Galleon (Sp. Galeón)

Representation of a small galleon

From: Manuel de pilotage, à l'usage des pilotes bretons, par G. Brouscon (1548)

Source : Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Français 25374

The galleon was a merchant vessel designed to combat corsairs on terms of equality. Some were quite large. The one depicted above appears to be relatively small, a type the Spanish called the galeóncillo. The description in Bancroft’s Hist. Central Amer., 1:189n, applies to the larger types:

“The galeon was a large armed merchant vessel with high bulwarks, three or four decks, with two or three masts, square-rigged, spreading courses and top-sails. One fleet of twelve galleons, from 1000 to 1200 tons burden, was named after the twelve apostles. Those which plied between Acapulco and Manila were from 1200 to 2000 tons burden.”

Galeaza or Galleass

Above: A typical galeaza of the mid-16^th century.

From: Manuel de pilotage, à l'usage des pilotes bretons, par G. Brouscon (1548)

Source : Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Français 25374

This magnificent depiction from a Breton pilot’s manual is interesting in that the vessel displays the flag of the dauphin, or heir-apparent to the throne of France. Possibly, this vessel belonged to François, 15^th dauphin of France and duke François III of Brittany (d. 1536).

The galeaza was larger than a typical galley, but smaller than a galleon. Sharing characteristics of both types, she was equally at home on the inland (Mediterranean) sea and the high seas.

Heath's Armies of the Sixteenth Century (1)

As you can see from the title page, this is volume 2 of Ian Heath's excellent work. This volume deals with the armed forces present in the New World, both European and indigenous. I cannot think of any comparable work and recommend it for anyone interested in the topic. It was published in 1997 and has not been superseded to my knowledge.

The book is divided into five (geographic) sections, not including the Bibliography. This last, incidentally, is quite useful, despite its seeming brevity (It is just four pages long but is set in small type and is quite comprehensive.).

Of course, my interest is with La Florida, and this is covered in the section titled "North America 1497-1608," which provides most of what I'm looking for. Specifically, sub-sections for "Florida" (pp. 123-130) and "Virginia" (pp. 130-134) are useful. "Florida" is a typical treatment. It gives a historical overview of the Spanish and French expeditions (1513-1581) and the Indian cultures of the region. This is followed by a section on warfare, including weapons and forts. Finally, Heath presents his characteristic, detailed line drawings of warriors and soldiers.

Roanoke

Above: The English settlement at "Roanoac" (present-day Roanoke Island)

The brief existence and mysterious disappearance of Sir Walter Raleigh's colony continue to vex scholars. Roanoke was close to the northern margin of La Florida. A possible solution to the mystery of the "Lost Colony" is set forth in:

Horn, James. “Roanoke’s Lost Colony Found?” American Heritage, 60:1 (Spring 2010), 60-65.

Worth a read.

La Florida: Corsairs as Actors

Above: Hawkins - the type of the corsair

I’ve begun to flesh-out LF, and looking at the array of Categorical Actors, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need another Categorical Actor – Corsairs. Sure, corsairs (or pirates, if you like) were more or less loyal to their national sponsors (England and Huguenot France), but they were also wily traders operating in the murky world of the Black Flag and “no peace beyond the line” who frequently acted at cross-purposes to what one would think were their notional national and religious identities. Of course, their sponsors could always fall back on what we today might label “plausible deniability” in the event a corsair did something embarrassing.

In the final analysis, many of these characters were quintessential “loose cannons” or “wild cards,” driven by avarice and in some instances bloodlust. Although the stuff of romance and even national pride today, few tears were shed on either side when any of them came to naught.

Suffice to say, corsairs were so unreliable that they deserve a category separate from those of their sponsors.

La Florida: Field Artillery

Photos: This small piece is mounted on the standard 30mm x 30mm base recommended for TPC’s Spanish Fury, Actions! Gun and crew are, I believe, old-ish Mikes Models 15mm – another rescue from the artillery box of bits and bobs.

In general, the SF Actions! artillery rules will apply in LF tactical combat, but some changes will have to be made because of the unique circumstances that applied in the New World. First, other than Cuba and, I suspect, Mexico, horses were in short supply in the Spanish colonies, so guns typically would not be drawn by horse teams and will have to be manhandled. Second, Indians of course will not have artillery. And, third, any firing of artillery guns will strike terror into aboriginal hearts, causing reactions that in LF will be automatic and not require reference to the SF Actions! firing table. Here are the draft reactions:



1 – The targeted warband (company) will immediately make a Retire move AND have one Terror marker placed on it.

2 – All other warbands within “earshot” (i.e., which can “see” the targeted warband retire), will themselves make a Retire move and seek cover. They will, however, recover automatically when they gain cover of any kind. At a minimum, affected warbands will be all those of the war party.

3 – On succeeding turns in which the gun(s) is/are fired, only the bases adjoining the targeted base(s) will be forced to retire.

4 – No Indians in cover may be fired upon by artillery.

5 – Indigenous allies of Europeans who have at least one previous combat experience are not affected by these draft reactions.

La Florida: Indian Traits and Leaders

Indians in general were crafty, devious, unpredictable, and employed deception, guile, ambush and stratagem. They were also relatively well organized locally and organizationally coherent in tribal areas, which were sometimes quite extensive.

They were an important source of operational-tactical information for Europeans, whose knowledge of events in LF was limited generally to the areas they control.

In terms of SF Actions! Indian traits are:
canny
slippery
undisciplined, but betters (Indians were undisciplined but saw themselves as betters, so this is different.)
expert shooters

No Indian can possess any of the following characteristics:
disciplined
swordsman
coward
bookish

When not detected, Indians can perform any two actions per turn (except, obviously, no. 7 “mount...”). (I’m going to see how this works in practice, so it’s provisional for now.)

They are allowed only one turn of HTH, unless successful. If unsuccessful, they will immediately withdraw from contact, facing the enemy. (Again, I want to see how this works in practice.)

Officer traits are:
tough
terrible
fanatical
Hero
Mars

For SF Actions! LF Indian equivalents are:

cacique = colonel
war chief = captain

Caciques were Indian chiefs in the La Florida-Caribbean region.

war party = squadron
warband = company

Fort Matanzas (3)

The top photo, taken from the fort’s gun deck, shows the view south from the rear of the sentry box. From the fort’s website:

“The sentry box or garita had fallen off sometime during the 1800s while Fort Matanzas sat abandoned. It was rebuilt of brick in 1927 and again of coquina in 1929 using steel reinforcing rods to attach it to the existing parapet walls.”

The lower photo was also taken from the gun deck of the fort, looking south toward Matanzas Inlet. It shows how the fort’s battery commanded the river and inlet, which was about one-half mile closer in the 18th century.

Fort Matanzas (2)

Top: Fort Matanzas from the ferry slip.

Above: This informative placard is at the entrance to the ferry slip.

The entrance to Fort Matanzas National Monument is off SR A1A just south of the town of Crescent Beach on Anastasia Island. There is a small visitor center adjacent to the parking area. Conveyance to the fort from Anastasia Island is via a passenger ferry, which operates from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The FMNM website is at www.nps.gov/foma

Fort Matanzas

Above: Two views of the model of Fort Matanzas in the national monument's gift shop.

Dur Écu visited Fort Matanzas National Monument near St. Augustine, Fla., recently. The fort – really a strong watchtower – is located on Rattlesnake Island (I kid you not!) on the Matanzas River, just north of Matanzas Inlet (of which more later) and about 14 miles south of St. Augustine. Constructed during 1740-42, its purpose was to defend the approach to St. Augustine along the river, which flows west of Anastasia Island, the barrier island in the area.

Despite its small size (50-feet square and 30-feet high), it was a remarkably strong fortification, mounting five guns and garrisoned usually by one officer and seven-ten men detached from the St. Augustine garrison for a tour of duty of one month.

Although not strictly speaking pertinent to our exploration of 16th-century La Florida, the fort, with its simple, box-like structure is an appealing candidate for modeling.

Matanzas – Spanish for “slaughters” – took its name from the massacres of French Huguenots of the Ribault expedition at the inlet in 1565.

La Florida: Fighting Vessels (2)

Dur Écu has just previously lauded Albert Manucy’s biography of Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. One useful appendix of that book (although not labeled as such) is the author’s description of “Some 16th Century Vessels.” This includes two pages of text describing various types of ships and boats of the period and two pages of profile line drawings showing showing the appearance of several types.

This section of Manucy’s book will prove quite useful in working-out naval aspects of LF. Here are the types described:

Narrow Hulls: Galera; Galeota; Bergantin; Fragata; Galeaza; and Galeón.

Broad-beamed Ships: Nao, návio; Caravela.

Smaller Craft: Barco; Patache; Zabra; Chalupa; Pinaza; and Lancha.

Source: Manucy, Albert C. Florida's Menéndez: Captain General of the Ocean Sea. St. Augustine, Fla.: St. Augustine Historical Society, 1983.

La Florida: Fighting Vessels (1) – the Patache

Paul Hoffman’s superb study of the Spanish defense of the Caribbean in our period (see below) introduced me to a type of fighting vessel that I had never imagined would be present in the war theater, much less an important factor operationally and tactically. This was the boat called the patache de remos (oared patache), or just plain patache.

Hoffman’s brief but well executed glossary defines the patache as:

“A two-masted open boat often fitted with oars or sweeps, varying in number from ten to eighteen to a side, with a total of from twenty to thirty-six. Ranging in size from 60 to 200 toneladas burden, they were very swift under sail or oar and were used as tenders for larger ships. The name seems to be derived from an Arabic adjective meaning `rapid, active’.”

Hoffman speculates that the French use of the patache, which was Spanish or at least Moorish in origin, was possibly in imitation of the Spanish or the “inspiration” of pirates in the Indies “becalmed within sight of a prize.” Nonetheless, beginning in 1549, piratical depredations by pataches, often operating in tandem with larger sailing vessels, were noted.

It seems that some of the pataches were transported to the Antilles in pieces and there assembled and fitted-out for service with corsair flotillas. In response, the Spanish employed their own pataches and larger galleys.

Source: Hoffman, Paul E. The Spanish Crown and the Defense of the Caribbean, 1555-1585: Precdent, Patrimonialism, and Royal Parsimony. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1980.

Rod Langton makes miniatures in 1:1200 scale in his Renaissance Galleys line that appear to be suitable representations of pataches. These are his Bergantine, Fusta, and Galiot models, described as unarmed scout with 9 oars/side, unarmed scout/pirate with 15 oars/side, and lightly armed scout/pirate with 17 oars/side, respectively.

La Florida: Abbreviations

The number of abbreviations connected with LF posts is mounting. Here is a draft list, which I'll update from time to time.

EPP = Economic Power Potential
FHQ = Florida Historical Quarterly (professional journal)
GOD = The Game Organizer and Director
LF = La Florida (game system)
MPP = Military Power Potential
TPC = The Perfect Captain (web source for gaming systems)

La Florida: Indian Weapons

Several sources were consulted on weapons employed by the Indians of LF. A useful, well-illustrated general source is:

Taylor, Colin F. Native American Weapons. Norman: Univ. of Okla. Press, 2001.

General sources have very little to say about LF, though, and it was necessary to consult specialized sources. Among these, the following was outstanding, and not just for weapons, as the title indicates:

Purdy, Barbara A. “Weapons, Strategies, and Tactics of the Europeans and the Indians in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Florida.” FHQ, 55 (Jan., 1977), 254-76. [I use FHQ as an abbreviation for the Florida Historical Quarterly.]

From Purdy and other sources, it appears that Indian weapons included: bows, spears, clubs, and short swords.

The bows typically were large, resembling longbows, and powerful. They had a range of 200 yards, and the Indians were said to commonly discharge six or seven cane arrows in the time it took a European to reload his arquebus. The bows were so stout that they could also be used as clubs.

Clubs used by the Indians were of various types. Those with stone heads appear to have been used like maces to stun an enemy at the least and to crush skulls and bones at worst. Others, like the macaña had “blades” made of pebbles or small stones that could not be splintered. “It will kill the best armored man,” wrote a Spaniard, “and anyone who hesitates and is struck with the macaña will surely be killed.” Pick-axe type clubs were described by De Soto.

It seems that thrusting-type spears were rarely mentioned in the literature of LF, and references to spears were mainly to dart-like throwing spears.

La Florida: Actors

LF can be played by no fewer than three players. The upper limit of players is potentially quite large, considering the number of real historical actors whose personae are available for players to control (to the extent permitted under the rules).

Actors in LF belong to one of the following categories:

GOD – The Game Organizer and Director
Spaniards
French Huguenots
Englishmen
Indigenous Peoples (Indians and others living beyond the control of the Europeans)

Categorical Actors

Not surprisingly, players gaming these categories are called Categorical Actors. They are the directing or overarching actor in their category and are responsible for all policies, strategies, operational orders, and tactical combats within their purview.

Next: Brief Descriptions of Categorical Actors