French ship Algésiras
Encyclopedia
Algésiras was a 74-gun French
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
ship of the line
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
built at Lorient
Lorient
Lorient, or L'Orient, is a commune and a seaport in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.-History:At the beginning of the 17th century, merchants who were trading with India had established warehouses in Port-Louis...
in 1804, named after the Battle of Algeciras.
In 1805 she sailed to the West Indies with Aigle where they joined a French fleet under Vice-Admiral Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve was a French naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars. He was in command of the French and Spanish fleets defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar....
.
In October 1805 she took part in the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
, under Rear Admiral Charles Magon. She was engaged by HMS Tonnant
HMS Tonnant (1792)
Tonnant was an 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy and lead ship of the Tonnant class. Admiral Nelson captured her at Aboukir Bay on 1 August 1798. The Royal Navy then took her into service...
at point-blank range, and Magon attempted a boarding, but the boarding party was annihilated by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
fire which killed all but one of the party, who was made prisoner. Magon was killed. The fight went on for an hour with Tonnant's starboard guns duelling with the Algésiras, the port guns with Pluton
French ship Pluton (1804)
Pluton was a 74-gun French ship of the line built at Toulon.It took part in the Battle of Trafalgar under Captain Julien Cosmao escaped to Cádiz with other ships. Two days later, on 23 October 1805, she was the flagship of the counter-attack from Cádiz, together with Indomptable, Neptune, Rayo, and...
, and the forward guns aimed at San Juan Nepomuceno
Spanish ship San Juan Nepomuceno
San Juan Nepomuceno was a Spanish ship of the line launched in 1765 from the royal shipyard in Guarnizo . Like many 18th Century Spanish warships she was named after a saint...
. Algésiras finally surrendered to Tonnant at around 14:30.
During the storm after the battle, her crew rose up against the British prize crew, and recaptured the ship. She sailed to Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
flying French colours.
In 1808 was captured by the Spanish along with all the other French ships in Cadiz.