HM gunboat ''Hannah'' was a small gun vessel that 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 F ...

hired in 1803. Originally she served on the Irish Station. However, she was in the Mediterranean serving as a tender to when a Spanish privateer captured her in 1806 in a

single-ship action A single-ship action is a naval engagement fought between two warships of opposing sides, excluding submarine engagements; called so because there is a single ship on each side. The following is a list of notable single-ship actions. Single-shi ...

Capture

On 25 October 1806 Lieutenant John Foote and ''Hannah'' were covering the passage of a convoy through the Straits of Gibraltar. ''Hannah''s crew consisted of 27 men from ''Queen'' and . They were off Cabrita point when Foote sighted a Spanish mistico towing an English merchantman that she had captured. Foote sailed towards the two, intending to attempt to recover the captured vessel. As ''Hannah'' approached the mistico cast off the tow and altered course towards ''Hannah''. Foote, realizing that the mistico was larger than ''Hannah'', attempted to escape, but the mistico soon overtook her and opened fire. Foote realized that the only hope was to carry the mistico by boarding. He ran ''Hannah'' alongside the mistico. However, a large number of Spaniards leapt aboard ''Hannah''. Some ten or so minutes of hand-to-hand combat ensued before Foote decided to

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

. He stated that he struck to spare his men's lives when he "saw scarce an Englishman standing, and another Privateer coming up close". The British had suffered seven men killed (two of whom had drowned), and 12 wounded (including Foote), one of whom died later. The Spanish had three men seriously wounded.''El apresamiento del bergantín HMS Hannah''. Accessed 27 October 2018
/ref> The mistico was the privateer ''Gibraltar'' (aka ''Generalissimo''), under the command of Captain Damián Gabarrón. She was armed with four guns and had a crew of 70 men.

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References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hannah (1803) 1800s ships Hired armed vessels of the Royal Navy Captured ships