Action of 12 December 1779

Action of 12 December 1779 Part of the American War of Independence Date 12 December 1779 Location off Punta Sal, present day Bay of Honduras Result British victory Belligerents  Great Britain Spain Commanders and leaders Charles Inglis Juan Antonio Zavelleta Strength 1 Fourth-rate HMS Salisbury 1 privateer Ship of the line San Carlos Casualties and losses 9 killed & 9 wounded San Carlos captured 60 killed or wounded 337 captured[1]

American Revolutionary War: Caribbean theater 1st Nassau Barbados Dominica 1st St. Lucia 2nd St. Lucia Saint Vincent 1st Grenada 2nd Grenada Río Hondo Cayo Cocina San Fernando 12 December 1779 1st Martinique Guadeloupe 2nd Martinique Bermuda Fort San Juan Dutch West Indies Sint Eustatius Fort Royal Tobago Brimstone Hill Frigate Bay Demerara and Essequibo Montserrat Roatán The Saintes Mona Passage Black River 2nd Nassau 18 October 1782 6 December 1782 15 February 1783 17 February 1783 Turks and Caicos 3rd Nassau Anglo-Spanish War 1779–1783 Europe and the Atlantic English Channel Gibraltar Azores Lisbon 20 November 1779 Cape Finisterre St. Vincent Cape St. Maria 25 February 1781 1 May 1781 Minorca Strait of Gibraltar Cape Spartel Florida and Louisiana Fort Bute Lake Pontchartrain Baton Rouge Fort Charlotte St. Louis Mobile Pensacola Central America San Fernando 12 December 1779 Fort San Juan Roatán Black River Caribbean 1st Nassau 17 February 1783 2nd Nassau

The Action of 12 December 1779 was a minor naval engagement that took place in the Bay of Honduras during the American War of Independence between a British Royal naval Fourth-rate fifty gun ship and a fifty gun Spanish privateer.^[2]

The 50-gun HMS Salisbury had sailed for Jamaica in January 1779 under the command of Charles Inglis.^[3]

On 12 December she was sailing in the Bay of Honduras off the coast of the Punta Sal when at daybreak a large ship was sighted ahead.^[1] Inglis gave chase, a pursuit which lasted all day until Salisbury came in range at 6.30pm. The fleeing ship hoisted Spanish colours and an action began, which last until 8.30 pm when the Spanish ship had her mainmast shot away. Having sustained heavy casualties and suffered considerable damage, she struck her colours.^[1]

She was found to be the 50-gun privateer San Carlos under Don Juan Antonio Zavelleta, carrying stores; mainly 5,000 stand of arms heading from Cadiz to Fort Omoa, which had recently been captured and then abandoned by British forces.^[4]

In the battle the San Carlos had a complement of 397 men with 60 men killed or wounded and the rest being captured.^[1] Four men were killed on Salisbury and fourteen wounded of which five were mortal.^[1] Inglis then sailed to Jamaica carrying the San Carlos in and then distributed the prize money before heading to North America by the summer of 1780.^[2][3]

References

Notes

Further Reading

• Allen, Joseph (1852). Battles of the British Navy, Volume 1. Bohn's illustrated library. ASIN B009ZMMQ56.