Six Galleons for the King of Spain: Imperial Defense in the Early Seventeenth Century (Softshell Books) [Paperback]

Carla Rahn Phillips (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1992 | Series: Softshell Books

In 1625, Martin de Arana built six Atlantic warships for the Spanish crown. The author traces the ships from their construction through a decade of service, incorporating a history of Spain's Golden Age. This book was awarded the Spain and America in Quincentennial Year of Discovery prize.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This book details the life history of six galleons built for the king of Spain in 1625-28 and intended for service in the Indies armada. It discusses the history of ship design and construction in 16th- and early 17-century Spain, the preparation of the Indies fleet for service, and the lives, duties, salaries, even diets of the men who sailed on these ships. Phillips succeeds admirably in detailing the manifold frustrations confronting "Europe's first modern imperial power" at a critical juncture in its history. The author's wide-ranging interests provoke digressions which often interrupt the narrative and analytic flow of the book, but she more than compensates by providing a host of useful insights into the complicated and messy reality of 17th-century imperial policy. For specialists. David Keymer, Dean of Students, SUNY Coll. of Technology, Utica
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Sea buffs will love it. This book will interest specialists in Spanish and maritime history and general readers who are interested in the sea. The illustrations and maps are excellent... A systematic exposition of the techniques of Spanish shipbuilding and the costs and problems associated with it, made vivid and immediate by the author's description of the construction, equipping, and financing of the six galleons of the title.

(History )

"Handsomely produced and illustrated... The six galleons built for the king by Martin de Arana in the royal shipyards at Zorozza in the Bilbao estuary were the products of a long and distinguished tradition of Spanish shipbuilding, well summarized by Phillips.

(Isis )

Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (August 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801845130
• ISBN-13: 978-0801845130
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #685,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #56 in Books > History > Americas > South America > Colombia

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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In-depth historical research, July 10, 2002

By 

Ronald Leonardo (North Kingstown, RI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Six Galleons for the King of Spain: Imperial Defense in the Early Seventeenth Century (Softshell Books) (Paperback)

A narrative and quantatative history of Spanish shipbuilding, from planning through finance and design to construction, (including measurements, technology, materials, labor, location, etc....), manning, victualing and deployment. There is a bit of subsequent history for each specific ship mentioned, though not enough to satisfy my interest. Perhaps the sources were not sufficiently informative.... Included are some insights into; Spanish monarchical naval policy, workings of the bureacracy and officialdom, politics and motivations of the naval leadership. The book includes a brief overview of colonial naval and maritime conditions and policy and a nice summary of Spanish fiscal policies and economic conditions at the time. There is just enough background to appreciate the topic, but certainly not "ample," material to justify the title as a history of "Imperial Defense" during the era. In retrospect, I think I read a doctoral thesis. I imagine myself back in graduate school, being assigned a scholarly text on an obscure topic by my history professor. All that said, it was highly readable for a scholarly text.

This history is an in-depth (social and quantitative) analysis of shipbuilding, politics, manning and provisioning for historians or serious lay students of naval and maritime history. It has elements of modern "European" style history--localized, specific, detailed, limited. This style of history is often called "the new history." For example, there is a wealth of material about the types of provisions placed on-board; where grown, how financed, where purchased, price variations, transport, amount and even location of the consumption, how replenished, dietary conditions, etc....
In addition, there is a bit of comparative history, for example in the differences in shipbuilding techniques and design principles.

The bottom line--this is a scholarly work in which a graduate student or historian might have interest. The title may be enticing, but this is not a history intended for a wide public audience. It is a solid supplement to naval history libraries, treating a heretofore much-ignored subject. This book is emphatically not suitable for readers who seek a general naval history of the era of Spanish exploration and colonization.

Interested and scholarly readers of naval history should also consider buying the companion book which concentrates upon the manning of the treasure fleets during the period, also available currently from this bookseller.

"Six Galleons...." has a useful bibliography but since I am unfamiliar with the Spanish and English-language primary and secondary sources, I cannot say if the bibliography is sufficiently thorough nor if it represents all the best sources available. It is well known, however, that the Spanish government archives are extremely detailed and thorough, so insofar as that source was utilized, the work is probably highly accurate.

Congratulations to the author for a significant contribution to historical research in a subject so long ignored in English-language naval history. We students of European naval history yearn for more English-language Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and French naval histories. (We just hope they are less limited in scope.)

A note on the rating: I am not a practicing historian, just a serious lay student of naval history. And, I don't award "5's." This "4" is an indication that insofar as a detailed limited history of a topic was intended, and insofar as I am familiar with the subject, the book merits a "4" for quality and readability.