Scope and Content:

Lieutenant-general Antonio Barceló y Pont de la Terra (1717-1797) stood out as corsair in the Mediterranean so much that he was commisioned as lieutenant of the Navy en 1753. He did develop a shining career after his successes in naval design –light vessels, xebecs and polaccas, to address the North African piracy and to became the backbone of the Mediterranean Spanish fleet–, but without the enthusiasm of his collegues due to his past career as corsair and not to have been follow an academic career inasmuch as all his promotion was obtained by his undoubtables war merits. In 1779 he was commisioned as commander of the siege fleet of Gibraltar and his experience with low draft, seaworthy vessels led him to develop the first gunboats in History: boats with iron-reinforced hulls, low draft and a single carronade, very effective by their mobility, the little surface they shown as target and their nightly use, the opposite advantages to the French engineer D’Arçon’s gun platforms, an easy target for the British artillery.