Cádiz International Maritime Exhibition (1887)

The Cádiz International Maritime Exhibition (Spanish: Exposición Marítima Internacional de Cádiz), officially named the Cádiz National Maritime Exhibition, was a technological, industrial and naval fair held in Cádiz, Spain, between 15 August and 15 November 1887.García Díaz, M. (2015). "La Exposición Marítima Nacional de Cádiz 'de 1887'". Revista Hispanoamericana (5). Although contemporary documents and press usually called it "international" because of the notable participation of foreign naval powers, its official administrative designation was "national", since it was never formally registered as an international exhibition.

Its main purpose was to demonstrate the suitability of the Bay of Cádiz for a modern heavy shipbuilding industry, at a time of local economic crisis following the decline of colonial trade with the Americas and of state-driven renewal of the Spanish Navy.

Historical background

During the last third of the 19th century Cádiz was going through a prolonged economic recession caused by the diminishing weight of trade with the former American colonies. At the same time the Spanish government passed the Fleet Act of 1887 (known as the Rodríguez Arias Act), which allocated extraordinary funds to the domestic construction of steel warships for the navy.Acosta Ortega, F. (2022). "Los planes de escuadra de la Restauración: aspectos presupuestarios e industriales". Revista de Historia Naval (158): 119-144.

A group of the Cádiz middle class, with the physician Cayetano del Toro among its main promoters, launched the exhibition as a means of creating the investor confidence needed to place Cádiz in competition with other industrial centres such as Bilbao for the shipbuilding contracts arising from that act.

Organisation and funding

Unlike other similar fairs of the period, the state provided no direct aid, so organisation and funding fell mainly to the Provincial Council of Cádiz and to private initiative. The main sources of funding were a public subscription in which 1,978 contributors raised 95,586 pesetas; contributions from the municipalities of the province totalling 275,000 pesetas; and an extraordinary draw of the Spanish national lottery, authorised by the Cortes, which produced 388,675 pesetas.

The Compañía Trasatlántica Española and its chairman Claudio López Bru, Marquis of Comillas, sponsored the event with 50,000 pesetas as well as shipping support for the transport of goods and visitors. The exhibition was officially opened in August 1887 by the Minister of State, Segismundo Moret, on behalf of the king, with various authorities and foreign naval representatives in attendance, among them the Duke of Edinburgh.

The site

The grounds were laid out at Punta de la Vaca and around the San Severiano district, over a total area of 180,000 m², of which some 40,000 m² were reclaimed from the sea by hydraulic filling.

The complex, built in timber with Neo-Mudéjar features and arranged in a fan shape, is attributed to the provincial architect Amadeo Rodríguez. It comprised seven radial pavilions whose ends, facing the dock, evoked ships' bows, together with two machinery halls, an authorities' pavilion and a general bazaar with about forty commercial stands.

Sections and content

Floating section

During the 1887 exhibition the Bay of Cádiz hosted an unusually large naval gathering for the period: 33 warships — 10 Spanish and 23 foreign — from eleven countries, carrying 323 guns and, according to the printed total, 10,687 crew. The list below reproduces the table published in the executive committee's Memoria general (Cádiz, 1888, p. 9) and adds, where possible, the modern identification of the ships and their commanders, whose foreign names are heavily garbled in the original.Comisión Ejecutiva de la Exposición Marítima Nacional de Cádiz (1888). Memoria general de la Exposición Marítima Nacional Cádiz 1887. Cádiz: Establecimiento Tipográfico de José Benítez Estudillo. p. 9.

Spanish ships

+ Spanish ships No. Ship Name as printed Country Commander (as printed) Identified commander Guns Crew 1 Cruiser Navarra Navarra Spain Capitán de navío Alejandro M. Ory Alejandro María de Ory 18 318 2 Cruiser Castilla Castilla Spain Capitán de navío José Pérez Lazaga José Pérez y Lazaga 6 390 3 Frigate Blanca Blanca Spain Capitán de navío Vicente de Manterola Vicente de Manterola 8 289 4 Ironclad frigate Numancia Numancia Spain Capitán de navío Antonio de la Rocha Antonio de la Rocha Aranda 15 640 5 Gunboat Paz Paz Spain José Ramos Izquierdo José Ramos Izquierdo 1 48 6 Schooner Ligera Ligera Spain Banassa — 8 99 7 Gunboat Tarifa Tarifa Spain Cervera — 2 44 8 Steamer Legazpi Legaspi Spain Gómez — 2 94 9 Gunboat Cocodrilo Cocodrilo Spain Barrera — 2 46 10 Gunboat Gaditano Gaditano Spain Córdoba — 2 58

Foreign ships

+ Foreign ships No. Ship Name as printed Country Commander (as printed) Identified commander Guns Crew 11 Ironclad frigate HMS Alexandra Alexandra United Kingdom Mr. Feblooves — 12 728 12 Ironclad frigate HMS Temeraire Temeraire United Kingdom Mr. Deumond Edmund Charles Drummond 8 450 13 Turret ship HMS Colossus Colomis United Kingdom Mr. Bidge Cyprian Arthur George Bridge 4 650 14 Turret ship HMS Agamemnon Agamenon United Kingdom Mr. Dale Alfred Thomas Dale 18 400 15 Unidentified Flumdese United Kingdom Mr. Stewart Walter Stewart (?) 4 400 16 Turret ship HMS Dreadnought Draudougth United Kingdom Mr. Stpheson Henry Frederick Stephenson 4 400 17 Unidentified Mirror United Kingdom Mr. Halesdussum — 50 790 18 Ironclad Caio Duilio Duilio Italy S. A. R. el Príncipe de Saboya Prince Tommaso, Duke of Genoa — 428 19 Gunboat Zaire Zaide Portugal Sr. Pereira — 4 120 20 Ironclad Courbet Courbet France Mr. Mayber — 8 669 21 Sloop-of-war USS Portsmouth Portmouth United States Mr. Wite White (?) 12 250 22 Gunboat Koreets Koceguts Russian Empire Mr. Osteltsky Osteletsky (?) 13 276 23 Dispatch vessel SMS Hum (?) Huson Austria-Hungary S. A. R. el Príncipe Carlos Esteban Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria 15 132 24 Frigate SMS Laudon Lundun Austria-Hungary Sr. Voitn — 15 530 25 Corvette HNoMS Ellida Ellide Norway Falmenos — 6 135 26 Frigate SMS Stein Selinlge German Empire Sr. Stem — 16 446 27 Corvette Zr.Ms. Zilveren Kruis Zilvenre Netherlands Kuns Joks J. C. Joekes 10 250 28 Sloop-of-war USS Quinnebaug Qurnnebang United States Mr. Jolger William Mayhew Folger 8 201 29 Corvette SMS Ariadne Ariadne German Empire Mr. Barandisin Carl Barandon 8 248 30 Gunboat SMS Albatros Albatros Austria-Hungary Mr. Poll Pohl / Pol(l) (?) — 114 31 Frigate SMS Prinz Adalbert Prinz Adalbert German Empire Bon Pawell Friedrich von Pawelsz 12 485 32 Frigate SMS Gneisenau Guisenan German Empire Bon Thonsen August Thomsen 16 445 33 Corvette SMS Moltke Moltke German Empire Dautwir — 16 445

Totals according to the source: 33 ships, 323 guns and 10,687 crew.

Adding up the printed crew figures gives 11,018; the total of 10,687 at the foot of the original table does not match. The 1888 editor's printed figure is retained here. The garbled foreign spellings of the original ("Colomis", "Draudougth", "Qurnnebang", "Guisenan" and others) have been identified by comparison with naval lists and contemporary press; cases without a secure identification are marked as unidentified.

Land section

This section displayed boilers, steam engines, torpedoes, ship models, artillery pieces and other technical advances linked to the shipbuilding industry. The fair also included a space devoted to the agricultural and fishing production of the province, with awards to products from towns such as Conil de la Frontera, Jerez de la Frontera and Sanlúcar de Barrameda, among them salted tuna and the wines of the area.

Innovations and discoveries

Electric lighting: the concert hall and the general bazaar stayed open at night thanks to electric lighting, a technological novelty for the time that attracted considerable public attention. Archaeological find: during levelling work at Punta de la Vaca in May 1887 a Phoenician anthropoid sarcophagus was found by chance. The discovery led to the creation of the present-day Museum of Cádiz. Plant anchor: in the English-style gardens of the grounds a planted composition in the shape of an anchor some 40 metres long was laid out.

Legacy

In July 1891 the Vea-Murguía brothers opened, on part of the same ground and reusing infrastructure from the exhibition site, the first modern shipyard in the city. This works is regarded as the origin of the contemporary shipbuilding industry of the Bay of Cádiz.

CIME 2027

Marking the 140th anniversary of the exhibition, the Port of Cádiz, the industry associations APEMAR and FEMCA, the Cádiz maritime and naval cluster and the Cádiz Chamber of Commerce are developing a new edition under the name CIME (Cádiz International Maritime Exhibition), planned for 5-7 October 2027 in Cádiz. The project was presented at the SMM trade fair in Hamburg in September 2026 and covers shipbuilding, defence, ports and logistics, offshore energy, the blue economy and maritime services."La industria marítima de Cádiz celebrará la primera edición de CIME en octubre del 2027". El Canal Marítimo y Logístico. 4 September 2026.

Cádiz International Maritime Exhibition (1887)

Bron en licentie