A ship shaped by the Atlantic route
The galleon emerged in the sixteenth century as a development of earlier carracks and naos, and ships of this kind served in the Spanish Armada as well as on trade routes. It was longer and narrower in proportion to its width than those older ships, with lower, less towering castles at bow and stern. Historians still debate exactly where and when the type first appeared, and the word was applied loosely to many large sailing ships of the period, so the details below describe the typical Spanish version rather than a single standard design.
The galleon’s lines made it steadier under sail and better able to hold a course into the wind than a high-sided carrack. A prominent beak at the bow, a squared-off stern with a raised quarterdeck, and several masts carrying a mix of square sails and a lateen sail on the rear mast were common features. The hull was built of heavy timber, often oak and other hardwoods, and was strengthened to carry cannon along its sides.
Guns and cargo
A galleon of this era was both a cargo ship and a warship. Guns were mounted on one or two decks and fired through ports cut in the side, which meant the weight of the guns sat low in the hull. Armament varied widely. A major galleon might carry a few dozen cannon of different sizes, including heavier pieces on the lower deck and lighter guns above. Sources differ about numbers for particular ships, so any single figure should be treated with caution.
The trade-off was clear. Every gun, crew member and cannonball took space that could have held cargo, and a ship fitted for battle was rarely as efficient a carrier as a merchantman. Spain accepted this because what it carried was valuable, and because attack by foreign privateers and naval ships was a constant risk.
The convoy system
From the middle of the sixteenth century, Spain organised its transatlantic trade into regular convoys, usually described as the fleet system. The crown regulated the trade through the Casa de Contratacion in Seville, and ships sailed under official control. In outline there were two main annual fleets:
- one for New Spain (Mexico), sailing to Veracruz
- one for Tierra Firme, the northern coast of South America, sailing to Cartagena and Portobelo on the isthmus of Panama
Escorting warships, including the treasure fleet galleons that gave the system its image, accompanied merchant ships. The two groups often met in Havana, Cuba, before the long homeward run. From there the convoy used the Florida Straits and the Gulf Stream to carry it north and then east across the Atlantic. The system was never perfectly regular; wars, shortage of ships and financial strain meant sailings could be delayed, skipped or reorganised.
What the fleets carried
The most famous cargo was silver, mined at places such as Potosi in the Andes and in Mexico, then minted or shipped as bars. The fleets also carried gold, pearls, emeralds, dyes, hides, sugar and other goods. In the other direction came manufactured goods, wine, oil and supplies for the colonies. The silver was important to the Spanish crown’s finances, and also flowed on through Europe and, via other routes, to Asia. The connected story of the Manila galleons, which crossed the Pacific, belongs to a different ocean and a separate trade.
Treasure was also the reason the convoys drew attention from rivals. Merchant ships on Atlantic crossings faced a mix of risks, and for the Spanish this was one more reason to build a closely guarded system around the Caribbean sea lanes.
Attacks and losses
Foreign attackers did sometimes succeed. In 1628 the Dutch commander Piet Heyn captured most of a New Spain fleet off Cuba, an episode that was a notable blow to Spanish finances. Other captures were rare, though; weather was a larger danger than enemy ships. Hurricanes in the Caribbean and off Florida sank several fleets. The loss of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha and other ships in a storm in 1622 near the Florida Keys, and the loss of a large part of a fleet along Florida’s east coast in 1715, are two of the best-known examples.
Those wrecks matter today because their cargoes and timbers have been studied by divers and archaeologists. Questions of ownership, recovery and the rights of salvors have often been disputed; the longer history of wreck salvage shows that argument is not new. Wrecks like these also form part of the wider field of maritime archaeology, which treats the ship and its contents as historical evidence.
Later decline of the system
The convoy system weakened during the seventeenth century as Spain’s finances and fleets declined and other powers increased their own presence in the Caribbean. Smaller, faster ships and registered single-ship sailings became more common in the eighteenth century, and the older fleets were gradually replaced by other arrangements. Wartime also brought disaster, such as the destruction of a Spanish treasure fleet at Vigo Bay in 1702 after it had crossed the Atlantic.
The galleon as a type declined for reasons of its own. What matters here is that the ship and the system supported each other: the galleon was designed to cross an ocean with valuable freight, under escort, along a route set by wind and current.