SANTA ANA
The flagship of Vice-Admiral Ignacio de Alava, and with Captain Jose Gardoquil at the helm, the four-deck, 112-gun
Santa Ana sailed in the vanguard of the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Launched over 30 years earlier at El-Ferol, the 112-gun ship was described by admiring British naval officers as ‘a superb warship painted a magnificent black.’ Any traces of her magnificence were gone by the end of the battle. Locked in close combat with the Royal Sovereign, hit by the balls fired from 50 British cannon and two carronades which sheared through the ship’s thin-skinned stern, her decks running with blood and with more than 100 of those aboard killed, the
Santa Ana was one of the first enemy ships to surrender to the British. But later, during a tremendous storm, the remnants of the crew were able to retake her and sail her back to Cadiz.
Length: 344ft (104.8m)
Beam: 120ft (36.6m)
Height: 262ft (79.8m)
Masts: 3
Armament: 112 guns
Launched: 1774, El-Ferol, Spain