Sunday 10 May 2015

The most heavily armed ship in the world

Nautilus is now nearing completion - we are heading home from our narrow boat next week and my aim will be to have the book ready for publication in about six weeks from now.  If anyone wants an advance copy then I'm more than happy to oblige (as long as you take the time to let me know all the typos).  The climax to the book takes place around a certain battle in October 1805 off the coast of Spain (bit of a clue there then).  One of the stars will be this ship below, not HMS Victory - she's small by comparison.  This is the four deck, 140 gun Santisima Trinidad, the Spanish Flag Ship.  Mind you her size and firepower didn't help the Spanish much.  The battle was fought in light airs and she had serious trouble manoeuvring as she was so big which meant the good old Royal Navy gave her a pounding and she eventually surrendered.  Sadly she sank in the subsequent storm, although they think they might now have found her remains on the bottom near Cadiz.  There is also a full size replica of her in Alicante although it is built over the hull of a modern merchant ship.

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