Santísima Trinidad y Nuestra Señora del Buen Fin

The "Santísima Trinidad" was a Spanish galleon destined for merchant shipping between the Philippines and México. It was the largest of the "Manila galleons"; officially named "Santísima Trinidad y Nuestra Señora del Buen Fin", it was familiarly known as "El Poderoso" (The mighty).

With its length of 51,5 m, beam of 15,2 m and draught of 10,1 m, its deplacement was 2,000 tons. It was equipped with 54 canons. It was constructed in Manila in 1750. Its large volume and some construction errors made a transformation necessary in 1757 to reduced its deplacement.

In August 1762 it departed from Cavite towards Acapulco, but due to bad winds and a typhoon in the night of october 2 which brought down 2 masts, the captain decided to return to the Philippines. He was unaware that Manila had fallen in British hands after the Battle of Manila. The ship was intercepted by "HMS Panther" under captain Hyde Parker and the frigate "HMS Argo" under Richard King. "Panther" opened fire, but did little damage to the thick wooden hull and caused few casualties. Nevertheless the disheartened crew of the "Santísima Trinidad" decided to surrender. On board was a treasure to the value of two million dollars.

The ship was taken to Portsmouth, where its sale earned the two captains 30,000 pounds, a fortune in that time. It is unknown what happened to the ship after the sale.

Not to be confused with

* The "Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad", the biggest warship in the world in its time, which sank in the Battle of Trafalgar (1805).

ources

* Marley, David F. "The Last Manila Galleon" in "Warship 1991". London: Conway Maritime Press, 1991.
* Schurz, William Lytle. "The Manila Galleon". Manila: Historical Conservation Society, 1985.