The Battle of Cape Santa Maria and the Explosion of the "Mercedes"

This illustration is a lithographic print drawn by J. Vallejo and engraved by J. J. Martínez. It appears on pages 792-3 of Volume II of ''Historia de la Marina Real Española'' (History of the Spanish Royal Navy), written by José March y Labores and published in Madrid in 1854.

It depicts the attack by the English fleet on a flotilla of 4 Spanish frigates that were returning from the Americas, laden with treasure from the viceroyalties for the Spanish Crown. The 4 frigates were the "Medea," "Santa Clara," "Fama," and "Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes." The English knew of the voyage and surprised the flotilla at Cape Santa Maria in Cádiz.

Before the battle, Commodore Sir Graham Moore, Vice Admiral of the British Navy, communicated to Brigadier Bustamante that he "was acting under the orders of His British Majesty to detain this division and take it to England, even at the cost of a bitter battle. For this sole objective he had come with 4 powerful frigates that were well-appointed and seaworthy, 3 weeks previously, to relieve another division with the same mission." Following Bustamante's refusal to surrender, the battle began and the frigate "Mercedes," after receiving a blow from a cannonball to its magazine, was blasted into the air and then lost at the bottom of the sea along with the treasure and the lives of 249 people.