Agalleass was awarship of theRenaissance that combined the sails and armament of agalleon orcarrack with the propulsion and maneuverability of the oaredgalley.[1][2] While never quite matching up to the full expectations for its design, the galleass was widely employed by the navies of theRepublic of Venice and theSpanish Empire during the 16th and 17th centuries.[3]
Distinct types of galleasses were developed concurrently under vastly different needs. Mediterranean galleasses were invented by Venice during theOttoman–Venetian wars with the aim to overpower galley fleets, a model also adopted by Spain and other nations after their notable role in theBattle of Lepanto. In comparison, Atlantic galleasses were designed by Spain to outmaneuver sailing ships and protect theirtreasure fleets, eventually evolving into rowless galleons andfrigates.
Venetian galleasses were higher, larger and slower than regular galleys. They had up to 32 oars, each worked by up to five men. They usually had three masts, and unlike galleys, properforecastles and anaftcastles. Much effort was made inVenice to make galleasses as fast as possible to compete with regular galleys. The gun deck usually ran over the rowers' heads, but there are also pictures showing the opposite arrangement. Galleasses usually carried more sails than galleys and had far more firepower;[4] a galley caught in a galleass'sbroadside was in great danger, since it would be exposed to a large amount of gunfire. Relatively few galleasses were built by Venice —one disadvantage was that, being more reliant on sails, their position at the front of the galley line at the start of a battle could not be guaranteed.
Galleasses were further developed by Spanish shipbuilderÁlvaro de Bazán the Elder, who created crosses between galleys and galleons for their usage in theAtlantic (galeaza atlántica orcantábrica), finding in them much potential to hunt down sailing ships in absence of wind.[5] Unlike the Mediterranean models, Atlantic galleasses were designed primarily as sailing ships and would only deploy their rows to strategically turn or sprint. This allowed them a better maneuverability than sailing ships, while the increased size also allowed for superior firepower compared to Mediterranean galleasses.[6] His sonAlonso de Bazán experimented with a similar model namedgalizabra, which combined traits of both a galley and azabra.[7]
Some authors identify as galleasses the great galleys used by Venice during theSecond Ottoman–Venetian War, forming part of their fleet in theBattle of Zonchio in 1499.[8][9] These ships were described to be so advanced that the Ottomans could not replicate them yet, not even after capturing two in theBattle of Modon and towing one toConstantinople.[10] Otherwise, the Mediterranean galleass is considered to have been probably invented during the naval reforms of Cristoforo da Canal, after the end of theThird Ottoman-Venetian War in 1540.[11]
Also in the 1540s, Bazán the Elder built a private fleet inBiscay, including Atlantic galleasses like the 800-tonSanta María and the 1200-tonSanta María Magdalena, carrying 100 guns each. They were employed with great success in counter-privateering.[6][12] Bazán also proposed to replace the sailing ships in theSpanish treasure fleets with galleasses of 200-400 tons, which would again employ sails normally and switch to rows when necessary. The project was rejected by a mix of political and logistic problems, so he repurposed the ships to escort the existent fleets, similarly gaining renown for their performance and reliability.[13]
In 1561,Pedro Menéndez de Avilés designed and built 230-ton Atlantic galleasses inspired by Bazán the Elder, which received the name ofgaleones agalerados ("galleyed galleons"). He formed a fleet of twelve, nicknamed the "Twelve Apostles", to protect the Spanish treasure fleets from French and Englishpirates andprivateers, for which they exceeded expectations. However, their rows were eventually discarded as impractical when it was found out the ships would take water through the row-ports while rowing into the wind, and their cargo hold was also improved with an additional bridge. As a result, their model evolved into thegaleoncete, a fast, lighter galleon. In 1577, they were complemented with much larger galleasses and galleons designed by Cristóbal de Barros to serve as flagships.[14]
Spanish galleasses were also used in conjunction with carracks byÁlvaro de Bazán the Younger to fight off pirates and privateers in the Atlantic, since these usually employed carracks and other sailing ships themselves, which could be rendered easy prey for galleasses in conditions of little to no wind.[2] However, with the end of theItalian Wars, Spain eventually redirected their resources to the Mediterranean, whereOttomans andBarbary corsairs mainly used quicker galleys andgaliots, leading Bazán to replace his fleet by a similar squad of galleys.[2]
Six Venetian galleasses fought at theBattle of Lepanto in 1571, their firepower helping to break the force of the first Ottoman attack.[15] The Ottomans underAli Pasha were forced to divide their line and bypass the galleasses in order to continue their advance and clash with the Christian line.[16] The galleasses were left out of the battle, as unfavorable wind worsened their unmaneuverability and the chaos of the battle prevented them to fire from afar without hitting their own ships,[16] but their contribution had helped to win victory for theHoly League fleet.[17] Bazán the Younger organized the construction of Venetian-style galleasses in Naples in 1572.[18]
By 1580, Atlantic galleasses were falling out of favor and gradually evolving into galleons. While powerful and adaptable, vessels combining both sails and rows in the ocean were proving too complicated and expensive to build, especially compared to the new models of exclusively sailing ships. The same year, Álvaro de Bazán the Younger and Cristóbal de Barros accorded the new design of galleon, which would become predominant in the Spanish navy.[14] Alonso de Bazán built the first two galizabras in Lisboa in 1584, the 200-tonJulia andAugusta, but similarly, he discovered their number of rowers was insufficient for their size, so he had them rebuilt as galeoncetes. They were also referred to asfrigates.[19]
These ships were all part of theSpanish Armada in 1588, which featured eight of the galleons built by Bazán and Barros, the two galeoncetes built by Alonso and four great Mediterranean galleasses from Naples, of which two were possibly from the batch built in 1572 (one of them was theLa Girona). The first two types of vessels proved seaworthy enough to survive the fiasco and return to Spain, but the four Neapolitan galleasses turned out unsuitable for the Atlantic weather.[20] With 50 guns apiece, 300 soldiers and sailors, and 300 rowers, they were formidable ships, forming part of the front-line of fighting ships, but they were too fragile and overcrewed.[18][21] During the Channel actions, they were repeatedly called on as a squad in any calm, to rescue Spanish stragglers or cut-off a stray English ship.[22] However, their leader was wrecked after theBattle of Gravelines, and only two of the four made it back safely to Spain.[23]
In theMediterranean, with its less dangerous weather and fickle winds, galleasses continued to be in use as auxiliaries to galleys long after they became obsolete elsewhere.[24] In 1615,Pedro Téllez-Girón, Duke of Osuna built four heavy galleasses inSicily in preparation of an Ottoman attack.[25] However, events like theBattle of Cape Gelidonya, where six privateer vessels also owned by Osuna defeated a much larger Ottoman galley fleet, proved the value of sailing ships in the Mediterranean and initiated the general declive of galleasses.[24] One year later, the Venetian armada deployed six galleasses against Osuna's galleon fleet theBattle of Ragusa, with little success.[26]
Galleasses still featured at both sides of theOttoman-Venetian War of 1645–1669, with the Ottomans finally adopting galleasses ormahons (from Arabianmahun, meaning boat).[27][28] By theMorean War, the increasingly reduced Venetian navy invested mainly in galleasses over lighter galleys.[29]Charles Thomson wrote Venice was still using galleasses during his visit to theVenetian Arsenal in 1732, although noting they were the last western nation to do so.[30]
Media related toGalleasses at Wikimedia Commons
