The San Agustín: St. Augustine’s Workboat

The San Agustín: St. Augustine’s Workboat. . , A New World Workhorse , Pictured here are the archaeological remains of a Spanish chalupa that was wrecked in Labrador, Canada in 1565 , the same year that Pedro Menéndez de Avilés established the settlement of St. Augustine in the field behind you. , The Historical Record , The chalupa at the St. Augustine Presidio was recorded in Spanish accounts. At the bottom of this document, item number 27 states: ”In addition add to his charge one chalupa that serves this presidio that was made in it for service with its masts, yards, and rudder with its irons and ten wooden oars for the service of said chalupa…”, Manpower or Wind Power , The chalupa could be rowed by a team of men or could be outfitted with masts to support a set of sails. The chalupa which was built for the St. Augustine Presidio featured a 10 oar layout, a rudder and a set of masts for a mainsail and a foresail. , The 1586 Drake’s Raid , With a fleet of 23 ships and a force of 2,000 men, Sir Francis Drake raided and sacked the town of St Augustine on June 6th, 1586. The fort protecting St. Augustine was incomplete at the time of the raid and so could not be properly defended. The garrison fired on a-number of approaching English boats, causing damage and casualties to the attackers before abandoning the fort. Most of the Spanish escaped inland, leaving Drake’s men free to sack, loot, and burn the town. Three years later, working from eyewitness descriptions, an Italian mapmaker named Baptiste Boazio drew a map of the raid, and this detail shows the fort with the astillero close by and a chalupa (what the English called a pinnace) anchored just offshore.