There was a replica of a 16th century Spanish galleon sail ship docked at the Alicante marina. We decided to go down and check it out. We could see the galleon from a distance and it was quite impressive.

We went on board and took a guided tour seeing what life was like working and living on a 16th century shipping vessel. It was an exact replica with cannons, rigging and wooden decking etc. We walked up the ramp onto the main deck of the ship. This area of the ship is known as the Quarter deck. On this deck there is a main mast known as the Mizzen mast.

It is also the wheel that controls the ship is located. Officers would command the direction of the ship but would not actually handle the wheel, which was done by sailors.

We could see the bell which they used for different communications on board. It was on the forecastle deck. This deck has the front sail mast, known as the fore mast, the bell and two anchors that weigh over two tons each.

There was the poop deck at the stern of the ship which we did not have access to.  The origin of the name poop deck is from the  french word “poupe” which over time was shortened to the common term of poop deck.

The poop deck was where officers could view the crew and the maneuvers of the ship. There is a large lantern which was used to identify the ship at night and to communicate with other ships.

Below the poop deck was the “Noble Area”. This area was restricted to officers, and high ranked passengers.

We went down one level to the gun deck which is where the cannons for the protection of the ship are mounted.  The galleon ships travelled in large groups for better protection against pirate attacks.

The guide explained how they used different types of cannon balls for defence. There was the standard cannon ball which would make a single large impact. There was also a cannon ball chained to another cannon ball, which was used to destroy sails and mast of a ship. They also had a special one with small iron balls bunched together for a shotgun effect.

The deck below the gun deck is called the Hold. It is an area of the ship which holds the precious cargo.

The cargo could be wine, oil or other products from Europe heading to America or it could be gold, silver and other precious metals from America. Only a small part of the hold was used to store basic food for the crew for the journey across the ocean.

“Adios y que tengas un grand dia”