Action of 10 December 1800

Action of 10 December 1800
Part of the Napoleonic Wars
Spanish Gun-boat circa 1800
Date 10 December 1800 Location Bay of Gibraltar Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Spain	Kingdom of Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Miguel Villalba	Lieut. Charles I. Nevin
Strength
1 Gun-boat (3 guns)	1 Brig (16 guns) 40 men
Casualties and losses
Unknown, minor	1 Brig captured 3 dead 10 wounded

The Action of 10 December 1800 was a minor engagement of the Napoleonic Wars between a hired brig of the Royal Navy commanded by Lieutenant Charles Nevin and a Spanish gunboat under Don Miguel Villalba. On the 10 December, the British 16-gun brig Admiral Pasley, armed with two 6-pounder long guns and fourteen 12-pounder carronades, was sailing off Ceuta on her passage from England to Gibraltar with despatches. A 3-gun gunboat from Algeciras sighted her and rushed to fight Nevin. After a defence that lasted an hour and a half, and with the brig cut to pieces by the long gun of the Spanish ship, Villalba boarded and captured the brig. Other references state that there were two Spanish gun-boats, and that having previously throw overboard her despatches, Charles Nevin struck to the Spanish.

Nevin faced a court-martial for the loss of his ship and was honourably and deservedly acquitted.

References

• Patrick Gosset, William (1986). The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793–1900. New York, United States: London & New York: Mansell Publishers. 
• Fernández Duro, Cesáreo (1902). Armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón. 8. Madrid, Spain: Est. tipográfico "Sucesores de Rivadeneyra". 
• William James. The naval history of Great Britain, from 1793 to 1820[1]

External links

• http://www.royal-navy.org/lib/index.php?title