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Galleons' Ensign c.1520-c.1701 (Spain)

Possibly ensign of vessels operating in American waters

by José Carlos Alegría

Description
Civil and War Ensign c.1520-c.1701 (possibly ensign of vessels operating in Spanish waters)
Ensign for the Spanish Netherlands c.1520-c.1701 (possibly ensign of vessels operating in Flemish waters)

See also:

Description

This ensign —documented in several charts, by different authors— is the one used by the Spanish Galleons, the biggest war vessels of the Spanish Navy at the time.

José Carlos Alegría, 23 October 2000

I have also seen this flag labelled Spanish Galleons in several sources, among them:

Danckerts 1705, no. 49, Vl[agge] van de Spaanse Galjoenen,
Norie and Hobbs 1848, no. 211,
Siegel 1912, table 46, Galionen 1737, 1769 and
Calvo and Grávalos 1983, no. 102, Bandera de los Galeones de España 1520-1648.

However, I wonder whether the flag was first spotted on a Spanish galleon but was actually much more widely used in the Spanish Navy from the early 16th century to the very end of the 17th century.

Santiago Dotor, 26 October 2000

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, a galleon was a "full-rigged sailing ship that was built primarily for war, and which developed in the 15th and 16th centuries. The name derived from "galley", which had come to be synonymous with "war vessel" and whose characteristic beaked prow the new ship retained".

Santiago Dotor, 2 February 2001