Jorge Juan Y Santacilia Research Paper

Jorge Juan y Santacilia was born on January 5, 1713 in Alicante, Spain. He lived on his grandfather's property, El fondonet. Juan’s parents were Bernardo Juan y Canicia and Violante Santacilia y Soler de Cornella. Both of his parents were widowed and remarried. His father died when he was three years old. His uncle Antonio Juan took charge of Jorge and continued his education. Later on another uncle took charge of his education, Chipriano Juan, and sent him to Zaragoza for a preparatory education for higher studies. At the age of 12, he was sent to Malta to receive Holy Orders at the order of Malta. The next year he became page to the Grand Master Antonio Manuel de Villena, who granted him the title of Commander of Aliaga in Aragon. Which means that he received his first title when he was 14. In 1729, when he was 16, he returned to Spain and applied for entry to the Royal Company of Marine Guards also known as the Spanish military school for naval officers. He entered the academy in 1730 and studied modern technical and …show more content…
In 1749, he travelled incognito under the name of Mr. Josues and learned all that he could in England ,and brought back 50 British naval constructors. In an ironic twist, many of them went on to build the Spanish ships that would later fight in the American Revolutionary War and the battle of Trafalgar. He was, however, disappointed with the English naval construction methods and upon his return to Spain in 1750, he was placed in charge of Spanish naval construction, creating his own naval construction system (approved in 1752) and improving the shipyards (such as the ones in Cartagena, Cádiz, Ferrol, Havana) and armaments. He implemented modern industrial division of labor among the different disciplines involved in naval construction such as dry-docks, shipyards, furnaces, rigging, and canvas