''San Agustín'' was a 74-gun

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

built at the royal shipyard in Guarnizo (Santander) and launched in 1768. She was captured by

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in 1776, but returned the following year.Robert J. King, "Arthur Phillip Defensor de Colónia, Governador de Nova Gales do Sul", ''Anais de História de Além-Mar'' ortugal 2005 (6), pp.339-349; English and Spanish translations at
http://web.viu.ca/black/amrc/index.htm
/ref> In January 1780, during the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, 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 British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

convoy for

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. 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) The Battle of Cape St. Vincent () was a naval battle that took place off the southern coast of Portugal on 16 January 1780 during the American Revolutionary War. In 1779 Spain had joined its ally France, which was allied with the Americans, in ...

, off the stormy, dark cliffs of Cape Santa María through the afternoon and evening of 16 January 1780. Four Spanish ships of the line were captured and one destroyed. ''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 The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Na ...

in 1805.

References and notes

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:San Agustin Ships of the line of the Spanish Navy 1768 ships Ships built in Spain Maritime incidents in 1805 Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Shipwrecks of Spain