Greeted by hundreds of enthusiastic visitors, the much-awaited Galeon Andalucia arrived at Wushih Harbor (烏石港) in Yilan County yesterday morning after taking refuge in Keelung last week to avoid Typhoon Fanapi.
The 17th-century Spanish replica came at the invitation of the Yilan County Government, which had initially planned to hold visits at Wushih Harbor for four days. However, the typhoon forced organizers to shorten the activity to two days. The ship is scheduled to leave for Hong Kong tomorrow.
Many people arrived at the harbor early to line up, for fear of missing the opportunity to explore the ship, which started allowing visitors on board at 10am.
PHOTO: HU CHIEN-SEN, TAIPEI TIMES
Although the organizer limited the tour to 10 minutes per person and no more than 100 people at a time, most visitors did not follow the rules, forcing people in line to wait for as long as two hours in the scorching sun before being admitted onto the ship.
The Andalucia left Seville, Spain, in March and followed the route set by its Spanish predecessors 400 years ago, passing through the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Malacca Straits, stopping in several countries along the way before arriving in Shanghai in June.
The ship, which is equipped with three large masts, seven big sails and 10 replica cannons, also served as the mobile exhibition room for the Spanish Hall at this year’s World Expo in Shanghai.
Pepelu de Miguel, who serves on board the Andalucia, said the rise of the galleon in the 17th-century was directly linked with trade between Spain and the Philippines, as galleons were the ships used to carry spices back to Spain.
“The designer of the replica, Ignacio Fernandez Vial, is also a marine engineer,” he said. “He was searching [materials] at the Navy Museum in Madrid, as well as in the archives in Seville, where all the data since Columbus sailed to America is stored. He was able to find a lot of drawings and paintings of ships coming to Spain from the history documented by Marques de la Victoria, a member of royalty.”
Asked why people are so taken with replicas, de Miguel said it was because they were part of history.
“I think people want to know how people lived in the past,” he said. “They like to see, touch and feel what they were doing before.”
The ship will be open to visitors until 7pm today.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and