So on the 10th December 1796, Commodore Nelson joined the Minerve, whose captain was George Cockburn, and set off for Elba.
On the 19th, at 10.20pm, Captain D'Arcy Preston in the Blanche saw two
Spanish frigates, the Santa Sabina and the Ceres. Eager to
leap into action, Nelson handled Minerve himself (an unusual move for
a flag officer, as this would normally be the Captain's job) and got to Santa
Sabina's stern, close enough that he could hail the captain and ask him to
surrender. The captain who, surprisingly, spoke very good English, refused
with the remarkable reply,
"This is a Spanish frigate and you may begin as soon as you please."
So Nelson began, and the fight was vicious and close-run. In terms of men
and guns, there wasn't much difference between the two frigates. They
remained at such close-range that Nelson was able to hail the captain several
more times, but each time received a refusal. Eventually, however, the
Spanish were forced to surrender. As it turned out, the English-speaking
captain of the Santa Sabina was Don Jacobo Stuart, a great grandson of
the English king James II! Taking such a prestigious prisoner was
something that Nelson was understandably very proud of. Meanwhile, the
Blanche fought and took the Ceres.
Nelson sent Minerve's 1st Lieutenant John Culverhouse, along with
Lieutenant Thomas Hardy, with a boarding party to take possession of the
Santa Sabina after they had tied her to La Minerve with a tow rope.
However, another Spanish frigate suddenly appeared and opened fire on Santa
Sabina, while the two British lieutenants were on board. Minerve
cast off the tow rope to free herself from the Santa Sabina and so be
able to fight the approaching enemy. But then another two Spanish ships of
the line, with two more frigates, appeared. Minerve was badly
damaged and so Nelson and Cockburn were forced to abandon the prize entirely,
along with Culverhouse and Hardy, and the prize crew. But this did mean
that the prize crew aboard Santa Sabina were able to hoist English
colours and thus distract the Spanish ships, giving Minerve a head
start so she was able to get away.
Much later, when the British prisoners had been taken to the Spanish town of
Cartagena, Nelson exchanged Don Jacobo Stuart for Lieutenants Culverhouse and
Hardy, and sent back all the Spanish prisoners from Elba in exchange for the
rest of the British prize crew.
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