Captain Thomas Cochrane in the 14-gun HMS Speedy captures the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo.

Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a British naval officer, politician and mercenary. Serving during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in the Royal Navy, his naval successes led Napoleon to nickname him le Loup des Mers. He was successful in virtually all his naval actions.

HMS Speedy was a 14-gun Speedy-class brig sloop of the Royal Navy. Built during the last years of the American War of Independence, she served with distinction during the French Revolutionary Wars.

The action of 6 May 1801 was a single-ship action fought between the Spanish Navy xebec-frigate El Gamo and the Royal Navy sloop-of-war HMS Speedy during the War of the Second Coalition. Under the command of Commander Lord Cochrane, Speedy, with a crew of 54 men and mounting 14 guns, captured El Gamo, which mounted 32 guns and had 319 personnel onboard. The Spanish commander, Don Francisco de Torres, was one of 14 Spaniards killed during the engagement, with the British capturing the rest of El Gamo's crew and eventually selling the ship to the Regency of Algiers.

El Gamo was a 32-gun xebec-frigate of the Spanish Navy captured by the Royal Navy sloop-of-war HMS Speedy in the action of 6 May 1801. The engagement was notable for the large disparity between the size and firepower of El Gamo and Speedy; the former was around four times the size, had much greater firepower and a crew six times the size of Speedy, which had a reduced crew of 54 at the time. After her capture, the British sold El Gamo to the Regency of Algiers as a merchant ship.