Galleon

Galleon Drew Hopkins

The 16th century galleon was a significant advancement in early sailing and conquering. It was a big part of the world’s shipping for battle and trade. The galleon could carry more cargo, weapons and go farther, faster than its predecessor, the carrack. The new galleon was very important for conquering other new territory and trading with other countries. The galleon was the best in everything. It had the best firepower and handling. Galleons were on average fifty-three meters long and had three or four masts. There were usually fifteen square-rigged sails on each boat. Each boat had two or three full decks of cannons. On most galleons, cannons ran the length of the ship including the stern and bow. Most European countries used the galleon. One famous galleon was the Mayflower. The galleon was the best ship of its time. Building a galleon was a very hard task. It took about two-thousand trees to build one ship. They used two types of wood, straight wood and curved wood. Straight wood was used for the keel, stern posts and rudder. Curved wood was used for the skeleton. There were many different steps in making a great war ship. First the keel had to be laid. Then the skeleton had to be built. The ribs of the ship were built first on the ground, and then they were attached to the keel. When the task of building the ship was finished, the workers and their ladies would watch the ship set sail. The work area was a hive of activity. Building galleons employed the greatest number of workers of its time. It was originally designed by John Hawkins of Spain. Since the galleon had so many parts, it took a lot of workers to build it. The wood was found and cut by the carpenters and the sawyers. The carts with wood were brought in by the teamster and his strong horses. The teamster is a man who had many strong horses for jobs like these. The metal for the cannons was made by the blacksmith. The cooper angled the wood on the ship. The mast maker and the sail maker worked together to make the mast strong enough to withstand the pull of the sails. When the boards were all in, a group of people called “caulkers” put frayed rope in between the boards to seal the hull and keep water out. These were just some of the few important jobs of building and ship. On the galleon, there were many different parts. The galleon had a high bow and stern called castles. The castles were used for housing the crew members. Ballast rocks were put in the hull to balance the ship. Very few capsized because of this. The rudder was very big so the galleon had very good control. The many parts made the galleon strong. The crew of a galleon had to be well trained and able to climb the mast in any kind of weather. The captain steered the ship and helped navigate. The navigation of the trip or conquest was done by the navigator. The navigator’s tools were the astrolabe, compass and maps. An astrolabe is a tool that measured the latitude from the equator. The magnetic instrument that points north is a compass. Gunners and lookouts work together to sight the enemy and destroy it. There was also a sail maker onboard so if any of the sails were damaged they didn’t have to go to port to get them fixed. The carpenter was onboard because if a beam broke or a cannon ball broke the hull it was fixed quickly. The crew members did the chores. They cleaned the deck and they put the sails down from on top of the mast. The cook was responsible for two jobs: Making candles and cooking the food. These jobs were important on every ship. The galleon was a big part of the early sailing history and so were many other ships. However, the galleon was the most commonly used. It was sleek, fast and very destructive. All of the work that went into the galleon paid off well. The ships returned with trade and money for their countries, took passengers to the New World, and won many battles.

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