The Twelve Apostles: Reconstruction, Outfitting, and History of Late Sixteenth-Century Spanish Galleons

Between 1589 and 1591, twelve galleons were built and launched in the shipyards of northern Spain. They were known as the Twelve Apostles. These galleons were designed and constructed as warships whose function was the defense of the Spanish coast, and the escort of the Indies runs fleets. Their design, dimensions, and construction details were discussed by shipbuilding experts and naval commanders. The Spanish crown encouraged these discussions that produced abundant documents that are currently located in the Spanish archives. However, despite historical studies based on this type of documents, the late sixteenth century has not received as much attention in relation to the construction, outfitting, and ship history as have later periods, such as the seventeenth century. Moreover, there is also a negative image on the quality of the late 16^th-century Spanish galleon even though there is an absence of research on comparative ship design. This paper presents the preliminary results of the research conducted in various Spanish archives to determine the original design, outfitting, and history of the Twelve Apostles. This research is based on the analysis of contemporary archival documents, shipbuilding treatises, archaeological parallels, and iconographic evidence. The objective of this study is to produce a reasonable model of these galleons to understand their design, construction, and to conduct comparative ship analysis between similar European vessels of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.