Another tall ship is coming! The French tall ship Hermione, the exact replica of the ship that brought the Marquis de Lafayette to George Washington, visited Alexandria, Virginia, in 2015. And now in November 2016 our area is getting another visit by a tall ship, this time “El Galeón,” an authentic replica of a 16th-century Spanish Galleon.
The ship will visits the City of Alexandria from Wednesday, November 9, through Monday, November 14, 2016. Galleons, used by the Spanish Crown for maritime expeditions from the 16th to 18th centuries, were fabled merchant vessels and war ships that made up the early navies of Europe.
El Galeón is a 500-ton, 160-foot long vessel with a 32-foot beam. Its four masts hold six sails that measure nearly 11,000 square feet. Commissioned by the Nao Victoria Foundation and launched in 2009, the “living history” ship was converted into a floating museum, with five of the vessel’s six decks available for tours. Features include aexhibit on “San Pelayo,” the Spanish galleon that was instrumental in the founding of St. Augustine, the first city established by European settlers in what is now Florida in the United States. The vessel carries an all-Spanish crew that lives and breathes the history of the ship and its travels from port to port and in the open sea.
A neat note kids are sure to love: the official site for El Galeón notes that Spanish Galleons, used primarily for their cargo transporting abilities, “were frequently bought and sold by Spanish and English governments during the 1600s, and often taken over and converted into Pirate ships in the rough Carribean sea waters.”
The ship will be docked at the City Marina on Cameron Street in Old Town Alexandria and will be available for tours from 10 am to 7 pm each day. Tour tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 5-12, and free for children under age 5. Read more about the ship’s features and history on the special page on the City of Alexandria’s website.
Photo courtesy El Galeón
Leave a Reply