Back in 1800, Thomas Cochrane, the guy who inspired Jack Aubrey from Master and Commander, got his first command: a little sloop called the Speedy.

It had 14 four-pounder guns and a crew of about 80 men. Mostly, Cochrane did convoy duty, but he also got a few chances to go on cruises where he was told to harass the enemy for a month at a time.

He was really good at this and ended up sending off almost half his crew in captured ships (prizes). He pissed off the Spanish so much that they sent a frigate after him called the El Gamo, which had 32 guns (ranging from 8 to 32 pounders) and about 320 men.

One fine morning, the El Gamo caught up to the Speedy, which Cochrane had disguised as a Danish vessel. He even found someone who spoke Danish to pretend to be the captain, and they managed to get away.

A little while later, though, the El Gamo found them again but didn’t fall for the same trick. The 32-gun frigate, with a broadside weight (total weight of cannonballs if the ship fired a salvo) of close to 200 pounds and six times as many men, was up against the little sloop with such a light broadside weight that Cochrane claimed he could walk around with it in his pocket (28 pounds).

Knowing he was in deep trouble, Cochrane closed in on the El Gamo, pointed his guns up as high as he could, loaded them with three cannonballs each, and fired.

This first salvo killed the captain of the El Gamo. When the El Gamo fired their entire broadside, they missed! The Speedy was so small that the cannonballs from the El Gamo shot over the top and only damaged the sails.

No matter how hard they tried, the El Gamo couldn’t get their guns to point down enough. So, they tried boarding. But every time they tried, the Speedy would pull away. Whenever the El Gamo tried to shoot at them, the Speedy would come in close again and then pull away when they tried to board.

This went on until the Speedy couldn’t sail anymore. So, Cochrane brought the two ships together and boarded the El Gamo. Fifty-three men stormed onto the El Gamo (the doctor stayed behind) and managed to capture the quarterdeck and pull down the flag, making the remaining crew of the El Gamo think they had surrendered.

The final tally was Speedy: three dead, nine wounded; El Gamo: 14 dead, 41 wounded, and 300 captured. This was just one of Cochrane’s unbelievable actions. Cochrane is a national hero in not just one, but FOUR countries due to his exploits in Chile, Peru, and Brazil. You can share this story on social media:

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