Galleon

The term is thought to originate from gallioni (alternatively galeanni[8]: 16 ), Venetian oared vessels that were used in rivers in the fifteenth century.

[8]: 14-16 It is thought that the seamen of the Basque country of northern Spain were clear on the differences between a nao and a galeón, but what those distinguishing features were is not apparent to modern historians.

Archival research on the Red Bay wreck 24M has identified, with reasonable confidence, this ship to have been San Juan of Pasajes.

[10]: 114 During the 16th century, a lowering of the carrack's forecastle and elongation of the hull gave the ocean-going ships an unprecedented level of stability in the water, and reduced wind resistance at the front, leading to a faster, more maneuverable vessel.

Friar Manuel Homem says that this galleon mounted 366 bronze pieces of artillery, including the ones that garrisoned the high castles of stern and bow.

Galleons' design changed and improved through the application of various innovations, and they were particularly linked with the military capabilities of the Atlantic sea powers.

The oldest known scale drawings in England are in a manuscript called "Fragments of Ancient Shipwrightry" made in about 1586 by Mathew Baker, a master shipwright.

This manuscript, held at the Pepysian Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge, provides an authentic reference for the size and shape of typical English galleons built during this period.

Based on these plans, the Science Museum, London has built a 1:48 scale model ship that is an exemplar of galleons of this era.

A Spanish galleon (left) firing its cannons at a Dutch warship (right). Cornelis Verbeeck , c. 1618–1620
A Spanish galleon
Carracks, galleon (center/right), square rigged caravel (below), galley and fusta (galliot) depicted by D. João de Castro on the "Suez Expedition" (part of the Portuguese Armada of 72 ships sent against the Ottoman fleet anchor in Suez, Egypt, in response to its entry in the Indian Ocean and the siege of Diu in 1538) — Tábuas da India in the João de Castro's Roteiro do Mar Roxo ( Routemap of the Red Sea ) of 1540–1541. [ 2 ]
Technical drawing of a late 16th century or early 17th century Portuguese galleon, featured in the Livro de Traças de Carpintaria
The galleon's pintle and gudgeon rudder
Model of an English galleon sporting four mast types: (left to right)
• Bonaventure mizzenmast, typically lateen-rigged and shorter than the main mizzen.
• Mizzenmast, typically shorter than the foremast and lateen-rigged.
• Mainmast, the tallest mast and, on vessels with more than three masts, the most centrally located.
• Foremast, the second-tallest mast.
A three-masted vessel, square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast and lateen - rigged on the mizzenmast .
Wager's Action off Cartagena by Samuel Scott shows the 1708 sinking of the Spanish galleon San José
The El Galeon, a 17th-century Spanish galleon replica in Quebec City in 2016.
El Galeón , a 17th-century Spanish galleon replica in Quebec City in 2016.