Spanish ship Neptuno (1795)
Encyclopedia
Neptuno was an 80-gun Montañes-class
Montañes class ship of the line
The Montañes were a class of four ships of the line built between 1794 and 1798. The four ships in the class, and their fates, were:* Montañés - ran aground in 1810,* Neptuno - lost in the storm after the Battle of Trafalgar,...

 ship of the line
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...

 of the Spanish Navy
Spanish Navy
The Spanish Navy is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Armada is responsible for notable achievements in world history such as the discovery of Americas, the first world circumnavigation, and the discovery of a maritime path...

. She was built in 1795 and took part in the French Revolutionary
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...

 and Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

. She fought with the Franco-Spanish fleet in the battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....

, and was wrecked in its aftermath.

Neptuno was built at Ferrol and launched in 1795. She entered service in time to support an attempt to unite with a French force and land troops in England, but the Spanish fleet under Admiral José de Córdoba was intercepted and engaged by a British fleet under Sir John Jervis
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, PC was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom...

. Neptuno did not take part in the battle, having been sent into port beforehand. Several years later she was in a Spanish port when the combined Franco-Spanish fleet under Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve was a French naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars. He was in command of the French and Spanish fleets defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar....

 arrived, having sailed to the West Indies and back, and been engaged by a British fleet in the Battle of Cape Finisterre
Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)
In the Battle of Cape Finisterre off Galicia, Spain, the British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder fought an indecisive naval battle against the Combined Franco-Spanish fleet which was returning from the West Indies...

. Neptuno joined the fleet in her attempt to reach Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

, but the plan to join with another French fleet failed and Neptuno ended up with the rest of the fleet, blockaded in Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....

 by a British fleet under Lord Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...

.

Villeneuve came out of Cadiz in late 1805, and was engaged by Nelson in the decisive Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....

 on 21 October. As the lead ship of the line, Neptuno was initially isolated from the main fighting, though she joined in an attempt later in the day to come to the aid of Villeneuve's flagship. Instead she became trapped and engaged by two British ships and, after fighting for over an hour, surrendered. She was taken in hand by a British prize crew, but two days after the battle a sortie by some of the survivors from the battle succeeded in retaking her. She was towed towards a friendly port but, already badly damaged in the battle, was caught up in the powerful storm that struck the area and ran aground. Her crew were evacuated, and Neptuno broke up in the heavy seas.

Construction and commissioning

Neptuno was built at the Royal Dockyard at Ferrol as one of the Montañes-class
Montañes class ship of the line
The Montañes were a class of four ships of the line built between 1794 and 1798. The four ships in the class, and their fates, were:* Montañés - ran aground in 1810,* Neptuno - lost in the storm after the Battle of Trafalgar,...

 of 74- and 80-gun ships of the line, a design developed by Romero Landa and based on his earlier San Ildefonso class of 1785. Among her sisters were the Argonauta and Monarca, both of which fought alongside Neptuno at Trafalgar. She carried twenty-eight 24-pounder guns
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...

 on her lower gundeck, thirty 18-pounders on her upper deck, fourteen 8-pounders on her quarter deck
Deck (ship)
A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary deck is the horizontal structure which forms the 'roof' for the hull, which both strengthens the hull and serves as the primary working surface...

 and four 8-pounders on her forecastle
Forecastle
Forecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters...

. By 1805 she had been fitted with four 18 pounder carronade
Carronade
The carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon...

s on her poop, while the 18 pounders on her upper deck had been replaced by 24 pounders. Overall work on the ships of the Montañes class was overseen by Julién de Retamosa, and Neptuno was launched at Ferrol in 1795.

There then followed a period of fitting out and carrying out sea trials during 1796, after which she was assigned to the Spanish Mediterranean fleet at Cartagena
Cartagena, Spain
Cartagena is a Spanish city and a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain. As of January 2011, it has a population of 218,210 inhabitants being the Region’s second largest municipality and the country’s 6th non-Province capital...

 under Admiral José de Córdoba. Shortly afterwards Spain allied with
Second Treaty of San Ildefonso
The Second Treaty of San Ildefonso was signed on August 19, 1796 between the Spanish Empire and the First French Republic. Based on the terms of the agreement, France and Spain would become allies and combine their forces against the British Empire.-See also:...

 Republican France and entered the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...

 against Britain and her allies. The Spanish Navy was assigned to support the planned invasion of Britain.

Alliance with France

Neptuno put to sea on 1 February 1797 with the rest of Córdoba's fleet, consisting of 27 ships of the line, twelve frigates, one brig and several smaller craft. They sailed from Cartagena and passed through the Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...

 on 5 February. Córdoba had orders to deliver a number of gunboats to Algeciras
Algeciras
Algeciras is a port city in the south of Spain, and is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar . Port of Algeciras is one of the largest ports in Europe and in the world in three categories: container,...

 to support the bombardment of Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

, safely escort a convoy of four urcas carrying mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...

 from Malaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...

 to Cadiz, and then sail to Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

 to link up with the French. The first part of the operation went smoothly, and Neptuno was detached with the 74-gun ships Bahama and Terrible, the 34-gun Nuestra Señora del Guadeloupe to take the gunboats into Algeciras. Neptuno and Bahama remained at Algeciras, while Terrible sailed to rejoin Córdoba.

Strong easterly winds prevented Córdoba from making port at Cadiz, and his ships were scattered to the west, before they could make sail back to the Spanish coast. As they approached Cadiz on 14 February his fleet was tracked down off Cape St Vincent by a British force under Sir John Jervis
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, PC was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom...

. Neptuno and her consorts took no part in the action that followed, during which the Spanish were defeated.

Approach to Trafalgar

By 1805 Neptuno was based at Ferrol, under the command of Captain Don Cayetano Valdés y Flores
Cayetano Valdés y Flores
Cayetano Valdés y Flores Bazán was a commander of the Spanish Navy, explorer, and captain general who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, fighting for both sides at different times due to the changing fortunes of Spain in the conflict...

. There she was joined in late July by ships of the combined Franco-Spanish fleet under Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve was a French naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars. He was in command of the French and Spanish fleets defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar....

. The combined fleet had recently arrived in European waters from the West Indies, where they had evaded a British fleet under Lord Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...

, but had failed to carry out any attacks on the British colonies in the Caribbean. The fleet, hotly pursued across the Atlantic by Nelson, had been intercepted by another fleet under Robert Calder
Robert Calder
Admiral Sir Robert Calder, 1st Baronet, KCB was a British naval officer who served in the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.-Early life:...

 that had been positioned off Cape Finisterre
Cape Finisterre
right|thumb|300px|Position of Cape Finisterre on the [[Iberian Peninsula]]Cape Finisterre is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain....

 in expectation of their arrival. Calder captured two of Villeneuve's ships in a confused action
Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)
In the Battle of Cape Finisterre off Galicia, Spain, the British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder fought an indecisive naval battle against the Combined Franco-Spanish fleet which was returning from the West Indies...

, after which Villeneuve withdrew to Ferrol and Corunna
A Coruña
A Coruña or La Coruña is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. It is the second-largest city in the autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the country...

. He sailed again on 9 August, taking the Spanish ships he had found in those ports, including Neptuno, with him, hoping to rendezvous with the French Rochefort squadron
Allemand's expedition of 1805
Allemand's expedition of 1805, often referred to as the Escadre invisible in French sources, was an important French naval expedition during the Napoleonic Wars, which formed a major diversion to the ongoing Trafalgar campaign in the Atlantic Ocean...

 under Zacharie Allemand
Zacharie Allemand
Zacharie Jacques Théodore Allemand, was a French admiral.- Early career :Allemand was born to a captain of the East Indian Company. Orphaned at an early age, he started his sailing career at 12 as an apprentice on Superbe, an East Indiaman...

. The hoped-for rendezvous failed: the two French fleets supposedly mistook each other for the main British fleet and, instead of joining, attempted to escape from each other, with Villeneuve fleeing to Cádiz.

After spending several months there, watched by the blockading British fleet under Nelson, Villeneuve decided to put to sea in mid-October. Valdés prepared Neptuno for sea, and the fleet sailed from Cadiz on 19 October. Neptuno was initially the rearmost ship of the combined fleet as it sailed southwards, but as the British approached on the morning of 21 October, Villeneuve formed the line of battle and ordered it to come about heading northwards, with Neptuno now the lead ship of the van. She was ahead of the 74-gun French Scipion, and formed part of the squadron under Rear-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley
Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley
Vice-Admiral Count Pierre-Etienne-René-Marie Dumanoir Le Pelley was a French Navy officer, best known for commanding the vanguard of the French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar.- Early career :...

, which had previously been intended as the rear of the fleet.

Trafalgar

Initially isolated by the British strike at the centre and rear of the combined fleet's line, Neptuno was ordered to hug the wind to allow the other ships to get to their stations. Neptuno was fired upon by the 64-gun , which had arrived late to the battle and sailed southwards parallel down the line, exchanging broadsides with the ships of the fleet. Africas long range fire caused little damage. At 2 pm Dumanoir brought the van around and headed south to support the beleaguered centre, trying to fight his way through to Villeneuve's flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

, the 80-gun Bucentaure
French ship Bucentaure (1804)
Bucentaure was a 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Latouche Tréville, who died on board on 18 August 1804....

. With Dumanoir in the attempt were Neptuno and four French ships, the 80-gun Formidable
French ship Formidable (1795)
Formidable was an 80-gun Tonnant class ship of the line of the French navy, laid down as Figuires and renamed in 1795. She was launched at Toulon in 1795. She participated in the Battle of Algeciras, the Battle of Cape Finisterre and several other actions before the British captured her at the...

, and the 74-gun ships Scipion, Duguay-Trouin
HMS Implacable (1805)
HMS Implacable was a 74-gun third rate of the Royal Navy. She was originally the French Navy's Téméraire-class ship of the line Duguay-Trouin, launched in 1800....

 and the Mont-Blanc
French ship Mont-Blanc (1791)
Mont-Blanc was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the French Navy.She was built at Rochefort as Pyrrhus in 1791. She was renamed Mont-Blanc in 1793 before being renamed Trente-et-un Mai in 1794. Under that name she fought at the Battle of the First of June in June 1794 under Honoré Joseph...

. Neptuno fought her way through to Bucentaure, with Valdés hoping to use her boats to recapture the flagship. The plan came to nothing when he discovered the boats had been destroyed by gunfire. Neptuno herself was soon in trouble; at 4 pm she was cut off by the two rear-most ships of Nelson's weather column, the newly arrived 74-gun ships and .

Neptuno fought both of them for the next hour, having her mizzen mast shot away, and her rigging badly damaged. Valdés, who had already been wounded twice during the battle, was hit in the head and neck by falling debris from the collapsing mizzenmast and lost consciousness. He was taken below to be treated, and command devolved to his second, Joaquín Somoza. After an hour of fighting Neptuno lost her fore topmast, the foretop, foreyard and foreshrouds, followed by her main topmast and the main stay. Valdés' successor, Somoza, was also wounded, and First Lieutenant Antonio Miranda took command. Neptuno struck her colours at 5.10 pm, becoming the last of the combined fleet to surrender. Accounts of her casualties vary but they appear to have been relatively light, with 38 to 42 dead and 42 to 47 wounded. She had by now been isolated from the rest of the fleet, and may have surrendered due to declining morale as a result. The British had been aiming high, in order to disable Neptuno and prevent her from escaping. A boarding party of 48 men from Minotaur, led by Marine Second Lieutenant Thomas Reeves arrived onboard to take Neptunos surrender. Valdés was undergoing treatment in the cockpit
Cockpit (sailing)
In the Royal Navy, the term cockpit originally referred to the area where the coxswain was stationed. This led to the word being used to refer to the area towards the stern of a small decked vessel that houses the rudder controls...

, so First Lieutenant Antonio Miranda went aboard Minotaur and submitted his sword to her captain, Charles Mansfield. Reeves took of a lieutenant and twenty-five men out of Neptuno and sent them to Minotaur, secured the prisoners aboard Neptuno, locked away the firearms, and placed a guard on the magazine
Magazine (artillery)
Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...

.

Storm, and wreck

Minotaur took Neptuno in tow at 3.30 am the next day, and at daylight work began to clear away the wreckage of battle. As the storm rose, the towline snapped, putting Neptuno in danger of running onto a lee shore
Lee shore
The terms lee shore and windweather or ward shore are nautical terms used to describe a stretch of shoreline. A lee shore is one that is to the lee side of a vessel - meaning the wind is blowing towards it. A weather shore has the wind blowing from inland over it out to sea...

 and being wrecked. The battered mainmast collapsed on 22 October, smashing through the captain's cabins below the poop, crushing to death Spanish paymaster Diego de Soto as he slept, and killing one of the British prize crew. Now completely dismasted the crew struggled to shore up the decks to prevent them from collapsing, and tried to jury rig sails.

On 23 October French Captain Julien Cosmao
Julien Cosmao
Julien Marie Cosmao-Kerjulien was a French Navy officer, admiral, and hero of the Battle of Trafalgar.- Early career :...

 made a sortie from Cadiz with some of the more seaworthy ships that had escaped the battle, in an attempt to retake some of the captured prizes. Cosmao's squadron consisted of two French 80-gun ships, Neptune and Indomptable
French ship Indomptable (1789)
Indomptable was an 80-gun ship of the line in the French Navy.She took part in the Glorious First of June on 29 May 1794, engaging the English Barfleur and Orion simultaneously, after which the Indomptable, having lost her masts, was towed to Brest by the Brutus .In 1795, she served in the...

, the 74-gun French Pluton
French ship Pluton (1804)
Pluton was a 74-gun French ship of the line built at Toulon.It took part in the Battle of Trafalgar under Captain Julien Cosmao escaped to Cádiz with other ships. Two days later, on 23 October 1805, she was the flagship of the counter-attack from Cádiz, together with Indomptable, Neptune, Rayo, and...

, and two Spanish ships, the 100-gun Rayo and the 74-gun San Francisco de Asis. Also with the ships of the line were the smaller French ships that had been present at the battle but had not taken part, the frigates Cornélie
French frigate Cornélie (1797)
The Cornélie was a 44-gun Virginie class frigate of the French Navy.In April 1799, along with Vengeance and Sémillante, she fought against HMS St Fiorenzo and Amelia....

, Thémis
French frigate Thémis (1801)
The Thémis was a 40-gun Coquille class frigate of the French Navy.She took part in the Battle of Cape Finisterre and in the Battle of Trafalgar. After the battle of Trafalgar, she took Principe de Asturias in tow to safety in Cadiz....

, Hortense
French frigate Hortense (1803)
The Hortense was a 40-gun Hortense Class frigate of the French Navy.In January 1805, she was sent to observe British movements off Toulon, along with Incorruptible. On 4 February, they attacked a convoy, destroying 7 ships...

, Rhin
French frigate Rhin (1802)
Rhin was a 44-gun Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy launched in 1802. She was present at two major battles while in French service. Then the Royal Navy captured her in 1806. Thereafter Rhin served until 1815 capturing numerous vessels. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars she was laid up...

 and Hermione
French frigate Hermione (1804)
The Hermione was a 40-gun Hortense Class frigate of the French Navy.Ordered by the Italian Republic as a gift to France under the name République Italienne, she was renamed to Hermione on 26 December 1803, to be launched in December 1804....

, and the brigs Furet
French brig Furet (1801)
Furet was an Abeille class 16-gun brig of the French Navy.She took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, after which she found herself bloackaded in Cadiz.She took part in Lamellerie's expedition, and was captured by HMS Hydra on 27 February 1806....

 and Argus
French brig Argus (1802)
Argus was a Vigilant class 16-gun brig of the French Navy.She took part in the Battle of Trafalgar. She fought off Cayenne on 21 July 1807 at the sides of Favorite.She was broken up at Cayenne in April 1807.-References:...

. In preparation for the counter-attack the British cast off several of the prizes and formed a defensive line. While Cornélie, Hortense, Thémis and Rhin harassed the British, Hermione took Neptuno in tow, while the Spanish crew rose up and took back their ship. The British prize crew were sent below to work the pumps, while Neptuno made anchor in Cadiz Bay. During the night the storm rose again, and Neptuno dragged her anchors and ran onshore.

Lines were quickly passed between the ship and shore, and rafts were constructed to take men off the stricken ship. One raft made several trips to and from the shore, until it capsized, drowning several men. Over the next few days the remaining men, including the wounded Captain Valdés, were taken off by rafts and fishing boats. The abandoned Neptuno was soon pounded to pieces in the heavy seas, with the loss of around 20 men in her wreck. Neptuno was not the only ship to suffer this fate, a number of the captured British prizes were scuttled or left to be wrecked, while several of the ships that had accompanied Cosmao's sortie were lost. The Indomptable was lost after she grounded off Rota, as was the San Francisco de Asis, in Cadiz Bay. The Rayo attempted to anchor off San Lucar and ride out the storm, but rolled out her masts in the heavy seas. came up, and being unable to resist, Rayo surrendered to her, but was driven on shore on 26 October and wrecked. Cosmao managed to retake only one other prize aside from Neptuno, the 112-gun Santa Ana
Spanish ship Santa Ana (1784)
The Santa Ana was a 112-gun three-decker ship of the line of the Spanish Navy, built to plans by Romero Landa. She was the prototype and lead ship of the Santa Ana class, also known as los Meregildos, which were built during the following years at Ferrol and Havana and which formed the backbone of...

. Unlike Neptuno, the Santa Ana made it back to Cadiz.

The remains of the French fleet were bottled up in Cadiz under Rear-Admiral Rosily
François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros
François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros was a French naval commander of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. He is notable as being chosen by Napoleon to succeed Villeneuve as commander of the combined Franco-Spanish fleet at Cádiz fleet, arriving to take up his appointment just after its...

, trapped there by the British blockade. The remaining ships were seized by the Spanish after they entered the war against France in 1808. One of the French ships taken was the 80-gun Neptune, which had fought at Trafalgar; the Spanish took her into their service, renaming her Neptuno as a replacement for the ship lost in 1805. This new Neptuno served with the Spanish Navy until being broken up in 1820.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK