Nautical Research Journal


create an eff ective ramming weapon. By the medieval era galleys relied mainly on distance weapons, such as catapults and Greek Fire, and boarding instead of ramming as their primary off ensive tactics.


T e galley of Renaissance times had the same basic form as these earlier ships but generally was longer and wider. It rowed alla scalaccio, with one tier of oars using three to fi ve rowers per oar. Cannons were their primary weapons; the large cannons were mounted in the front of the ship fi ring forward with several smaller swivel-type guns mounted along the sides. Soldiers serving on galleys carried arquebuses (a type of musket) bows (especially on Ottoman vessels) and pikes, which were particularly eff ective when a phalanx of soldiers charged the decks of an opponent’s ship.


T e Galera Real was the fl agship of the Spanish fl eet, and so was especially fi ne in terms of qualities and decoration. T e galley was 60 meters (197 feet) long, 6.2 meters (20 feet) in beam, and 8.4 meters (28 feet) wide across the outrigger or rowing frame, with a crew of around 400. T ere were 59 oars, each 11.4 meters (37 feet) long and rowed by four men. One side carried one less oar to make room for a cooking area built close to the side of the ship. T e ship was highly decorated with many gilded fi gures, paintings, and statues, and three elaborate stern lanterns; one of the hallmarks of a fl agship. A replica was built in 1971 to commemorate the 400th


anniversary of the


battle of Lepanto. It is housed in the Museu Marítim in Barcelona, Spain and there is an article about it in Ships in Scale for July/August 2010.


Building the Model


A Czech supplier, Daniel Dusek, produces a 1:72-scale kit of La Real. T e fi nished model is 795 millimeters (31.3 inches) long, 380 millimeters (15 inches) wide and 640 millimeters (25.2 inches) high. T e kit is quite complex, containing over 600 individually numbered


53


4. Keel assembly clamped to a Fair-A-Frame device. All photographs by the author unless otherwise indicated.


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