San Salvador (Guipúzcoan squadron)
{{other ships|San Salvador (disambiguation){{!}}San Salvador (ships)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin
|display title=ital }} {{Infobox ship image |Ship image= |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Spain |Ship flag=100px |Ship name=San Salvador |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship captured=1 August 1588 (English) |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship fate=Wrecked |Ship honours=Vice-flagship: Guipúzcoan squadron |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship tons burthen=958 (Spanish rating) 600 (English assessment) |Ship length= |Ship beam= |Ship draught= |Ship draft= |Ship propulsion= |Ship complement= |Ship armament=25 guns |Ship notes= }} |
File:JohnPine TheBurningAndCaptureOfTheSanSalvador.jpg
San Salvador was a Spanish galleon of the Spanish Armada as part of the Guipúzcoan squadron of Miguel de Oquendo.{{cite book
| last = Milne-Tyte
| first = Robert
| title = Armada!
| publisher = Wordsworth Editions Limited
| series = Wordsworth Military Library
| orig-year = 1988
| year = 1998
| location = Great Britain
| isbn = 1-85326-688-4
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/armadawordsworth00robe/page/58 58]
| url = https://archive.org/details/armadawordsworth00robe/page/58
}}
She was damaged and captured as a result of the first encounter of the Armada with the Royal Navy in 1588. San Salvador was lost at sea in the English Channel later that same year.
Capture
During the first encounter with the English fleet on 31 July 1588, during a lull in battle, San Salvador's gunpowder magazine exploded, lighting a portion of the ship on fire. The Spanish fleet was able to extinguish the flames and rescue some of the injured. 49 crew died as a result of this explosion and 23 had died previously due to combat.{{cite book
| last = Martin
| first = Colin
| author2 = Geoffrey Parker
| title = The Spanish Armada
| publisher = Manchester University Press
| year = 1999
| isbn = 1-901341-14-3
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/spanisharmada00mart_0/page/241 241]
| url = https://archive.org/details/spanisharmada00mart_0/page/241
}}
On 1 August, San Salvador was ordered to be scuttled, but instead was simply set adrift.{{cite book
| last = Milne-Tyte
| first = Robert
| title = Armada!
| publisher = Wordsworth Editions Limited
| series = Wordsworth Military Library
| orig-year = 1988
| year = 1998
| location = Great Britain
| isbn = 1-85326-688-4
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/armadawordsworth00robe/page/64 64]
| url = https://archive.org/details/armadawordsworth00robe/page/64
}}
The English dispatched an inspection party to San Salvador and found approximately fifty burnt bodies aboard. Golden Hind, a ship in the English fleet, then towed San Salvador to the English port at Weymouth.
Significance
San Salvador was one of the heaviest armed in the Spanish fleet.{{cite book
| last = Martin
| first = Colin
| author2 = Geoffrey Parker
| title = The Spanish Armada
| publisher = Manchester University Press
| year = 1999
| isbn = 1-901341-14-3
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/spanisharmada00mart_0/page/149 149]
| url = https://archive.org/details/spanisharmada00mart_0/page/149
}}
The Spanish records rate the ship at 958 tons, while the English assessment rated the ship at only 600 tons.{{cite book
| last = Martin
| first = Colin
| author2 = Geoffrey Parker
| title = The Spanish Armada
| publisher = Manchester University Press
| year = 1999
| isbn = 1-901341-14-3
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/spanisharmada00mart_0/page/206 206]
| url = https://archive.org/details/spanisharmada00mart_0/page/206
}}
These are the only numbers available for calibration of the reported vessel tonnage between the two fleets (the Spanish tended to give higher ratings). Between San Salvador and Rosario (another ship captured during the first encounter), the English retrieved a significant amount of cannon shot and powder. One estimate places the 229 barrels of powder captured from these two ships at one quarter the total used by the English during the entire campaign.{{cite book
| last = Martin
| first = Colin
| author2 = Geoffrey Parker
| title = The Spanish Armada
| publisher = Manchester University Press
| year = 1999
| isbn = 1-901341-14-3
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/spanisharmada00mart_0/page/197 197]
| url = https://archive.org/details/spanisharmada00mart_0/page/197
}}
After the campaign
San Salvador became known as the Great Spaniard to the English fleet after her capture.{{cite journal
| last = Boddie
| first = John Bennett
| title = Boddie of Essex, England and Virginia
| journal = William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine
| volume = 14
| issue = 2
| pages = 114–140
|date=April 1934
| doi = 10.2307/1915674
| jstor=1915674}}
On 15 November 1588, notice was sent to Lord Charles Howard that San Salvador had been lost at sea at Studland. Twenty-three men died with the ship; thirty-four were saved by a small man-of-war. A wreck discovered in 1983 in Studland Bay was initially believed to be the San Salvador but is now thought to be a Spanish merchant ship, Santa Maria de Luce.{{NHLE | num = 1000045
| desc = Studland Bay Wreck| accessdate = 15 March 2012}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{coord missing|Atlantic Ocean}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:San Salvador (Guipuzcoan Squadron)}}
Category:16th-century maritime incidents