saw the combined fleet close to the Barbary shore.

Some of the Spanish ships amused themselves by firing at two vessels belonging to the Algerines. Admiral Jervis, Earl of Saint Vincent, who was on board the 44-gun ship HMS Argo, at anchor in the bay and on the eve of his departure for England, sent Lieutenant Maitland in the Penelope to reconnoiter and ascertain the cause of the firing. Maitland set sail towards Ceuta.

Anxious to gain the most accurate information, he stretched across the Gut with very light winds during the night, that was so pitchy dark and calm, that the cutter was unperceived by the combined fleet and so close among them, that the words of command in French and Spanish could be distinctly heard.

At daybreak on the 8th he found himself nearly within gunshot of the enemy's advanced ships, whose boats were instantly ordered by signal from the Spanish Admiral Mazarredo, to tow the Vivo, a brig of 16 guns, alongside the Penelope; but on their arrival within shot from the Penelope, the reception she astonished them with was so spirited, that the Spaniards dropped astern again and retired, and a faint hope of escape appeared between the British sailors, for there being no wind, the cutter's boats were kept ahead all the forenoon, towing to the southward. Then every ship in that fleet, except one frigate, actually turned their heads to the southward to give chase to the cutter.

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Wikipedia