16th century ship - Vila do Conde

The replica of the 16th century ship , built in 2007 in the waters of the Ave River, belongs to the Alfândega Régia Museum Center - Shipbuilding Museum.

In addition to being an important tourist and recreational attraction, it also has an educational function because, built with the utmost respect for the scientific research of Admiral Rogério d'Oliveira, it contains the ancestral knowledge of the carpenters and caulkers of the Vila do Conde shipyards.

The 16th century Portuguese ship was a round ship with high sides, with a ratio of 3:1 between length and maximum beam, three or four decks, stern and bow castles with three and two decks respectively, whose architecture fitted perfectly into the hull; it had three masts , the main and the trapeze with round canvas, and the mezzanine with Latin canvas.

The ship thus designed met a greater need for carrying capacity than had hitherto been known in Portuguese navigation. The voyages to India were so long that the ships had to carry large quantities of solid and liquid food to sustain the crew, especially as the route involved long periods of sailing without sight of the coast or footholds. There was also the commercial factor: the spice trade meant the transport of a valuable but bulky cargo, for which sufficient space was required for storage. The ship, with its bulbous hull and ample seating, responded to this.

To illustrate the complexity of the organisation of the voyages , the 16th century ship presents the quarters of some of the crew members, as well as the crew members themselves, through human sculptures : the captain, the pilot, the clerk, the chaplain, the pharmacist, the helmsman, the bombardier and the grumet.

At the same time , various navigational instruments , cartographic material, various types of merchandise and a pharmacy are on display, which attempt to shed light on the complexities and vicissitudes of life on board.

Willem Vandenameele