Antonio de Escaño
Lieutenant-General Antonio de Escaño y García de Cáceres was a Spanish Navy officer and politician. He served in several naval battles including the Battle of Trafalgar. He was Spain's Minister of the Navy and a member of the Council of Regency. A Spanish Navy school named for him states: "He is regarded as one of the best naval tacticians of the 18th century. An enlightened man, he devoted himself to the study of shipbuilding and other academic disciplines such as chemistry, botany and history, of which he was an academic."
Biography
Early career
Escaño became a midshipman at the age of 17 and took part in almost every major Spanish naval operation of his time. These included the 1782 Battle of Cape Spartel, an indecisive naval battle between a British fleet under Admiral Richard Howe and a Franco-Spanish fleet under Spanish Admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova, a expedition against Algiers in 1783 and the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1797.At the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, thanks to his military perceptiveness while in command of the Príncipe de Asturias he helped to save the Spanish flagship Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad, when Spanish Admiral José de Córdoba y Ramos lost control over the situation while under attack by British Commodore Horatio Nelson. For this, Escaño was rewarded with the Order of Santiago.
He then took part in successfully resisting the assault on Cádiz by a British fleet under Admiral John Jervis and Nelson, by now a rear admiral. Escaño later served during the Battle of Cape Finisterre when a British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder defeated a Franco-Spanish fleet under French Vice-admiral Pierre-Charles de Villeneuve as it was returning from the West Indies, though the battle was ultimately strategically inconclusive.
Trafalgar
Due to his military and nautical experience, and as the second in command of the Spanish ships under Federico Gravina, Escaño was appointed to speak for the Spanish captains at a meeting on the French flagship. It was his opinion that it would be best to remain within the Bay of Cádiz and not try to breakout of the British naval blockade, which had been reinforced by Nelson. This was contrary to Napoleon's orders to Villeneuve, who ignored this advice and ordered the Franco-Spanish fleet to sail out against Nelson and his ships.Escaño was temporarily the acting commander of the Spanish ships due to Gravina being severely wounded during the Battle of Trafalgar. Despite having been wounded himself during the battle, Escaño communicated to Spanish Prime Minister Manuel Godoy the results of the battle since "the situation in which Lieutenant General Don Federico Gravina finds himself, as a result of a shrapnel bullet that at the end of yesterday's action he received in his left arm, does not allow him to give V.E. news of this bloody combat".