Shipbuilder’s model of an 18th-century 74-gun ship

This represents a full-rigged ship with standing rigging and running rigging. The underwater body of the fine-lined hull is sheathed in copper. This practice was common in naval ships from 1783 onwards to avoid the deterioration of the hull. The ship is decorated with a scrollhead typical of 19th-century ships, engraved with plant-themed motifs. The scrollhead is not the original; it was added as part of the conservation work to the model that took place in 1990. The stern has 2 galleries and a smooth, horseshoe-shaped taffrail. For economic reasons, after 1782 taffrails were always smooth rather than engraved, although there is evidence that they were sometimes painted.

On February 23, 1784, interim engineer general and brigadier José Joaquín Romero y Fernández de Landa was given a royal order to design a plan for some 74-gun ships that were easily maneuverable, since Spain’s lack of success in its recent conflict with Great Britain had been due to its ships’ lack of maneuverability. Having completed this plan, he went to Cartagena naval base to oversee the building of the 74-gun ship, San Ildefonso, built in line with the approved plans.

Damage and repairs have distorted the ship’s original features, making it very difficult to identify it as any one ship in particular. However, based on its appearance, it is likely to be the model of the San Ildefonso (7½ feet in length) that was at La Carraca on November 15, 1843. It could also be the ship that was built in accordance with the system established by Romero y Fernández de Landa, kept at the Cartagena naval base and sent to the Naval Museum on September 28, 1846 by brigadier José Fermín Pavía, general commander of the department, and which appears in the 1853 catalog under the name San Ildefonso.

San Ildefonso was launched in 1785 and took part in numerous missions and battles. In 1790 it was part of the Marquis of Socorro’s squadron, commanded by Domingo de Nava, in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, the Battle of Trafalgar, and several others.