“The Tragic Legacy of the HMS Captain: Visiting Saint Paul’s and Westminster Cathedrals”

the battleship HMS Captain from Royal Navy sank on September 7, 1870 16 miles southwest of Fisterra A design flaw caused it to capsize, dragging some 479 crew, as many as died on the British side at Trafalgar. there was only 18 survivors. I remember having my first news of this ship when I visited Saint Paul’s Cathedral in the eighties. I used to live in London and I was intrigued by the name of Finisterre that appeared on the commemorative plaques in the central nave. He could not imagine that twenty years later she would narrate the tragedy of this shipwreck in a book about the Costa da Morte.

Last weekend I did one nostalgic visit to the city and I decided to donate two copies of the book to the two temples that contain outstanding memorials to this battleship: the San Pablo’s cathedralwhose architect, Christopher Wren, celebrates the tercentenary, and the westminster abbeyin which in a few days King Carlos III will be crowned.

In St Paul’s I heard an Anglican mass officiated by a woman and sung by the Stockholm Boys’ Choir, accompanied by the organ, one of the largest in the UK. The cathedral staff, including a friendly Spaniard, were unable to locate the plaques dedicated to the Captain and made me doubt my memory by suggesting that they might be in the crypt, which was closed for Sunday. In fact, they continue to be found on one side of the central nave with the names of all the deceased, the cream of the Royal Navy of the time. Delivered the book it was nice to see that the priestess he said goodbye personally at the door of the cosmopolitan congregation.

In Westminster I had previously contacted his librarian, Dr. Tony Trowles, who had sent me a map with instructions to locate him. But an unexpected meeting prevented him from receiving the copy personally and we had to wander around the dean’s courtyard, the cloister and the abbey itself, knocking on Gothic doors with medieval knockers, until we found someone to deliver it to.

Nor did the abbey guides seem to know the large stained glass windows dedicated to the Captain, and they thanked us for the information. They represent nautical scenes from the Old and New Testaments, such as Noah’s Ark, Jonah and the whale, Jesus Christ on the waters, and others. At the foot of the stained glass windows a plaque recalls the ship; to her captain, Burgoyne, and its designer, Captain Coles, both missing that night. The plate is hidden by the ticket office counter to visit the temple.

The church was packed with people and we only had time to identify the medieval tomb of Queen Eleanor, the Spanish from Burgos, Darwin or the abolitionist of slavery, Wilberforce, among others. Before, in the cloister, there was time to take photos in front of the high relief that recalls three circumnavigations of the globe by three British navigators: Drake, Cook and Chichester.

At the exit the workmen cleaned, polished and painted the gates that surround the abbey and several battalions on horseback, the Horse Guards, rehearsed the coronation parade on the wide avenue of the Mall that leads to Buckingham Palace.