Juan de Lángara

Juan Francisco de Lángara y Huarte, Coruña, Galicia c. 1736-Madrid, 1806) Spanish naval officer who fought Rodney at the "Moonlight Battle" or Cabo Santa María, off Gibraltar, 16 January 1780. Having entered the royal Spanish navy at a young age, in 1750, as a Guardiamarina, Lángara quickly distinguished himself in various wars; participating as lieutenant (Teniente de Navío) at the victorious Battle of Minorca in 1756, against the British under Admiral Sir John Byng. From 1766 until 1771 he several times made scientifical expeditions, among others, three voyages to the Philippines and the Chinese seas, and made several important contributions in cartography. In 1774 he commanded the frigate "La Rosalia" on a scientific expedition, which led to several important discoveries with regards to pilotage and navigation.

By 1778, he was a "Brigadier" or Commodore and participated with distinction in the 1779 naval campaign in the Narrows against Britain. When the Combined fleet wintered at Brest and Cadiz respectively, during the winter 1779-80, Lángara was left in command of a small squadron of 11, mostly smaller ships-of-the-line and with this, unbeknownst to him, due to clerical errors in the Allied high command, he faced the entire naval might of 21 battleships and 11 frigates under Sir George Rodney off the stormy, dark cliffs of Cape Santa María, in the afternoon of 16 January 1780. Lángara's intention had been to intercept an outbound British convoy, destined for the West Indies, but the French authorities, who knew well enough about Rodney's departure, failed to warn the Spanish, who maintained Lángara's fatal orders until it was too late. He and his crews fought remarkably well and with outmost bravery, but could not prevent the British from capturing five of their own numbers while the 70-gun "Santo Domingo" blew up during the early evening. Lángara himself only surrendered at 4 am with a flagship ("El Fénix", 80 guns) completely battered. This battle is known as the Moonlight Battle, because it was unusual for naval battles in the age of sail to take place at night. Released soon afterwards from imprisonment, Lángara's career did not suffer; by 1793 he was a "Capitán General" of the Spanish fleet, after having served a stint as a most effective naval minister. In 1793 he joined Sir Samuel Hood, with 18 Spanish ships-of-the-line, in capturing the French naval arsenal of Toulon (August-December). The relationship between the two sides was, however, marked by tension and suspicion.

When the arsenal had to be evacuated in December that year, it was Lángara who conducted a brilliant rear-guard action, his men blowing up the arsenal and refloating a number of warships, later sent to Britain. For a short while, after the alliance between France and Spain had been concluded, in 1795, Lángara co-operated with Napoléon Bonaparte during his Italian campaign (1796). The same year he, again was appointed Secretary of State for the Navy and made a Councellor of State. In 1797, he was appointed Inspector-General of the navy. Retiring in 1799, he died in 1806, having had the sad misfortune of witnessing the final eclipse of his proud navy at the Battle of Trafalgar, a few month before his death. By all accounts, Lángara was a highly skilled, brave and scientific and conscientious officer, dedicated to his duty. His one major flaw was, however, that he was also a proud and rather aloof man, treating, especially his later British allies with a visible contempt, bordering on disgust. His wife, Doña María Lutgarda, the 2nd Marquésa del Real Transporte y de la Victoria, whom he had married in 1758 was the granddaughter of Don Juan José Navarro, 1st Marqués de la Victoria (for his victory over Sir John Byng at Cape Sicié, in 1756) and daughter of the renowned explorer and naval officer Don Antonio de Úlloa.

During Lángara's period at the head of the Spanish navy, Spanish explorers were charting the coast of what is now British Columbia, Canada, and, in their charts, named some land formations after him. His name is still found among placenames in BC, including Langara Island, off the coast of Northern BC, and Langara College in Vancouver, BC, Canada, which was founded in 1970, as the Langara Campus of Vancouver Community College, and obtained the status of an independent public college in 1994. In BC place names, the accent is on the second, not the first, syllable.

Further reading

*Francisco José Díaz y Díaz y Luis Alberto Gómez Muñoz, "Biografías de los Grandes Marinos al servicio de España" (1999)
*A. Saarinen, "The Moonlight Battle or Battle off Cabo Santa María – 16 January 1780" (2003, TBA)
*John D. Harbron "Trafalgar and the Spanish Navy"(1988)