England's long war with Revolutionary France began in February 1793 but it was not until August 1796, under a treaty of alliance, that Spain was drawn into the conflict on the French side. On 8th October the same year, Spain formally declared War against England and, only five days later, lost her first ship-of-War to the Royal Navy.
At daybreak on 13th October [1796], the British 32-gun frigate Terpsichore was cruising off the port of Cartagena, on Spain's Mediterranean coast, when she sighted an unknown vessel to windward. A more cautious man than Captain Richard Bowen, R.N., would have made sail and quit the scene; he had already left 30 sick men at the hospital in Gibraltar and the frigate's 'Convalescent Lists' showed more than that number still aboard, many of them "dangerously ill" and none of them strong enough to be of any use in action. Furthermore, a sizeable Spanish fleet had been reported in the area only two days previously and its whereabouts was currently unknown. It would therefore have been perfectly prudent for Bowen to have departed immediately but he refused to entertain the idea and stayed on course to intercept the stranger.
At 9.30am., the still unidentified frigate was within hailing distance of Terpsichore and Bowen fired a single shot to ascertain her intentions which was instantly answered by a full broadside. Hoisting her Spanish colours, the 34-gun Mahonesa began the engagement with gusto but, after one hour and twenty minutes, tried to make off even though she had more than held her own in the fight. Moreover, Terpsichore had suffered significant damage but her crew set to work and, in only twenty minutes, managed to rig a good spread of sail which enabled Bowen to go after the Spaniard. Overhauling her after a short chase, Terpsichore hotly engaged Mahonesa for the second time whereupon her Captain, Don Tomas Ayaldi, decided his ship had had enough and surrendered. Despite the severity of the action and the damage done to both frigates, Terpsichore suffered only 4 casualties whereas Mahonesa lost 30 killed and as many wounded, some of them mortally. Notwithstanding his shortage of fit men and the crippled state of Mahonesa, Captain Bowen nursed his prize safely into Lisbon to a hero's welcome.
Although Terpsichore nominally mounted 32-guns, it is recorded that she was carrying 40 on this occasion which clearly helped to compensate for both her deficient crew [186 men against Mahonesa's 275] and the fact that her opponent's tonnage was one-third larger than her own.
Whitcombe also painted an oil version of this action, from a slightly different - and somewhat later - perspective, which was engraved to illustrate James Jenkins' superlative publication The Naval Achievements of Great Britain (1793-1817), plate 15.