El Galeon, a 'floating museum,' due in Erie

Be prepared: The longest waits this summer at Tall Ships Chicago was for the tours of the El Galeon, a reconstruction of a 16th century Spanish galleon. Some waits were longer than three hours.

But according to Flagship Niagara League Executive Director Shawn Waskiewicz, the wait is worth it. He attended the Chicago event and made his way on board the 170-foot-long, six-deck wooden vessel, which is scheduled to appear at the Tall Ships Erie Festival from Thursday through Sunday.

"It's stunning and awesome,'' Waskiewicz said.

The ship, whose home port is Seville, Spain, has spent the summer on its first sail of the Great Lakes.

"It's a challenge to come to the Great Lakes because it's the first time we've sailed on fresh water,'' said Fernando Viota, El Galeon's project manager. "The weather changes very often on the Great Lakes.''

El Galeon is coming to the Great Lakes primarily because of Tall Ships America, Waskiewicz said. 

When the Spanish vessel docks at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie early Thursday evening following the Tall Ships Erie Parade of Sail in Presque Isle Bay, it will become what Waskiewicz terms "the star of our show, of course, besides the U.S. Brig Niagara.''

"El Galeon is a little smaller than Niagara,'' Waskiewicz said. "It's not as long as Niagara but it's taller than Niagara. El Galeon has six decks and the ship carries about 30 crew members. It's a really cool ship with really nice people.''

Viota said visitors at Tall Ships Erie will be able to tour four of El Galeon's six decks and see crew holdings and captain's quarters. The vessel has a rigged height of 120 feet, has a 33-foot beam, weighs 495 tons and draws 10.5 feet of water. 

"Our goal is to teach Spanish maritime history to the public,'' Viota said. "We have a floating museum. This ship is very impressive. We are very high and we're a different kind of tall ship. People love to see the helm. They feel like a pirate. We love talking about our history, and the visitors can talk with crew members about our sailing adventures.''

Viota said El Galeon can handle about 3,000 tour visitors per day. A tour of the Spanish vessel's decks and exhibits can take 1 hour to 2 hours. 

"El Galeon will have long lines,'' said Billy Sabatini, captain of the Niagara. "Once you get on board, you're on board for a long time because it takes a while to get through such a big ship.''

El Galeon is owned and operated by the Nao Victoria Foundation, a Spanish nonprofit, whose staff includes historians, documentalists and palaeographers.

Foundation staff have extensive backgrounds researching Spanish and European archives in unearthing original historical documents, iconography, maps, plans and drawings from the 16th century to the 19th century. They use these materials as documentary and research sources and for educational and outreach purposes.

The Nao Victoria Foundation in 2006 began the project to reconstruct to scale a 16th century Spanish galleon. After three years of research, construction on El Galeon began in 2009 at the Punta Umbria shipyard in Huelva, Spain. About 150 workers built the vessel, Viota said. Work was completed midway through 2010.

During the past several years, El Galeon has sailed the world, visiting about 50 ports, and has found an American home port in St. Augustine, Florida.

The vessel has navigated the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans, and has sailed the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Southern China Sea, the Aegean Sea, the Bosporus Strait and the Caribbean Sea. 

"Seeing the ship is visually quite stunning,'' Sabatini said. "It's from an era that we don't really identify with anymore.''

Sabatini has toured El Galeon several times.  

"You can be everywhere on the ship,'' he said. "You start climbing up this ladder, then the next ladder, and the next ladder, and you're so high up, you're actually looking down at Niagara's head rig, which is kind of amazing. That whole ship has that oiled wood look, which is really nice. They have guns on board, but they can't use them. For me, as a sailor, when you see how the sails are set up, the rigging is so much different. Everything about it is so authentic looking to that era, it has that visually stunning kind of appearance.'' 

Festivalgoers who tour El Galeon will learn about 16th century European sailing techniques and technology, examine Florida history exhibits, and discover more about the 500-year history since the arrival of Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon to Florida's eastern shore. 

"El Galeon is trying to tell the story of what a Spanish galleon is or was, what it was used to do and they want to tell the story of how far they have traveled,'' Sabatini said. "They're not an education vessel in that they take on students, but they are trying to educate the public about what a Spanish galleon is. They actually have almost like a museum-style exhibit set up down below, which is really impressive. They have different movies set up. They take the attraction business very, very seriously. They try and get their message out and tell people what's going on.''

Ron Leonardi can be reached at 870-1680 or by e-mail. Follow him on twitter at twitter.com/ETNleonardi.