''Nuestra Señora de la Concepción'' (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

: "Our Lady of the (Immaculate) Conception") was a 120-ton

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch W ...

that sailed the

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

–

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

trading route during the 16th century. This ship has earned a place in maritime history not only by virtue of being

Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ( ...

's most famous prize, but also because of her colourful nickname, ''Cagafuego'' ("fireshitter").Coote, p.156

Capture by Sir Francis Drake

At the helm of his ship ''

Golden Hind ''Golden Hind'' was a galleon captained by Francis Drake in his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580. She was originally known as ''Pelican,'' but Drake renamed her mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hat ...

'', Sir Francis Drake had slipped into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

via the strait of Magellan in 1578 without the knowledge of the Spanish authorities in South America. Privateers and pirates were common during the 16th century throughout the

Spanish Main During the Spanish colonization of America, the Spanish Main was the collective term for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. The term was used to di ...

but were unheard of in the Pacific. Accordingly, the South American settlements were not prepared for the attack of "el Draque" (Spanish pronunciation of Sir Francis' last name), as Drake was to be known to his Spanish victims. During this trip, Drake pillaged

El Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists of the whole Call ...

(Peru's main port) and was able to gather information regarding the treasure ship ''Cagafuego,'' which was sailing toward Panama laden with silver and jewels. ''Golden Hind'' caught up with ''Cagafuego'' on 1 March 1579, in the vicinity of

Esmeraldas, Ecuador Esmeraldas () is a coastal city in northwestern Ecuador. It is the seat of the Esmeraldas Canton and capital of the Esmeraldas Province. It has an international sea port and a small airport (IATA location identifier: ESM). Esmeraldas is the major s ...

. Since it was the middle of the day and Drake did not want to arouse suspicions by reducing sails, he trailed some wine casks behind ''Golden Hind'' to slow her progress and allow enough time for night to fall. In the early evening, after disguising ''Golden Hind'' as a merchantman, Drake finally came alongside his target and, when the Spanish captain San Juan de Antón refused to surrender, opened fire. ''Golden Hind''s first broadside took off ''Cagafuego''s mizzenmast. When the English sailors opened fire with muskets and crossbows, ''Golden Hind'' came alongside, with a boarding party. Since they were not expecting English ships to be in the Pacific, ''Cagafuego''s crew was taken completely by surprise and surrendered quickly and without much resistance. Once in control of the galleon, Drake brought both ships to a secluded stretch of coastline and over the course of the next six days unloaded the treasure.Coote, p.157 Drake was pleased at his good luck in capturing the galleon, and he showed it by dining with ''Cagafuego''s officers and gentleman passengers. He offloaded his captives a short time later, and gave each one gifts appropriate to their rank, as well as a letter of safe conduct. Laden with the treasure from ''Cagafuego'', ''Golden Hind'' continued its voyage first to

New Albion New Albion, also known as ''Nova Albion'' (in reference to an archaic name for Britain), was the name of the continental area north of Mexico claimed by Sir Francis Drake for England when he landed on the North American west coast in 1579. Thi ...

, then westward, completing the second

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Mage ...

of the earth by returning to Plymouth, England, on 26 September 1580.

The ship's nickname of "''Cagafuego''"

''Nuestra Señora de la Concepción'' was reportedly nicknamed ''Cagafuego'', meaning "shitfire" (or "fireshitter"), by her Spanish sailors. The

Early Modern Spanish Early Modern Spanish (also called ''classical Spanish'' or '' Golden Age Spanish'', especially in literary contexts) is the variant of Spanish used between the end of the fifteenth century and the end of the seventeenth century, marked by a serie ...

verb ''caca'' "defecate" was derived from the Latin ''cacare''. (''Caca'' mutated into ''caga'' in modern Spanish and the formation "shitfire" into "''cagafuego''".) There was a contemporaneous cognate in the Florentine Italian dialect: ''cacafuoco'', meaning "handgun".''Online Etymology Dictionary'', 2001–2017, "spitfire (n.)" (18 December 2017).
/ref> From about 1600, the word spitfire was used in English, initially as an alternative term for "cannon". Spitfire may have originated as a

minced Mincing is a food preparation technique in which food ingredients are finely divided into uniform pieces. Minced food is in smaller pieces than diced or chopped foods, and is often prepared with a chef's knife or food processor, or in the case ...

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language w ...

of ''cacafuoco'', although a folk etymology has long claimed that it originated as ''cagafuego'', in reference to ''Nuestra Señora de la Concepción''. In the 1670s, spitfire acquired the additional meaning of an "irascible, passionate person". In 1776, the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

commissioned the first of more than 10 vessels named HMS ''Spitfire''. Since the late 1930s, however, the word has been more famously associated with the Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft and the ''Mexican Spitfire'' film series, starring

Lupe Vélez María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez (July 18, 1908 – December 13, 1944), known professionally as Lupe Vélez, was a Mexican actress, singer and dancer during the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Vélez began her career as a performer in Mexican ...

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nuestra Senora De La Concepcion Age of Sail merchant ships of Spain 16th-century ships Captured ships Francis Drake Galleons