Action of 10 December 1800

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.