The Sailing Ship Juan Sebastian De Alcano
This ship, the JS De Alcano, is owned and operated by the Escuela De Guardias Marinas, the Spanish equivalent of the US Naval Academy. Each summer, the ship makes what is essentially a world tour stopping at various ports, using the Midshipmen from the Academy as the sailors. Florida, including Pensacola, was a Spanish possession until 1822. Pensacola reflects the Spanish influence in a number of ways including some of the major street names, like Palafox, Cervantes, Cordova, Texar and a bunch of others.
The ship is one of the largest remaining sailing vessels in existence. It was built in Britain (some irony there) in the early 1920’s and has been in continuous operation since. It docks in Pensacola every 5 years or so for a several day stay. It was last here in May 2023 though, several of these pictures were taken in 2009
I think the subject of each shot is obvious and doesn’t need individual descriptions. Though I was amused at the labeling on the engine control.
The Spanish obviously have a loooong history of Maritime Tradition.
TomD
Here’s a shot of a much smaller sailing vessel, a replica of a Spanish Galleon. I’m convinced that a true sailing master of a large sailing vessel needed to be a genuine genius.
There also had to be a designer.
Also, the sailors in the rigging had to be mentally quite a bit above the near retarded levels pictured in historical descriptions of the ships crew. Actually, that’s depressing. We like/need to think of the people subjected to such horrific circumstances/privations/dangers as brutes.
I just noticed two very unusual elements of this galleon design: the sail and an observation platform on the bow sprint. I’ve not seen that before and definitely not on Dutch, British or French designs of the time.
That first shot from a distance is excellent. The rigging is remarkably intricate.
Here’s a shot of a much smaller sailing vessel, a replica of a Spanish Galleon. I’m convinced that a true sailing master of a large sailing vessel needed to be a genuine genius. There also had to be a designer. Also, the sailors in the rigging had to be mentally quite a bit above the near retarded levels pictured in historical descriptions of the ships crew. Actually, that’s depressing. We like/need to think of the people subjected to such horrific circumstances/privations/dangers as brutes. I just noticed two very unusual elements of this galleon design: the sail and an observation platform… Read more »
Those ships were the signature technology of their time. They made the European Colonial Period possible.
I wonder if that resembles the treasure ship Drake took, the Cacafuego.
I remember reading Moby Dick, and the passage where Mellville explained the rigging of a whaler. It put me to sleep three times before I got through it.
I agree, to master a sailing ship of size takes clever men, not dolls. Imagine the intricacies of a clipper ship like the Citty Sar, all that acreage of sail and the rigging necessary to hold and control it.