Caribbean Tales - Ships - Galleon
The Galleon was the ship of the line for its
day. However it served the dual purpose of being both a Man-O-War and also
a treasure/merchant ship. In the Golden age of Piracy, Spain had the most
fortified Galleons in the water. A noticeable design of the galleon was that
its hull sloped inward as it rose, tapering to a narrow top deck compared
with the ship's beam at the water line. The purpose for this design was to
concentrate the weight of its cannons close to the centerline of the ship
in an attempt to improve stability. The galleon was heavily armed. It typically
carried 74 guns, with 36 each of these being mounted on either side of the
ship. The two remaining guns were mounted aft. This does not include the numerous
swing guns mounted along the rail that were used to repel borders.
Despite arranging the galleons ordinance along the centerline of the ship,
the ship was easily rocked by the sea. A galleon had extremely high side and
an even higher stern (or Poop) deck. A galleon also had a very short keel
when compared to the length of the hull. This design caused the Galleon to
pitch and roll more easily than other ships. In short, if you were prone to
sea sickness, you didn't want to be on a Galleon.
With that said, The Galleon was an extremely sleek ship and faster than many
of her predecessors. They ran about 30-50 m long, 8 m wide, standing upto
15 m out of the water, carrying from 600 to 2000 tonnes of cargo. They had
two to three decks. Most galleons were four masted ships, although some were
only three, forward masts being square-rigged, lateen-sails on the mizzenmast,
and a small square sail on her high-rising bowsprit.. The stern most mast
was known as the bon-adventure mast and was rigged with a lanteen sails which
gave the ship great maneuverability especially in the wind. For their size,
Galleons had great speed (about eight knots).
The treasure ships as a rule, would move in convoy or flotas typically with
the strongest ships hauling the most treasure. The flotas would shun contact
with other ships and would invariable run rather than fight. Of course the
speed of eight knots was fast for ship the size of a galleon but it was slow
compared to Sloops. In the event that a Galleon couldn't outrun a foe it had
several tricks up its sleeves.
The formidable firepower of its broadsides easily outmatched almost any other
ship on the sea. It was foolhardy to exchange broadsides with a Spanish galleon.
If a ship actually got in close enough to attempt boarding a galleon, the
galleon had razor sharp crescent blades attached to the outer most edges of
its masts. The blades would rip an adversaries sails to ribbons. Galleons
had fighting platforms built half way up the mainmast and foremast. When an
enemy ship attempted to board a galleon, archers from these platforms would
release a shower of arrows and crossbow bolts into the attackers. (Firearms
were forbidden from the fighting tops for fear of sparks from the weapons
setting the sails on fire).
A typical crew would consist of around 200 men.
The Galleon could also carry as many as 40 paying passengers.
Occasionally you will hear Galleons called "Galleys".
This is a misnomer.
