The Spanish frigate Numancia, a symbol of Hispanic naval heritage, made history as the first ironclad to circumnavigate the globe in 1866-1867. For over 50 years, she served proudly in wars, diplomatic missions, and exhibitions, showcasing Spain’s naval prowess before her poignant end off the Portuguese coast in 1916.

One of the most emblematic ships in the history of the Spanish Navy, along with many others as the Santa María, the Pinta and the Niña, the Victoria, the Trinidad, the Santísima Trinidad, the Glorioso, the San Juan Nepomuceno, well, why continue… there wouldn’t be enough space on this page to name them all. A genuine squadron of hero-ships.

The frigate Numancia is the vessel that accomplished the first circumnavigation of the world by an ironclad ship. What may seem like a trivial feat, of no importance, is not so. In fact, nothing less than Wikipedia lists this achievement as one of the fifteen most important among those carried out by Spanish ships throughout History… and if Wikipedia says so…

When in 1866 the frigate Numancia undertakes such a feat, under the command, by the way, of my great-grandfather, Captain Juan Bautista Antequera y Bobadilla de Eslava, up to seven navies in the world have ironclad ships: the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Austria, Piedmont-Sardinia, Germany, and Denmark, in addition to Spain itself. But none of them use them in large-scale operations, barely coastal navigation with the coast in sight and coastal surveillance actions.

Built in the shipyards of La Seyne, in Toulon, France, by the French company Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranée, when she had barely been in service for two years, in the former Spanish viceroyalties of America, a Spanish fleet consisting of five wooden ships without significant military power finds itself, in Pacific waters, in unexpected difficulties with some of the new American republics, notably two, Chile and Peru. The situation becomes so tense that sending ships with greater military potential becomes imperative. The Spanish Government then decides to send three wooden ships, the Blanca, the Berenguela, and the Villa de Madrid, and, pressed by necessity, making a virtue of necessity as they say, also the Numancia, an ironclad ship whose performance on the high seas is absolutely unknown and her navigability uncertain, which departs from Cádiz under the command of Captain Casto Méndez Núñez.

Battle of El Callao. Méndez Núñez falls wounded into Antequera’s arms. Antonio Muñoz Degraín (Naval Museum)

In her journey to the Pacific, the Numancia will successively become the first ironclad ship to cross the Equator line, to traverse the South Atlantic -the North Atlantic had only been crossed by an ironclad bought by the United States, and only to transfer her to her destination-, to cross the Southern Passage, -which she will do, like Magellan, through the Strait of Magellan-, and the first ironclad to navigate the stormy waters of the Pacific.

Admiral Juan Bautista Antequera. Wsell de Guimbarda (Naval Museum)

Once in the immense ocean discovered by Don Vasco Núñez de Balboa, in the midst of the war against Chile and Peru, she makes her military debut in the bombardment of El Callao, where the Spanish squadron punishes the fortified Peruvian harbour, ending the action to the full satisfaction of the command and the campaign, with all proposed military objectives thoroughly accomplished, with the Spanish victory. The Numancia, now under the command of Juan Bautista Antequera, after the squadron commander, Casto Méndez Núñez, was wounded in the battle of El Callao, receives orders from the Government to continue her voyage through the waters of the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, until completing the circumnavigation of the world, which would be the first for an ironclad ship.

This is how it was to be be done but, upon reaching the Cape of Good Hope, in the south of the African continent, to continue northward and reach Spain, completing the circumnavigating feat, news is received that the American scenario is becoming complicated again. Antequera is given complete freedom to decide whether to continue the route comfortably and arrive in Spain, or to turn towards America to aid the Spanish fleet present there. From the heroic sailor, no other decision can be expected, and finding himself in Atlantic-African waters, Antequera decides to continue his course towards America and return to assist his companions.

This will not, however, detract from the intended feat, for although not in Spain, upon arriving in Rio de Janeiro, the Numancia has completed the first circumnavigation of the world undertaken by an ironclad ship, as she had already been there when the Pacific campaign began.

Recognition of the feat will be unanimous. As an example. Her commander, Juan Bautista Antequera, tells it in Congress:

“The [English] lord governor of Saint Helena […] came to tell me that he congratulated me and congratulated the Spanish Navy for being the first to have solved the problem of navigation of armored ships in those stormy seas, and that if it had not been the English Navy that had done it, he had great satisfaction that it had been the Spanish one”.

These are not the only stellar moments in the life of such a distinguished ship. For example, Amadeo of Savoy will arrive in Spain on it to begin his short two-year reign on December 30, 1870. In 1873 it participates in the fleet that has to deactivate the cantonal rebellion of Cartagena, during the First Republic. She will be the flagship of the squadron that Spain has to hastily prepare for what could have been the Spanish-Prussian War for the possession of the Caroline Islands, in the Pacific, which in the end did not occur thanks to God… or rather thanks to His vicar on Earth, Pope Leo XIII, who made an intelligent arbitration which would leave both parties satisfied, Spain and Prussia, making it possible to avoid coming to cannon fire. By the way, the commander of that squadron that had the Numancia as its flagship was, once again, the now Vice Admiral Juan Bautista Antequera. Our ship will later participate in the Universal Exhibition of Barcelona in 1888. And unfortunately for Spanish interests, it could not be present either in Cuba or in the Philippines in 1898, as it was under repair. Its presence and that of some other ships, notably the battleship Pelayo, and of course Peral’s submarines if they had been built, could well have changed the tide of the battle.

The Frigate Numancia run aground in Sesimbra, shortly before sinking

Well, such a magnificent ship comes to sink in the year 1916 off the Portuguese coast of the beautiful city of Sesimbra. What has happened to reach such a situation? After more than half a century of being the flagship of the Spanish Navy, it is decided to decommission her. There are many who advocate for a dignified end for such a distinguished vessel: preserving her in some port, turning her into a museum, perhaps a training ship… but all attempts fail, and in the end, -Spain is like this, what can you do, detached from its history, unjust to its most just children- it is decided to sell her and scrap her.

The wreck of the Numancia in Sesimbra waters. Aerial view.

All sad, the Numancia prepares to make her last voyage, which should take her from Cádiz, where she is, to Bilbao, where her scrapping is already being prepared. But off Sesimbra, in the Atlantic Ocean, sorrow overflows, and unable to resign herself to her sad end, she sinks. Some say they saw her cry. Up to thirty-two Spanish sailors fall into the water on a stormy and ill-fated day. The population of Sesimbra will behave heroically, doing everything in their power to save many of these Hispanic sailors from the other side of the capricious Iberian border that separates us into Spanish and Portuguese. Some of these saved sailors will stay in Sesimbra, marrying Portuguese women and forming their families there: even to this day they and their descendants are known as “the Numantines”.

To this day, from the air, you can still see the beautiful silhouette of the frigate, sunk in Sesimbra waters. Some divers even reach her. And in Sesimbra, the memory of the symbolic and heroic day is kept, with acts commemorating it every December 16th.

May you do much good and receive no less.