. In practical terms, the British interception of the four Real Armada frigates represented the end of an era for Bourbon Spain and regular specie shipments from the Spanish Empire's New World mines and mints. The squadron to which
Mercedes belonged was the last of its kind that the world would see: a Spanish treasure fleet moving bullion from the New World Viceroyalties to the Iberian kingdoms. Under the terms of the
Cruizers and Convoys Act 1708 (
6 Ann. c. 65) ships captured at sea were "
Droits of the Crown" and became the property of their captors, who received the full value of the ships and cargo in
prize money. Technically Britain and Spain were not at war at the time of the action, so the seizure of the ships and their cargo was an act of piracy and the
Admiralty Court ruled that the three ships were "Droits of the Admiralty", and all revenues would revert to them. The four Spanish ships carried a total of 4,286,508
Spanish dollars in silver and gold coin, as well as 150,000 gold ingots, 75 sacks of wool, 1,666 bars of tin, 571 pigs of copper, seal skins and oil, although 1.2 million in silver, half the copper and a quarter of the tin went down with the
Mercedes. Still, the remaining ships and cargo were assessed at a value of £900,000 (equivalent to £ in ). After much legal argument an
ex gratia payment was made amounting to £160,000, of which the four captains would have each received £15,000 (equivalent to £ in ). Captain Gore had previously received an even greater sum as captain of in the similar
Action of 16 October 1799.
Medea was taken into the Royal Navy as (later renamed HMS
Imperieuse),
Santa Clara as and
Fama as . Spain declared war on Great Britain on 14 December 1804, but suffered a catastrophic defeat less than a year later at the
Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805.
Napoleon, having crowned himself Emperor on 2 December, gained Spain as an ally in his war against Britain. ==Order of battle==