Галеон «Nuestra Señora de la Concepción»: «Кагафуэго» и история слова «Spitfire»

16th century Spanish galleon

Nuestra Señora de la Concepción (Spanish: "Our Lady of the (Immaculate) Conception") was a 120 ton Spanish galleon that sailed the Peru–Panama trading route during the 16th century. This ship has earned a place in maritime history not only by virtue of being Sir Francis Drake's most famous prize, but also because of her colourful nickname, Cagafuego ("fireshitter").

At the helm of his ship Golden Hind, Sir Francis Drake had slipped into the Pacific Ocean via the strait of Magellan in 1578 without the knowledge of the Spanish authorities in South America. Privateers and pirates were common during the 16th century throughout the Spanish Main but were unheard of in the Pacific. Accordingly, the South American settlements were not prepared for the attack of "el Draque" (Spanish pronunciation of Sir Francis' last name), as Drake was to be known to his Spanish victims. During this trip, Drake pillaged El Callao (Peru's main port) and was able to gather information regarding the treasure ship Cagafuego, which was sailing toward Panama laden with silver and jewels. Drake was pleased at his good luck in capturing the galleon, and he showed it by dining with Cagafuegos officers and gentleman passengers. He offloaded his captives a short time later, and gave each one gifts appropriate to their rank, as well as a letter of safe conduct.

Nuestra Señora de la Concepción was reportedly nicknamed Cagafuego, meaning "shitfire" (or "fireshitter"), by her Spanish sailors. The Early Modern Spanish verb caca "defecate" was derived from the Latin cacare. (Caga mutated into caca in modern Spanish and the formation "shitfire" into "cagafuego".) There was a contemporaneous cognate in the Florentine Italian dialect: cacafuoco, meaning "handgun". From about 1600, the word spitfire was used in English, initially as an alternative term for "cannon". Spitfire may have originated as a minced calque of cacafuoco, although a folk etymology has long claimed that it originated as cagafuego, in reference to Nuestra Señora de la Concepción. In the 1670s, spitfire acquired the additional meaning of an "irascible, passionate person". In 1776, the British Royal Navy commissioned the first of more than 10 vessels named HMS Spitfire. Since the late 1930s, however, the word has been more famously associated with the Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft and the Mexican Spitfire film series, starring Lupe Vélez.