Humanist, engineer, scientist, sailor. Jorge Juan and Santisilia
Science never happens
Jorge Juan was born in 1713 in the town of Monforte del Cid, in the province of Alicante. They say that at the time of his birth, the British, foreseeing the future shame, were unanimously sad, and the Spaniards were filled with pride in advance for how a representative of their nation would disgrace these shabby islanders from the north. However, there are disputes about the birthplace of this outstanding person, as there is information that he was only baptized at Monfort, and that he himself was born on the estate of his parents in El Fondonet. Jorge himself wrote simply on this subject - "I am a native of the University of Monforte." These words have their own meaning, since from childhood his fate turned out to be closely connected with education and sciences. Being only three years old, he became an orphan, and the canon of the local Jesuit college took up the upbringing of the boy, and part-time - his uncle Jorge on his mother's side, don Antonio Juan, who began his education. Soon, the boy moved to another uncle on his father's side, Cipriano Juan, a knight of the Order of Malta and a prominent person in the judicial system of Spain. According to the statute of the order, Cipriano did not have the right to have his own children, and therefore he gave all his fatherly love and severity to his nephew. Thanks to him, Jorge received a good education at the University of Zaragoza, where his outstanding abilities for sciences and enchanting industriousness appeared early. At the age of 16 years, he applied to the Guards Naval Academy in Cadiz (Academia de Guardias Marinas de Cádiz), and in 1730 he successfully entered the training, before attending classes as a student. Cadiz itself at that time was one of the largest educational and scientific centers in Europe, where studies were conducted, highly qualified personnel were trained, important scientific issues were discussed. Studying a huge number of subjects, he achieved great success, for which he earned the nickname Euclid. Even then, Jorge Juan began to show great promise, and he was prophesied the fate of one of the most outstanding naval officers in Spain.
At the age of 21, he actually completed his training, and immediately took part in hostilities in the Mediterranean Sea, having noted himself in a number of diplomatic actions, a punitive expedition against Berber pirates near Oran, etc. At this time, he had a chance to meet with many prominent sailors of Spain at that time and future years, in particular, Blas de Leso, the hero of the defense of Cartagena during the war for Jenkins’s ear, and Juan José de Navarro, a very controversial person and admiral who commanded the Spanish fleet during a lost battle at Toulon. After three years of service, he finally received an assignment in 1734 to a special scientific expedition organized by the Royal Academy of Sciences of France under the supervision of Louis Gaudens. He got there with don Antonio de Ulloa, and together they will be destined to make a huge contribution to the development of science in Spain and Europe in principle. Formally, both of them were still studying at the university, but given the fact that they had been in the colonies and abroad for 14 years, conducting active scientific research, this was a simple formality. During the work, two Spaniards, together with their three French colleagues, for several years explored the nature of South America and measured the Earth’s meridian at the latitude of Quito. Jorge Juan, as the best mathematician of the expedition, was engaged in calculating and deriving the results of research, as a result of which he precisely determined the length of the planet’s meridian. It is on the basis of his work that the metric system of a measure of length will be created in the future. After conducting a number of other studies, he went to Paris with his results, where he was joyfully received by the local scientific community, and became a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Paris. This was followed by the writing and publication of various scientific works, including, together with Antonio de Ulloa, international recognition of his achievements, and his return to Madrid in 1748. Alas, he was met quite coolly there - Felipe V, who sent Jorge Juan on an expedition, had already died, and there were no more people interested in his studies in higher Spanish circles. Nevertheless, through acquaintances Jorge Juan came to the Marquis de la Ensenada, who concentrated in his hands almost all the full power in the country, and was responsible for the development of the Spanish fleet. He, being an intelligent and prudent man, immediately saw great potential in the scientific sailor, showed patronage and promoted to the rank of captain of a ship (capitan de navio). Further activities of Jorge Juan turned out to be related to shipbuilding and ... Spying.
The Adventures of Mr. Joseph in England
Despite the introduction of a fairly progressive Gastagnet system in Armada, the Spaniards continued to lose the battle at sea to the British. It was not possible to blame the rather mediocre and passive command for this, since such an option did not seem to occur to the Spanish elite (because they had to blame themselves), because the ships were assigned as the last ones. At the same time, the real facts were ignored that the ships built according to the Gastagneta system showed impressive results - the same battleship Glorioso, in proud solitude, managed to make noise during the war with Great Britain, causing many problems to the British, and the Princess ship captured from the Spaniards enthralled them completely, and served after the capture for another two decades. It was decided to find out how the winners build their ships, but they, of course, did not voluntarily intend to share their knowledge. And the Marquis de la Ensenada, without thinking twice, decided to send a spy to England, who was supposed to learn everything necessary, analyze the disadvantages and advantages of English shipbuilding, compare it with Spanish, recruit masters if possible, and return. The task was by no means an easy one, and its implementation required a smart and educated person. The Spanish envoy in London was already trying to accomplish this task, but failed. Just at that time, the marquise received Jorge Juan, and the choice fell on him. After receiving the documents of Mr. Joseph from Belgium, he went to hostile Britain. And there it began ...
In a matter of weeks, Jorge Juan visited all the major British shipyards and gained access to the drawings of all the latest British ships. This was achieved thanks to an extremely risky but completely self-justified step - as a foreign shipbuilder, Mr. Joses quickly made acquaintances with Admiral George Anson and the First Sea Lord John Russell, IV Duke of Bedford, dined with them at the same table, became their “dear friend ”and fell into the retinue of the latter, which freed him the way to almost any shipyard. Having created an espionage network in shipyards among local Catholics, he gradually began to recruit specialists from among them, who, due to their religion, had closed senior positions, and in a short time he recruited them as many as 54 people, and four of them were chief designers. In addition, he immediately began to encrypt the information obtained and forward it to the Spanish Embassy, from where the information was sent home. The Royal Secret Service did not immediately discover this active exchange of information, and took up the head - some kind of spy was hunting in the country, and it was very successful! Realizing that there was a drain of information, but without deciphering the letters, the service immediately began to look for those responsible ... And she went to the Duke of Bedford, the former (at that time) First Sea Lord and a prominent politician! While the trial was going on, it was found out that Bedford was out of business, but somehow connected with the spy, while they figured out the suspiciousness of Mr. Joseph's identity, Jorge Juan, along with the information obtained, realizing that he was coming soon, left Britain aboard the Spanish ship “ Santa Ana. " In total, he stayed in the UK for about two years. The incident did not receive wide publicity, but those who were in the know experienced an exuberant bouquet of feelings in which anger, shame, indignation, and much more were guessed. The acuity of the situation was added by the fact that it was not even possible to establish exactly how and what exactly “jabbed” Joseph, and whether he was connected with the Duke Bedford, because of which he did not even suffer any punishment. Britain has never experienced such a shame for a long time. But unpleasant moments for English pride were just beginning.
Upon returning to Spain, Jorge Juan compiled a detailed report on the information obtained, where he also analyzed it and compared English shipbuilding with Spanish. It turned out that the Gastagneta system was much more progressive than the English shipbuilding, and, accordingly, the Spanish ships were better than the British. Particularly many complaints from Jorge Juan were caused by the quality of wood, tackle and mast, as well as the irrational distribution of goods and load items. On the other hand, shipbuilders of the Misty Albion had advantages. The main one was the broadest standardization and unification of tools, materials and structural elements in Royal Navy. The Gastagneta system also assumed a set of standard methods and designs of ships, but these were separate elements, while the British unified and standardized almost everything. This made components from different shipyards interchangeable, simplified ship repair, and also significantly reduced the cost and accelerated the construction process. In addition, the system of ensuring the tightness of the bottom was very advanced, and experiments were also carried out with copper cladding of the bottom, which slowed down fouling and improved the speed characteristics of ships. Particularly noted was the beginning of the use of steam engines in the production and operation of ports - still imperfect, but already yielding certain benefits. There were comments on artillery as well - the British loaded their ships more heavily with artillery, but at the same time the main battery was so low that it was almost impossible to use it in fresh weather. Marquis de la Ensenada, impressed by the work done, provided full patronage to all the undertakings of Jorge Juan, who was eager to continue to work in the field of science.
However, this did not mean that “Mr. Joseph” abandoned shipbuilding - on the contrary: he improved the Gastanyeta system on the basis of experience gained in England, introduced new rules and expanded production standards. Logging, production facilities were improved. Jorge Juan was entrusted with the modernization of old and the construction of new arsenals in Spain, as a result of which his ideas became the basis for the construction of magnificent Cartagena, Ferrol and La Carrac arsenals, as well as the Esteiro shipyard and a number of other shipbuilding enterprises. In everything he did, rationalism, cold calculation, and a scientific approach were at the forefront. In addition, he developed a project of beautiful 74 cannon ships, conducted experiments in Cadiz with ship contours, sails, and many others, improving the design of ships and methods of their construction every year.
The British, having learned about all this, without further ado appeared in Spain, and began to legal and illegal methods to find out the results of the work of Jorge Juan. In Cadiz, during tests of new, lightweight hulls and a sail system, even Admiral Richard Howe came in to observe the activities of the people of the Spanish scientist. The scale of the undertakings of Jorge Juan and the Marquis de la Ensenada impressed the British so much that they seriously became concerned about the problem that after several decades Spain could seriously compete with them (which, by the way, actually happened). This problem became especially acute in view of the fact that shipbuilding in Spain was experiencing a real boom from 1740 to 1760, and the current composition of the Armada increased every year, even taking into account the failure of old ships. In addition, having familiarized themselves with the Spanish analysis of English shipbuilding, which the English spies managed to get, the people from the Foggy Albion again experienced something reminiscent of shame and humiliation, for, with the exception of certain points, the Spaniards very low rated their shipbuilding industry, which Britain was proud of. It was decided to act secretly, with the help of intrigue, false letters and fabricated information, in order to cause maximum damage to the Spaniards. The British ambassador in Madrid, Benjamin Keen, began to implement a similar strategy, and it quickly yielded results. The Marquis de la Ensenada was discredited, and lost the post of Secretary of State, and with it most of his influence. Conducting a double correspondence, and palm off the Spanish that was false, the British convinced the new Minister of the Sea of Spain, Julian de Arriaga, that they considered criticizing their shipbuilding Jorge Juan untenable, and the system he developed along with the Gastagneta system was frankly inferior to the English. At the same time, the British themselves borrowed a large number of innovations from Spanish shipbuilding practice, improving their own shipbuilding, but information about this was in the second, secret part of the correspondence. Arriaga, being a francophile, let himself be convinced by this false correspondence, and actually negated the use of the Jorge Juan system, everywhere introducing the French Gauthier system, about which “Mr. Josephes” dismissively said that “Gauthier builds excellent sailboats, but bad warships” . As a result of this, a significant part of the work of Jorge Juan in the field of ship construction was temporarily forgotten in Spain, but gained distribution in the UK. However, no one was going to cancel the rest of his innovations, as well as to interfere with his further scientific activity, because after 1754 of the year he concentrated mainly on it.
Once again, science
The list of cases in which Jorge Juan left his mark is truly amazing. Moving from place to place, he actively followed the instructions of the government, providing support and ensuring the effective implementation of various projects. Under his leadership, canals and dams were built, the work of mines was established, he managed to work as a minister of the main department of trade and currency. In 1757, following the instructions of King Carlos III, he drafted and supervised the construction of the Royal Observatory in Madrid, and then proposed to build the same in Cadiz, for the needs of Armada - this project, alas, was realized only after the death of Jorge Juan. He had to deal with the issues of mapping, in which he managed to achieve great success, as a result of which Jorge Juan actually became one of the founders of Spanish cartography in its modern form. In 1760, he was appointed to command the Armada combat squadron, where he showed himself to be a competent and decisive commander, and a good organizer. However, his diplomatic skills began to be celebrated even more - and in 1767 he was made ambassador extraordinary in Morocco, where it was necessary to hold tough negotiations with the Sultan and achieve Spanish interests. The contract concluded by Jorge Juan, and consisting of 19 clauses, fully and fully satisfied all these interests, for which he was especially noted by Carlos III. Moreover, while in a country neighboring Spain, he collected a large amount of secret information about her, which later was very useful to diplomats and politicians. In the last years of his life, he managed to send a large scientific expedition led by Vicente Dosa to the shores of California, which, among other things, was to accurately determine the parallax of the Sun and the distance from it to the Earth. The results of this expedition were close to ideal, and put an end to scientific debate about the size of the solar system.
In 1771, Jorge Juan finished writing his capital work on shipbuilding, and published it under the title Examen Marítimo. In it, using the results of his practical experiments, as well as mathematical analysis and the experience of shipbuilding systems in Britain and Gastagneta, he considered so many questions regarding shipbuilding that, in terms of volume and fundamental nature, the “Exam” eclipsed even the work of Gastanieta. The work talked about astronomy, navigation, artillery, technologies and organization of construction, the dynamics of ships, stability, the effects of waves on hulls of different designs and strengths, and much more. In fact, this was the result of his whole life, the result of all developments on the topic of shipbuilding and everything that was connected with it. Instantly, the “Exam” was translated into most European languages, and spread to the libraries of the entire mainland. This work was highly appreciated, its developments and fabrications were used for the further development of shipbuilding - but in Spain he met resistance: the French influence remained too strong, the false negative reviews of the British about the activities of Jorge Juan too clearly remembered. Seeing this, the scientist wrote a letter to King Carlos III in 1773, and in a very harsh form, focusing on the fact that the dominance of the French shipbuilding system could lead to disastrous consequences. Alas, the king did not have time to respond to this letter, and Jorge Juan did not receive an answer or any sanctions because of such an act, because in the same year he died. The reason for this was a tremendous hard work - doing everything at once, making a contribution to the development of his native Spain, he undermined his health, suffered from many diseases, and another convulsive biliary colic finished him off. Now his ashes rest in the Pantheon of outstanding sailors in San Fernando, near Cadiz.
Post Scriptum
Jorge Juan died, Carlos III did not give an answer to his letter, but the hype surrounding the Examen Marítimo did not cease. In the end, it was already impossible to ignore it, especially after the book was translated and published in England, where she received a rather warm welcome. They remembered the system developed by Jorge Juan, but rejected by the ministries, and his criticism of the Gauthier system. And the point was not that Gauthier’s ships were very bad - it’s just that the Spaniards have long been accustomed to sailing ships with strong, wide hulls and thick skin, while Gauthier’s ships were typical Frenchmen with a lightweight hull and an increased ratio of length to width, which It provided good speed and maneuverability, but it caused problems in battle, and sometimes in a storm too. Already in 1771 in the Spanish naval environment, voices began to be heard about the revision of the rate in shipbuilding on the French system, which everyone began to consider obsolete. As a result of this, in 1772, the last ship of this system, the 74 cannon San Gabriel, was laid down, and further construction was carried out according to "standard" projects that did not fully utilize any of the shipbuilding systems available in Spain. The reason for this was both conservatism and the fact that Francisco Gautier, the author of the rejected French system, was a rather arrogant man and did not want to recognize the superiority of the Spanish system over his own, remained the general engineer of Armada. But in the 1782 year he was "left", and in his place came first Jose Romero and Fernandez de Landa, and then Julian Martin de Retamosa. Both were Spaniards, both did not feel much reverence for the French system, but they were familiar with the system of Jorge Juan. As a result, when these engineers began to create their own ship designs, the magnificent 112-gun “Santa Ana”, 64-gun “San Ildefonso” (the lead ship carried 74 guns), and the 74-gun “Montanes” everything else developed fantastic speeds for its size and had maneuverability no worse than a frigate. All of them became magnificent warships, all of them deserved enthusiastic assessments from the British - and, with a high degree of probability, all of them were the result of the theory developed by Jorge Juan, although I did not find direct evidence to this. Alas, he did not receive a deserving recognition as a shipbuilder in the era of wood and sail.
But as a scientist, he received widespread recognition, becoming, among other things, the "grandfather of the metric system" and the man who significantly improved navigation in Spain. He was friends with another prominent sailor, Don Antonio de Ulloa, and also somehow met and collaborated with many prominent sailors and scientists of Spain and France of his time. As for his English voyage, they still do not like to remember him in Great Britain, and in the biographies of his English participants like the Duke of Bedford, there is not a word that he contributed to the leakage of military secrets abroad. However, such a puncture as a result turned around for the British in a positive way, allowing us to review and update our own shipbuilding system. Today, in honor of Jorge Juan, a school is named, the streets of many cities, its monuments are in the squares. Also in honor of Jorge Juan was named a destroyer of the Churruk type, built in the middle of the 20th century, and the portrait was placed on the back of a bill in 10 thousand pesetas. He did not have a wife, as well as children, because the oath of a knight of the Order of Malta, which he gave following the example of his uncle, prevented him. These are the results of the activities of this bright, extraordinary and extremely intelligent person who left his mark on the history of Europe in the middle of the 18th century.
To be continued ...
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