The Santísima Trinidad

The Santísima Trinidad  ("Most Holy Trinity") was the seventh Spanish Naval vessel to bear this name since the Spanish Armada.  She was designed by Mateo Mullan,  an Irishman who was in the employment of the King of Spain.  Mateo initiated construction at the Royal Shipyard in Havana but died in the early stages of work in 1767. His son, Ignacio was to continue the construction and supervised her launching in 1769.  Originally, Santísima Trinidad  carried 120 guns, but after four refits and attempts to improve issues of design and stability she carried 140 canons and more than 1200 sailors on her final engagement at Trafalgar. 

Shipbuilders of this era frequently constructed a model of the ship first and used this as a pattern for full size construction.  The Naval Museum in Madrid displays an original model constructed by Mateo Mullan as shown below. Although  no original drawings as such exist for this ship, the Naval Museum of Madrid and the Naval Institute of Culture and History have developed the best documentation available on her.

VISIT  HERE  to see images of the new Santísima Trinidad as she  is being constructed today by Cuban artisans in Havana.