The action of 6 May 1801 was a minor naval engagement between the 32-gun xebec-frigate El Gamo of the Spanish Navy under the command of Don Francisco de Torres and the much smaller 14-gun brig HMS Speedy under the command of Thomas, Lord Cochrane. El Gamo was captured despite being four times as large, with much greater firepower and a crew six times the size of Speedy, which had a reduced crew of 54 at the time of the engagement.

Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Marquess of Maranhão (14 December 1775 – 31 October 1860), styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a British naval flag officer of the Royal Navy, mercenary and Radical politician. He was a successful captain of the Napoleonic Wars, leading Napoleon to nickname him le Loup des Mers, 'the Sea Wolf'. He was successful in virtually all of his naval actions.

He was dismissed from the Royal Navy in 1814 after a controversial conviction for fraud on the Stock Exchange. He helped organise and lead the rebel navies of Chile and Brazil during their respective successful wars of independence through the 1820s. While in charge of the Chilean Navy, Cochrane also contributed to Peruvian independence through the Freedom Expedition of Perú. He was also hired to help the Greek Navy, but did not have much impact.

In 1832, he was pardoned by the Crown and reinstated in the Royal Navy with the rank of Rear-Admiral of the Blue. After several more promotions, he died in 1860 with the rank of Admiral of the Red, and the honorary title of Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom.

His life and exploits inspired the naval fiction of 19th- and 20th-century novelists, particularly the fictional characters C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey.