San Telmo (Spanish ship)

Spanish ship of the Line San Telmo by Alejo Berlinguero, Madrid Naval Museum
History
Spain
Name	San Telmo
Launched	20 June 1788
Sunk:	2 September 1819
General characteristics
Displacement	2550 tons
Length	53 m (174 ft)
Beam	14.5 m (48 ft)
Complement	644 officers and men

San Telmo ("Saint Peter Gonzalez" or "Saint Erasmus of Formiae") was a Spanish 74-gun ship of the line, launched in 1788.

History

In 1819, the San Telmo, commanded by Captain Joaquín de Toledo y Parra, was the flagship of a Spanish naval squadron under Brigadier Rosendo Porlier y Asteguieta bound for Callao (Peru) to reinforce colonial forces there fighting the independence movements in Spanish America. Damaged by severe weather in the Drake Passage, south of Cape Horn, she sank on 2 September 1819.

Legacy

The 644 officers, soldiers, and seamen lost on board the San Telmo may have been the first people to die in Antarctica, as parts of her wreckage were found months later by the early sealers visiting Livingston Island. Indeed, if any of the crew of the San Telmo survived to set foot there, they would have been the first people in history to reach Antarctica.

San Telmo Island off the north coast of Livingston Island is named after the ship.

See also

• List of ships of the line of Spain
• List of disasters in Antarctica by death toll

References

• El San Telmo. Una historia sin final. (in Spanish)