Spanish Galleon Info 1572 - 1600

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BILLJACKSON1
Ships Boy
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Joined: Sat Dec 21, 2019 9:31 am

Spanish Galleon Info 1572 - 1600

Post by BILLJACKSON1 »

Guys I am building the Spanish Galleon San Martin 1588. I also have 3 other kits from the same period. These were "Manila Galleons" that traveled to and from Manila to Mexico for 250 years.
I need any info on these galleons including drawings, rigging schedules, paint colors etc.
Thank you in advance,

Bill Jackson
carlbrechler
Able Seaman
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Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2019 6:08 am

Re: Spanish Galleon Info 1572 - 1600

Post by carlbrechler »

I don’t have a direct response to your question, but possible pointers to where you can find what you are looking for.

A brief search turns up two possible books: Galleon: The Great Ships of the Armada Era by Peter Kirsch, and Spanish Galleon 1530-1690 by Angus Konstam and Tony Bryan. The latter is an Osprey book. There are several books on the Manila Galleons, but they seem to be more toward the system rather than the individual ships. Check your local library and/or inter-library loan first as they can get a bit pricey.

Another source would be Google Scholar and academia.edu. The latter is similar to Google Scholar, but the authors upload the articles, so not necessarily peer revised. This group is valuable as even if the article isn’t what you are looking for, they generally have a bibliography of other sources in the same area.

I hope this will be o0f some help in your research!
Galleon
Ships Boy
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Re: Spanish Galleon Info 1572 - 1600

Post by Galleon »

This article may be of use to you (if you can get access to it): https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... navigation

Just to point out, Spanish galleon design during this period could differentiate between Pacific and Atlantic shipping, so just be aware of this when reading books like Konstam's mentioned above (which primarily focuses on Atlantic ships). The book Pirates of New Spain 1575-1742 by Peter Gerhard (Dover Publications Inc., 2003) mentions that:

"The type of Spanish galleon used in the Pacific had a comparatively wide beam, a low waist, and a high poop and forecastle. However, according to a report from the viceroy of New Spain in 1602, the Manila galleons at that time had a proportionately narrower beam than those in the Atlantic, while the ships built in Peru were the narrowest of all. The largest galleons in the Pacific were those used in the Manila-Acapulco trade, from 200 to 1,000 tons burden.'
-page 246

The book lays out some basic dimensions for a ship of the Manila galleon route, but it is from a royal cédula in 1726, so after your time period.
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