''San Fermín'' was launched in 1779 and became an armed merchant corvette for the Gipuzkoan Trading Company of Caracas. The British captured her at the

action of 8 January 1780 The action of 8 January 1780 was a naval encounter off Cape Finisterre between a British Royal Naval fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney, and a fleet of Spanish merchants sailing in convoy with seven warships of the Caracas Company, under th ...

and took her into the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

as HMS ''St. Fermin''. The

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation, ...

recaptured her in 1781 and put her into service with the same name until she was decommissioned in 1785.

History

''St Fermin'' was a 16-gun armed merchantman that belonged to the Royal Guipuzcoan Company of Caracas. On 8 January 1780 she was under the command of Captain J. Vin. Eloy Sanchez and was sailing with a merchant convoy of the company. A British fleet under Admiral Sir

George Brydges Rodney Admiral George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, KB ( bap. 13 February 1718 – 24 May 1792), was a British naval officer. He is best known for his commands in the American War of Independence, particularly his victory over the French at t ...

intercepted the convoy at Cape Finisterre and captured it on 8 June. Rodney sent to Britain the vessels of the convoy that were carrying commercial goods, with the captured 64-gun ship ''Guipuzcoano'' providing the escort. Rodney took with him for the relief of Gibraltar those vessels that carried naval supplies, together with the two smaller captured escorts, ''Saint Fermin'' and . The British commissioned ''San Fermin'' in Gibraltar as the 16-gun sloop of war HMS ''St Fermin'', under Commander

Jonathan Faulknor The Faulknor family was an English family from Northamptonshire, of which several generations served as officers in the Royal Navy. William Faulknor William Faulknor (d. 25 February 1725) first appears as fourth lieutenant of the '' Royal William ...

. Despite Rodney's delivery of supplies and reinforcements, Spain's siege of Gibraltar continued. At 1am on 7 June the Spanish launched an attack on Gibraltar by seven

fireship A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy sh ...

s. Boats from ''St Fermin'' helped tow some of these to where they could do no harm. By the firelight the British observed that some Spanish warships were waiting outside to intercept any British vessels that might try to escape. None did and the attack failed completely. On 19 October ''St Fermin'' exchanged shots with some Spanish gunboats. ''St Fermin'' was not harmed. On the evening of the 3 April 1781 ''St Fermin'' sailed from Gibraltar to

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its capi ...

with dispatches, together with the tender to , and a settee. At the time, the British maintained contact with the British forces there, at least until 1782 when that island fell, by sending small, fast-sailing ships to run the blockade. On the way to Menorca, about 10 miles off Málaga, ''St Fermin'' was captured after a chase by two Spanish

xebec A xebec ( or ), also spelled zebec, was a Mediterranean sailing ship that was used mostly for trading. Xebecs had a long overhanging bowsprit and aft-set mizzen mast. The term can also refer to a small, fast vessel of the sixteenth to nineteenth ...

s the next day. Her captors took her to Cartagena, Spain. She then served the Spanish Navy until decommissioned in 1785.

Citations and references

Citations

References

* * * * *Russell, Jack (1965) ''Gibraltar besieged, 1779–1783''. (Heinemann Publishing). * {{DEFAULTSORT:St Fermin (1780) Sloops of the Royal Navy Maritime incidents in 1781 1779 ships Privateer ships Captured ships Corvettes of Spain