HMS Speedy and the navy's rise

It was during the Napoleonic period that the Royal Navy gained its position as the world's dominant naval force, a position that it was to maintain until the Second World War. It did not gain this position through technology as it was quite common for ships to pass through several navies during the course of their careers, normally ones on opposite sides. Nor did it gain this premier reputation due to simple weight of numbers, though it had many ships, or just the economic clout of the country behind it, though Britain was becoming more properous. One thing that it did have over all of its rivals at that time was the attitude of the people commanding its ships which can be best described as ... rabid.

During this period the form of regulated piracy that would become known as the Prize' system was very much in force. If managed to capture a lot of prizes then you could become very very wealthy. The money went up and down the chain of command from the lowest sailor up to the Captain (if they were sailing on an independent commission) or the admiral in charge of the engagement, the shares in the prize money was split up according to rank. Even in during the First World War, which marked the effective end of the Prize System the King's Regulations includes the number of shares that each man had in any prize money that the ship got as well as his regular pay. Nelson started his career the poor second son of a farmer, but he ended it hugely rich because of the prizes that he had captured.

The other spur to action was what happened if they failed to do their uppermost to engage the enemy. The regulations stated that the commander would have to answer for his actions to a Court Martial, and could even be executed. The Byng case showed that this was no empty threat, and that even Admirals could find themselves facing a firing squad. This combination of the carrot of huge rewards and the stick of harsh penalties lead to Royal Navy commanders being willing to attack anything, anywhere, anytime. If it floated it was a target, even if a more rational mind withdraw because they were up against an opponent that hopelessly out gunned them.

An example of this happened on this day in 1801 when Thomas Cochrane in HMS Speedy attacked and captured the Spanish frigate El Gamo despite it being four times their size and sporting 32 guns to Speedy's 14. The napoleonic period has many incidents like this, incidents so unlikely that if you where to fictionalise them you would have to tone things down to make them seem believable, and they set the tone for a century and a half of dominance.