What the SAN NICOLÁS on this St Kitts $3 for the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar has to do with Trafalgar I wonder she was already before this battle taken by the Royal Navy., and did not take part in that battle.
Built as a wooden ship-of-the-line at the naval yard at Cartagena for the Spanish Navy.
Two decks.
Armament 30 – 36pdrs., 18 -32pdrs., 8 – 18pdrs.
Crew 630.
1769 completed. She was designed by Gautier.
When in early 1797 a Spanish fleet under command of Admiral Don José de Cardova received orders to escort a convoy of merchant ships to Cadiz, she sailed out from Cartagena.
When a British fleet under command of Admiral Jerves got the news that the Spanish fleet has set sail from Cartagena, he left his anchorage in the Tagus River near Lisbon on 18 January to intercept the Spanish fleet.
The small British fleet was strengthened by the arrival of Nelson from Gibraltar, who took command of HMS CAPTAIN.
14 February the Spanish fleet was sighted near Cape St Vincent, the Spanish fleet due to a strong easterly wind saw the Spaniards in disarray and not well prepared for battle.
The Spanish fleet sailing in two divisions were surprised when the single column British fleet sailed in the gap between the two Spanish columns.
In the battle that followed the British fleet seized four Spanish ships under which the SAN NICOLÁS, which was boarded by Nelson and his men.
144 sailors on board the SAN NICOLÁS were killed and also her commander Don Tomás Geraldine.
Nelson took in this battle three Spanish “navios” and this battle won him Rear-Admiral rank and his knighthood.
05 October 1797 she arrived under British flag at Plymouth.
August 1798 commissioned as prison hulk in Plymouth under command of Lieut. William Styles, under the name HMS SAN NICOLAS.
Tonnage 1.942 ton (bm), dim. 179.9 x 49.7 x 20.1ft.
1814 Paid off into Ordinary.
03 November 1814 sold at Plymouth for £3.320, most probably for breaking up.
St Kitts 2005 $3 sg?, scott
Source: An Encyclopedia of Naval History. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817.
Trafalgar and the Spanish Navy by Harbron.