Spanish ship San Agustín (1768)

"Spanish ship San Agustin" redirects here. For the 16th-century Manila galleon, see Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho.

The San Agustín was a 74-gun ship of the line built at the royal shipyard in Guarnizo (Santander) and launched in 1768.

The Battle of Trafalgar, the boarding of the 'San Augustino' by the 'Leviathan'
History
Spain
Name	San Agustín
Builder	Guarnizo (Santander)
Launched	1768
Fate	Wrecked, 22 October 1805
General characteristics
Class and type	74-gun ship of the line
Tons burthen	2700 tons
Complement	530 officers and men
Armament	74 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 26 pdrs Upper gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs Quarterdeck: 16 × 8 pdrs

She was captured by Portugal in 1776, but returned the following year.

In January 1780, during the American War of Independence, she was part of a squadron of 11 of the line under command of Admiral Don Juan de Lángara left on patrol off Cape St. Vincent to intercept an expected British convoy for Gibraltar. But, when it appeared, the British fleet, under Sir George Rodney, greatly outnumbered the Spanish squadron, with 18 ships of the line. The result was the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780), off the stormy, dark cliffs of Cape Santa María through the afternoon and evening of 16 January 1780. Six Spanish ships of the line were captured and one destroyed. The San Agustín and San Genaro were the only Spanish ships of the line to escape unscathed.

During the Napoleonic wars, she fought at the Battle of Algeciras in 1801 and the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

Bibliography

• Winfield, Rif; Tredrea, John M; García-Torralba Pérez, Enrique & Blasco Felip, Manuel (2023). Spanish Warships in the Age of Sail 1700—1860: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-9078-1.