Historic Spanish boat docks at Gravesend

The boat is a replica of the Galeon Andalucia travelled the world in the 16th and 18th century.  Kristin Hawthorne reports.

Transcript

00:00This ship is a reproduction of a Spanish galleon merchant ship

00:03and is open for visitors to board until the 22nd of September.

00:08The ship is now 15 years old and is called the Galleon Andalusia.

00:11Gravesend Town Pier has been a super popular destination for the people of Kent today

00:16and that's because the Spanish galleon has just arrived here a few days ago.

00:20But why is it here and what is the history behind it

00:23and why are people of Kent so interested to come here and see the ship?

00:27It has travelled so far across Europe and Asia as well as the United States and Canada

00:33and has recently come to the UK with Humble Gravesend being one of its final stops

00:38before taking a well-deserved rest back at its home in Spain.

00:42I love doing like dress-up historical fantasy bits and this is really really cool and amazing.

00:50We love historic sites, usually castles and villas and things.

00:56We don't usually go to ships but we're always interested in history and we just decided to go.

01:06Gravesend is not in a particularly good place at the moment as are lots of places

01:12and anything that brings interest to the town and brings people into the town is a great idea.

01:19The ship was created to showcase similar vessels that used to cross the Atlantic Ocean

01:24in the 16th to the 18th century and was made to tour around the world and showcase history.

01:30This was a merchant ship so it was fully loaded with any kinds of things.

01:37So this was the thing that made the pirates want this.

01:41The money was here, everything.

01:44So this was targeted a lot.

01:46That's why if you come to see it we have many cannons, that's why people think it's a pirate ship

01:52but we have many cannons to defend ourselves from the pirates.

01:58This ship has six decks and seven seals and full of historical information throughout,

02:03giving families all over the world a chance to learn about these kinds of vessels

02:07that we often only see in films.

02:10It took 17 months to build and develop to become as historically accurate as possible

02:16so if you're a fan of fantasy and adventure films or just keen to learn more

02:20be sure to check it out and see what the rest of the world has been lucky to experience.

02:25Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV