San Telmo (ship)


San Telmo was a Spanish 74-gun ship of the line, launched in 1788.

History

In 1819, the San Telmo, commanded by Captain Joaquín de Toledo y Parra, was the flagship of a Spanish naval squadron under Brigadier Rosendo Porlier y Asteguieta bound for Callao to reinforce colonial forces there fighting the independence movements in Spanish America. It was damaged by severe weather in the Hoces Sea, south of Cape Horn on 2 September 1819.

Legacy

644 officers, soldiers and seamen of the San Telmo who were lost may have been first people to die in the 'future' Antarctica. Some remnants and signs of the wreckage were found some months later by visitors of the Livingston Island like William Smith. If any of survived crew members of the San Telmo was landed there, they would have been first people in history of Antarctica who reached the continent.
San Telmo Island off the north coast of Livingston Island is named after the ship.