[1] She sank, together with another ship, the Palomo,[note 1] in a storm off the coast of Galicia, Spain, 31 October/2 November 1810.

[1] At the start of the Anglo-Spanish War, José Caro Sureda, younger brother of Pedro Caro y Sureda, Marquis of La Romana, was given command of the Magdalena, sailing from Cádiz in April 1805 as part of the Spanish squadron led by Federico Gravina, headed for Martinique[5] where, at the Battle of Diamond Rock, a large combined Franco-Spanish fleet[note 2] was able to oust the British garrison the following month.

As part of a plan to establish a base from which to free the western part of the coast of the Cantabrian Sea of French troops and then move on to Guetaria to free up the central and eastern coast of the region, thus cutting Irun off as a port of entry for French supplies to Spain,[2] the Anglo-Spanish squadron, under the command of Joaquín Zarauz, and made up of five frigates, two brigantines and several smaller vessels, plus a landing force of two thousand troops, sailed from La Coruña on 14 October 1810,[2] and headed for Santoña, then in the hands of the French.

Having lost its main anchor at Santoña, as had the Paloma,[2] the Magdalena crashed into HMS Narcissus, the lead ship of the Royal Navy Narcissus-class 32-gun fifth-rate frigates which, managing to free herself from the Magdalena headed out to sea.

[2] However, the main mast of the Magdalena broke and in its fall made several holes in the hull, while the wind pushed the ship further towards the beach.