Action of 2 October 1762

The Action of 2 October 1762 was a minor naval battle that was fought in the San Bernardino Strait off the coast off British occupied Manila in the Philippines between two Royal naval ships; the 60 gun ship of the line HMS Panther and the 28 gun frigate HMS Argo and a heavily armed Spanish treasure galleon, Santisima Trinidad.

The Santisima Trinidad was a large ship constructed in 1750 at Manila of 60 guns and at the time the largest Manila galleon ever built. It was built for trade in the Pacific between the Spanish colonies. On 1 August 1762 the Santisima Trinidad departed the port of Cavite in the Spanish Philippines for Acapulco Spanish Mexico with a cargo of valuables. However due to contrary winds she never left the Bernardino Strait until late September. On the night of 2-3 October a storm possibly the tail end of a Typhoon bought down the fore & mainmasts and it was decided to turn back to Cavite under a jury rig. Unbeknown to the ships company Spain and Great Britain were at war as Spain had joined on the side of the French. As a result a British and East Indian Company task force from India had thus seized Manila just as the Trinidad had left port.

As the Trinidad passed through the San Bernadina Strait HMS Panther and HMS Argo soon discovered and caught up with the ship. An action followed with Argo and Panther concentrating their fire on the masts and rigging. To Parkers amazement the shots from Panther made very little impression on the galleons hardwood. However Trinidad was soon disabled and unable to manoeuvre was left a dismasted wreck. Despite this Trinidad managed to put up stout resistance and continued for a total of 2 hours but the ship was overcrowded for its size of nearly 800 crew, marines, civilians and its large cargo. It had in fact less than half the guns required to fight. Soon the Spanish commander realised that any further resistance was futile and surrendered soon after. The cost for the Spanish was 18 killed and 10 wounded and 750 captured while British casualties were 35 killed and 37 wounded.

The treasure though was the ultimate prize and at 2 million dollars which roughly equated at £30,000 each for the two captains an enormous amount of money in those times. The Trinidad was later sent to Plymouth in 1764 and subsequently broken up for her wood.

The Manila ransom which was supposed to be paid by Spain in return for Manila never happened. The capture of the Santisima Trinidad however made the expedition and the occupation rewarding more to the British rather than the East India Company.