Until the second decade of the 16th century, the ocean crossing was carried out by ships without carrying any type of escort ship. However, the increase in the commercial dimension, the great benefits that they brought, as well as the discovery of new territories and the constant attacks of pirates to try to seize the precious metal merchandise of America, forced to impose an organization of ships of war that protected the ships that transported the merchandise while ensuring a monopoly. Regarding the regulations, in 1522 the incorporation of artillery in the ships is established and in 1526 it is dictated that the convoys be organized in fleets, which would be called galleons when they went to Tierra Firme, and specifically Fleet when they undertook the trip to Mexico. .
According to Esteban Mira Caballos, convoy navigation was one of the key elements in keeping commercial traffic safe from pirates and the enemy powers of the Hispanic Monarchy. However, he distinguishes three stages within this model of convoy navigation during the 16th century. The first of these would take place during a short stage of about 10 years (1492-1502) in which there was no clear or developed legislation and, therefore, navigation was allowed without any type of protection for ships. However, what we find at this stage is an attempt to spread the benefits among the various ships to try to minimize the costs incurred in the event of an attack or shipwreck. A second stage would correspond with the entry on the scene of the Casa de Contratación and, depending on the news about the presence or not of corsairs, ocean circulation was allowed, but it was established that the fleets would be composed of a minimum number of ships, being the number of between four and eight ships necessary to allow the crossing to America. Finally, a third stage that would cover from 1561, with the definitive establishment of the system of fleets and galleons, until the end of the commercial monopoly with the Free Trade Agreement of 1778 and the consequent suppression of said system.
Another author who devotes an entire chapter to the system of fleets and galleons is Haring. In August 1543, it was established that only ships of 100 tons or more were allowed to carry merchandise to the Indies accompanied by, at least, fleets made up of ten ships. On the other hand, two departures a year were established, one in March and the other in September, and each ship would have to be escorted by a warship. Throughout the reign of Charles I, the organization of the fleet system was developed very gradually and, although strict orders were given so that no ship would go to sea without being part of a fleet made up of a minimum number of ships, there were many exceptions to halves of the 16th century. Likewise, all the fleets were made up of ships assigned to a different port in America, which diversified into two fleets penetrating the Caribbean. One circulated towards the South for the current zone of Venezuela, New Granada and Darién, and the other supplied New Spain and Honduras. The ships differed greatly in terms of dimensions. It seems that, in the year 1557, there were only two armed ships in the composition of the fleets: the capitana and the almiranta, and sometimes even merchandise was introduced to them, despite having a limited load because they had to carry a number minimum of soldiers and artillery to protect merchant ships. In addition, he describes how between the years 1564 and 1566 an organization was established in the commercial circulation in the Indies that did not vary much during the entire period of the Habsburgs. On October 18, 1564, a series of legislations were established that imposed the departure of two independent fleets annually for New Spain and the Isthmus of Panama. The first would undertake the trip at the beginning of April to the Gulf of Mexico, together with the ships that arrived in Honduras and the Antilles. The other fleet would embark on its journey to Nombre de Dios in August, the ships heading for Cartagena de Indias, Santa Marta and other ports on the north coast of South America. Both fleets had to stay in America during the winter, being able to station themselves in Havana from the month of March, so that a few days later, they could continue their trip to Spain and thus reduce the risks of bad weather. This would be the first time that reference was made to the fleets of Tierra Firme and those of New Spain, being different fleets but, sometimes, acting jointly although they maintained their independent organizations.
Vera Cruz’s fleet began the journey from Seville in April or May, solving the cyclone season. In spite of everything, the games throughout the year were not strictly fulfilled on the dates mentioned, but from 1580 there are notable jumps of up to entire years and, with the arrival of the XVII, with the loss of Hispanic hegemony , the discontinuity in the trips increased, producing a shortage in America and forcing, in turn, to take smuggling measures.
The number of merchant ships that made up the fleet of the Indies was very variable, determined by the situation of trade in America. During the 16th century, a more fluid traffic of fleets heading for Tierra Firme and the Caribbean is observed. Not so, in the seventeenth century, the number of ships that arrived in America was much lower than in previous stages. The decline in the transit of galleons was total during the second half of the 17th century, considerably reducing the tonnage of merchandise, which, from ten thousand or eight thousand tons per year in the best times, now barely reached three thousand every two years. .
In each fleet of the Indies there was a royal representative who was in charge of monitoring compliance with the regulations attributed to navigation. This included even the highest authorities such as the captain general and the officers themselves. In addition to this figure, there were on board the fleets an accountant, a guard or bailiff for each ship, an artillery officer and the soldier itself, as well as those in charge of guarding the precious metals known as the silver masters. Finally, a whole series of carpenters, nurses, coopers, etc. should be mentioned.
In short, we can examine how in the fleet of the Indies there was, on the one hand, a group of galleons that were in charge of protecting the merchant ships and, on the other hand, the merchant ships themselves who, in turn, could also be armed. . In the following image I offer a plan of what the layout of a fleet of the Indies would look like:
As can be seen in the image, the warships were placed behind the merchant ships so that, in the event of an attack, they could quickly go to cover the flanks of the commercial ships. As well as the presence of the flagship at the forefront of the fleet to guide the route and warn of any danger by means of situation lanterns at night. As I mentioned before, merchant ships could also carry cannons for protection. I have found a photo that illustrates quite well the situation of the galleons, as well as that of the merchant ships with cannons that would go in the direction of America:
We can see how sailing very close to figure C, which would be the officer’s ship of the fleet of galleons, was a small ship that would be in charge of warning the other ships, which were behind, about any attack or danger that it sighted and so you can position yourself for defense. On the other hand, I would like to show the structure of a 16th century galleon through the following photograph:
The ships of the Indies fleets were not exactly a pleasant place to live. Living on the deck of ships became quite unbearable in the sense that they had to endure storms and heat or cold depending on the weather and the situation with respect to the tropics. Crew space was so small that there was hardly any privacy. One of the biggest problems was the lack of cleanliness and cleanliness that caused bad odors inside the ship, as well as the presence of diseases. The answers to why they did not swim are simple, that is, the presence of sharks and, above all, for the simple reason that almost no one knew how to swim, this was the lack. The animals that were brought on board from Seville, such as chickens, lambs, or goats, were essential for feeding a crew that could stay in the ocean for up to two months. The presence of rats, cockroaches, fleas, ticks and lice was totally normal and could hardly be combated. One of the measures taken for the problem of odors was the use of rosemary. However, even if it rubbed on the wood of the ships, it was not enough. As for food, during the first weeks, the food rations were abundant, however, as time passed, the shortage of food became apparent among the crew. This, moreover, could be worse in the sense that if they were attacked and had to take some other route, they could lengthen the journey for a few days, thus prolonging their food shortages. However, not everything was negative in the life of a ship, the sailors, to pass the time, carried musical instruments and even played games of chance in which the captains themselves also participated. Of course, the most widespread phenomena were storytelling by sailors and cockfights, as well as fishing that provided, in addition to entertainment, food.
Conclusions.
Regarding the assessment of the operation of fleets and galleons, I must say that I find it very positive. That is to say, without including the issue that the departures were very restrictive and at very specific times of the year, the fact that this System managed to remain for more than two centuries with hardly any incidents, seems to me a spectacular achievement for the nautical of the centuries. XVI, XVII and even XVIII. However, according to Guadalupe Chocano, the Hispanic Monarchy, when it came to defending its territories in Europe, was effective in the sense of establishing and reinforcing political and social laws that would help such an undertaking. However, he defends that this position would be done in exchange for forgetting the naval hegemony itself. The enormous economic and monetary crises made the situation of the Spanish fleets worse in the sense that the cuts were increased, thus lacking an effective officer training system for the Spanish fleets.
In spite of everything, it was a great success because in approximately two centuries, there were more losses due to the storms themselves than as a direct consequence of attacks by pirates or enemy corsairs. In fact, it is known that only three fleets were lost to corsair hands in the course of two centuries. All in all, the fleets did their job pretty well in the sense of keeping the…