Cutting out of the Hermione

The Cutting out of the Herminone or the Capture of Hermione was a naval action that took place at Puerto Cabello on 25 October 1799; the former British frigate HMS Hermione had been handed over the Spanish after a vicious mutiny, a British frigate HMS Surprise (1796) under Edward Hamilton was sent to recapture the vessel laying in the heavily guarded sea port of Puerto Cabello now under the command of Don Ramon de Chalas and restore honor to the Royal Navy. In naval terms this was called a cutting out operation, a boarding attack by small boats, preferably at night and against an unsuspecting and anchored target, which had become a popular tactic throughout the later 18th century.

Background
The Hermione was a frigate of the Royal Navy, commanded by Captain Hugh Pigot. In September 1797 a number of the crew had risen up against the apparently tyrannical Pigot and had murdered him and nine other officers, throwing their bodies overboard. Fearing retribution for their actions, the mutineers had sailed the Hermione to the Spanish port of La Guaira, and handed her over to the Spanish. The mutineers claimed they had set the officers adrift in a small boat, as had happened in the mutiny on the Bounty some eight years earlier.

The Spaniards took Hermione into service under the name Santa Cecilia where she remained for two years at La Guaira. Her crew which included 25 of her former crew, remained under Spanish guard.

Meanwhile, news of the fate of Hermione reached Admiral Sir Hyde Parker when HMS Diligence captured a Spanish schooner. Parker wrote to the governor of La Guaira, demanding the return of the ship and the surrender of the mutineers but the Governor only moved the ship to Puerto Cabello. Meanwhile he dispatched HMS Magicienne (1781) under Captain Henry Ricketts to commence negotiations. He also set up a system of informers and posted rewards that eventually led to the capture of 33 of the mutineers. News eventually reached Parker that the Santa Cecilia had been sighted in Puerto Cabello, and ordered HMSSurprise to intercept her, should she attempt to put to sea.

Hamilton decided that the honour of the Navy depended on the recovery of the ship, and was determined to retake her. Anchoring near the port he devised a plan to cut her out of the harbour and asked for a boat and an extra 20 men from Parker. Parker declared the scheme too risky, and refused to send the men, but Hamilton went ahead anyway.

Battle
Hamilton had a force of some 100 soldiers and sailors in Surprises' boats approached the Santa Cecilia, which was heavily manned with around 400 Spanish under the command of Captain Don Ramon de Chalas, and lay under the guns of two shore batteries, together mounting some 200 guns.

Hamilton meticulously planned the capture; the boarding parties were clothed in dark only with no sign of white or light colours. Each boats was to be arranged in a formation of two divisions and were to be towed in threes. One division would attack the starboard side while the other was to board the larboard side. Each boat was given a specific task of a part of the ship for which they were to conduct their own part of the operation.

Stealth was to be a key part but Hamilton did not achieve this because as he led his boats for the attack he was spotted by two Spanish gun-vessels. In addition some of the boats were caught in a boom but soon struggled free and this too alerted the Spanish shore batteries who opened fire. With the alarm given the crew of the Santa Cecilia were ready for the British as the boats got alongside her. As the British approached the Spanish kept up a brisk fire of musketry but fired on their own gun boats as well the attacking British which caused confusion to both sides.

Nevertheless Santa Cecilia was boarded; initially the first party to board was pushed back and Hamilton was alone on the quarter deck fighting four Spaniards and a musket butt soon knocked him down. At this moment the other division had swung around and they too boarded the ship. This included the Marines who with a single volley rushed the main deck and charged with the bayonet driving the Spaniards from the top decks who were then caught in a crossfire; they were then driven off the deck and the fight continued in the heart of the ship. At the same time the sailors were cutting the cables and sails were loosed to catch the breeze. The Spanish had soon surrendered after the captain de Challas was wounded and captured and were taken below despite some resistance by a few who tried to take back the ship.

The batteries surrounding Puerto Cabello opened fire when they saw the ship sailing away and scored a number of hits on the ship but no major damage was received. Hamilton despite the wound then ordered no shots to be fired and no light to be shown, a tactic which worked as Hamilton then sailed her out of danger.

By 2 am the battle was over and fire from the shore batteries had died down and the boats with the Santa Cecilia met up with Surprise by 3am.

Aftermath
The Spanish had lost 119 killed, while 231 were taken prisoner, 97 of whom were wounded. All but three including Don Challas and two other officers were subsequently returned to the port the next day. Another fifteen Spanish escaped by jumping overboard and swimming ashore, while 20 more escaped in a launch that had been guarding the ship. By contrast the British had not lost a single man, and had just twelve wounded, four of them seriously one of them was Hamilton himself, who had suffered a blow to the head from a musket, and cuts from a sabre, pike and grapeshot.

Parker had the recaptured Hermione renamed HMS Retaliation, after which the Admiralty ordered her to be renamed HMS Retribution on 31 January 1800. The prize money was distributed making Hamilton a rich man, so much so that he declined a pension.

For his daring exploit, Hamilton was made a knight by letters patent, a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (2 January 1815), and eventually became a baronet (20 October 1818). The Jamaica House of Assembly awarded him a sword worth 300 guineas, and the City of London awarded him the Freedom of the City in a public dinner on 25 October 1800.

1847, the Admiralty awarded Hamilton a gold medal for the recapture of Hermione, and the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp, "Surprise with Hermione", to the seven surviving claimants from the action.

In Popular Culture
Captain Sawyer, commander of frigate HMS Renown in the Horatio Hornblower novel Lieutenant Hornblower is based on Captain Pigot, sharing many of the same mannerisms. Sawyer was portrayed by actor David Warner in the A&E miniseries Hornblower episodes "Mutiny" and "Retribution".