The Spanish Navy’s Tall Ship, the Juan Sebastian de Elcano, is in Town

May 19, 2016

The Juan Sebastian de Elcano. Photos by Lucas Lechuga.

A very historic bit of the Spanish Armada sailed into the Port of Miami yesterday, making its birth at the FEC slip in Museum Park. The Juan Sebastian de Elcano, an elegant four-masted training tall ship of the Spanish Navy, is on a four month voyage across the Atlantic to the United States, the Caribbean, and South America. Having just arrived from Havana she (does one still use the female pronoun when referring to a ship named after a man?) will be in Miami until Sunday for free tours, and as a cultural exchange between Spain and the six ports-of-call on her American tour, at least a few of which coincidentally are former Spanish colonies. Built in 1927 the ship is named after the man who completed Ferdinand Magellan’s around-the-world expedition after explorer’s death with the last remaining of Magellan’s five ships, the Victoria. She also, incredibly, has the distinction of having sailed farther than any other sailboat in the world today, approximately 2.3 million nautical miles.