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Biography’s Reconstruction of the Tugboat “Antonio López”
Authors: Nicholas W. Mitiukov
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Against the backdrop of the catastrophic defeat of the Spanish fleet in the Spanish-American War of 1898, the battle of Cardenas looks like almost the only bright spot. It was here that the armed tugboat “Antonio López” was able to inflict more losses on the Americans than it received. Based on archival materials and periodical press data, an attempt is made to reconstruct the biography of the tugboat “Antonio López” before and after the Spanish-American War. It is shown that the data of the Spanish Naval Archive “Álvaro de Bazan” allow us to reconstruct the biography of the vessel during the Cuban insurgency in 1895-1898. Information in the Spanish periodicals is extremely scarce, since the ship performed only routine functions in the fleet of the Spanish Transatlantic Company. After the Spanish-American War, the ship was returned to its former owner, and she returned to her usual duties. The last mention of “Antonio López” in the Transatlantic Company dates back to 1900, when it disappears from the registers. The last newspaper report about her dates back to 1899. This circumstance can be interpreted as the sale of the vessel to the Cuban owner in connection with the closure of the Transatlantic company’s business in Cuba.