Blockade and Spanish Service
The remains of the French fleet were bottled up in Cadiz under Rear-Admiral Rosily, trapped there by the British blockade. With the Spanish entry to the war against France on 4 July 1808, Rosily realised that his fleet was in range of now hostile shore batteries. He attempted to move his fleet, consisting of the Neptune, the 74-gun ships Héros, Pluton, Algesiras and Argonaute and the 40-gun frigate Cornélie, out of the harbour, but on 9 July the squadron was attacked by Spanish forces from the land and sea. Rosily attempted to negotiate to keep his fleet, but on this being rejected, was forced to surrender it to the Spanish on 14 July. The Spanish took Neptune into their service, renaming her Neptuno as a replacement for the Neptuno lost at Trafalgar, and she served with them until being broken up in 1820.
Read more about this topic: French Ship Neptune (1803)
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