On This Day 10 December

[Coog]

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.

[Coog]

The Netherland Marine Corps (Korps Mariniers) was founded on 10 December 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War by the unofficial leader of the Dutch Republic, Johan de Witt, and Admiral Michiel de Ruyter as the Regiment de Marine. Its leader was Willem Joseph van Ghent. The Dutch had successfully used ordinary soldiers in ships at sea in the First Anglo-Dutch War. It was the fifth European Marine unit formed, being preceded by the Spain's Infantería de Armada (1537), the Portuguese Marine Corps (1610), France's Troupes de marine (1622), and the English Royal Marines (1664). Like Britain, the Netherlands has had several periods when its Marines were disbanded. The Netherlands itself was under French occupation or control from 1810 until 1813. A new Marine unit was raised on 20 March 1801 during the time of the Batavian Republic and on 14 August 1806 the Korps Koninklijke Grenadiers van de Marine was raised under King Louis Bonaparte. The modern Korps Mariniers dates from 1814, receiving its current name in 1817.

[David Manley]

Meanwhile....

1809 - HMS Royalist captured the French privateer Beau Marseille 4 miles SSE of Dungeness

1810 - HMS Rosario (10) captured the French privateer Mameluk (16) South of Dungeness (a popular hang out for those pesky privateers, it seems :) )