Spanish ship Argonauta (1798)

The Spanish ship Argonauta was a third-rate 80 gun ship of the line of the Spanish Navy. She had 24, 18 and 8 pounder guns spread over two decks. Her usual crew was 642, though it was 956 at the Battle of Cape Finisterre and 800 at Trafalgar.

History

A sister ship of the Neptuno, she was launched in June 1798 in Ferrol as the last of the four-ship Montañés-class. On 25 August 1800, she and the other ships of Joaquín Moreno's squadron (the Real Carlos, San Hermenegildo, San Fernando, San Antonio and San Agustín) fought off the British Ferrol Expedition.

The Argonauta fought at the battle of Cape Finisterre on 22 July 1805. On the 21 October the same year she was present in Federico Gravina's second squadron at the battle of Trafalgar, captained by Antonio Pareja and losing 60 dead and 148 wounded. She was captured and taken in tow by HMS Polyphemus, but she had to drop the tow during the storm which followed the battle. On 24 October HMS Defiance rescued survivors from the Argonauta and made a failed attempt to re-establish a tow. On 30 October the Argonauta sank, with her rescued survivors landed at Algeciras the following day.

Sources

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