Juan de Lángara Juan Francisco de Lángara y Huarte ( " Juan Francisco Langara Uharte " in Basque ) ( Coruña , Galicia 1736 – Madrid , 1806 ) was a Spanish naval officer and Minister of Marine . Life and career . He was born at Coruña , Galicia , the son of a renowned Basque family . His father was admiral Juan de Langara Arizmendi , who fought as lieutenant ( Teniente de Navío ) at the victorious Battle of Minorca in 1756 , against the British under Admiral Sir John Byng . Having entered the Spanish Navy at a young age , in 1750 , as a Guardiamarina , Lángara quickly distinguished himself in various wars . From 1766 until 1771 he made several scientific expeditions , among others , three voyages to the Philippines and the Chinese seas , and made several important contributions in cartography . In 1774 he commanded the frigate " La Rosalia " on a scientific expedition , which led to several important discoveries with regards to pilotage and navigation . American Revolutionary War . By 1778 , he was a " Brigadier " or Commodore and participated with distinction in the 1779 naval campaign in the Narrows against Britain , capturing the British letters of marque 26 - gun sixth - rate " Winchcombe " . When the combined fleet wintered at Brest and Cádiz respectively , during the winter 1779 – 80 , Lángara was left in command of a small squadron of 11 , mostly smaller ships of the line and with this , he faced the entire naval strength of 21 battleships and 11 frigates under Sir George Rodney off the stormy , dark cliffs of Cape Santa María , in the afternoon of 16 January 1780 . Lángara ' s intention had been to intercept a British convoy destined for the relief of Gibraltar , but the French authorities , who knew well enough about Rodney ' s departure and strength , failed to warn the Spanish , who maintained Lángara ' s fatal orders until it was too late . He and his crews fought remarkably well and with utmost bravery , but could not prevent the British from capturing five of their own number while the 70 - gun " Santo Domingo " blew up during the early evening . Lángara himself only surrendered at 2 am with his flagship , the 80 - gun " Fénix " , completely battered . This battle is known as the Moonlight Battle , because it was unusual for naval battles in the age of sail to take place at night . Released soon afterwards from imprisonment , Lángara ' s career did not suffer ; by 1793 he was a " Capitán General " of the Spanish fleet , after having served a stint as a most effective naval minister . French Revolutionary Wars . In 1793 he joined Sir Samuel Hood , with 18 Spanish ships - of - the - line , in capturing the French naval arsenal of Toulon ( August – December ) . The mutual cooperation between the two sides was marked by tension and suspicion . Horatio Nelson had acquired a poor opinion of Spanish seamen when he visited the port of Cádiz on his way to the Mediterranean , which is not surprising as the Spanish mercantile marine was so small that only about 10 per cent of the muster role of Spanish warships were filled with experienced seamen . At Toulon , national jealousies between the two combined powers impeded the defence . When Gravina was heavily wounded , a Spanish lieutenant general called Valdez , asserted his own claim to be placed in command of all the allied troops . To support him , Lángara moved his three - decker " Reina Luisa " flagship into a position broadside on to HMS Victory with two other three - deckers on her bow and quarter . Hood , however , resisted this attempted intimidation . Before Toulon was evacuated , British and Spanish incendiary parties commanded by Sir Sidney Smith were sent to destroy the arsenal and the ships in the harbour . It was Lángara who conducted a brilliant rear - guard action , his men blowing up the arsenal and refloating a number of warships , later sent to Britain . Anyway , Lángara admitted that he had ensured the Spanish contingent did not play its part , because he did not want Britain to acquire too disproportionate a naval strength . Hood , however , was able to get fifteen French ships out of Toulon before the fall . On 14 February 1795 , after 6 hours of chase aboard the tree - decker " Reina Luisa " he captured the 32 - gun French frigate " Helène " . For a short while , after the alliance between France and Spain had been concluded , in 1795 , Lángara co - operated with Napoléon Bonaparte during his Italian campaign of 1796 , and sailed from Cádiz with nineteen ships of the line and ten frigates , brushing aside Rear - Admiral Man ' s division which Jervis had posted to watch Cádiz , and passed into the Mediterranean Sea . He collected seven ships at Cartagena and cruised as far as Corsica , but did not attack the British squadron lying in San Fiorenzo Bay . He proceeded to Toulon , where the combined Franco - Spanish fleet , totalling 38 ships of the line , heavily outnumbered the British Mediterranean squadron which had lost a third of its strength when Man fled precipitately back to the English Channel . This successful junction between the French and Spanish navies , and with the Francophile Corsicans preparing to rise again the British , orders were sent from London to evacuate Corsica and the Mediterranean Sea . The same year he , again was appointed Secretary of State for the Navy and made a Councellor of State . In 1797 , he was appointed Inspector - General of the navy . Retiring in 1799 , he died in 1806 , having had the sad misfortune of witnessing the final eclipse of his proud navy at the Battle of Trafalgar , a few months before his death . By all accounts , Lángara was a highly skilled , brave and scientific and conscientious officer , dedicated to his duty . His one major flaw was , however , that he was also a proud and rather aloof man , treating , especially his later British allies , with a visible contempt , bordering on disgust . His wife , Doña María Lutgarda , the 2nd Marquésa del Real Transporte y de la Victoria , whom he had married in 1758 was the granddaughter of Don Juan José Navarro , 1st Marqués de la Victoria ( for his victory over Sir John Byng at Cape Sicié , in 1744 ) and daughter of the renowned explorer and naval officer Don Antonio de Úlloa . During Lángara ' s period at the head of the Spanish navy , Spanish explorers were charting the coast of what is now British Columbia , Canada , and , in their charts , named some land formations after him . His name is still found among place names in BC , including Langara Island , off the coast of northern BC , and Langara College in Vancouver , which was founded in 1970 , as the Langara campus of Vancouver Community College , and obtained the status of an independent public college in 1994 . In BC place names , the stress is on the second , not the first , syllable .