The Galeón Andalucía will visit Shoreham-by-Sea, and dock at Wigan Wharf, Southwick from August 27 to 31.
The ship is a replica of a galleon, a type of armed merchant vessel used by the Spanish Crown for maritime expeditions for more than three centuries (16th to 18th).
Spanish galleons played the leading role in the longest – both in time and length –maritime commercial route in the history of navigation.
Galleons were the most universal Spanish ships and were intended to discover and then establish trade routes between Spain, America and the Philippines.
These ships formed the so-called Indies fleet, which sailed from Seville to Mexico and Panama, where they linked up with the other major commercial route which extended the navigation to the Pacific Ocean: the Manila Galleon Route or China Route.
This last route linked Manila to Acapulco and brought goods from the Far East to Spain and Western civilizations.
Three years of research, six months of design and 17 months of building, as well as the work of 150 people, went into the construction of the replica which launched in February 2010.
Innovative techniques were used in its construction, including building the hull and decks using fiberglass-based systems, and then covering the structure, decks, and hull with pine and iroko wood.
This was the first time such a technique was used on ships of this size intended for ocean navigation.
The Galeón Andalucía is a 500-ton vessel, measuring 49 meters in length and 10 meters in beam.
It has four masts and nearly 1,000 square meters of sail area across six sails. Its average speed is seven knots.
Since its launch, this galleon—crewed by between 15 and 35 people—has sailed across the world including crossing the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Atlantic, and navigating the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, South China Sea, Aegean Sea, Bosphorus, and the Caribbean, covering tens of thousands of nautical miles in tribute to its historic predecessors.
The ship will be open for guided tours for schools and associations from 10am till 8pm from August 27 to 31 August.
Source link
[Featured]
[Just In]
