The Stopover boats in Sète 2024: the Nao Victoria, the only replica to have circumnavigated the world

La Nao Victoria est la réplique du bateau de Magellan. Midi Libre – VINCENT ANDORRA

Construite pour l’Exposition universelle de Séville en 1992, la Nao Victoria, attendue pour Escale à Sète 2024, est la réplique du bateau de Magellan, le premier à avoir bouclé le tour du monde entre 1519 et 1522

From a distance, it looks like a walnut shell. Up close too, by the way. But, expected at Escale à Sète 2024, this boat with its dark hull, two high castles at the stern and bow, is a global star. This replica, created in 1992 on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition in Seville by enthusiasts who later launched the Nao Victoria Foundation, is, in fact, the exact copy of the boat of Magellan, the first man to have made sailing around the world between 1519 and 1522.

Logbook

Name: Nao Victoria.
Type: carrack
Launched in 1992
Spanish Pavilion
Home port: Seville.
Length: 28 m.
Post height : n.c.
Sail area: 290 m2
Number of sailors on board: 10.

50 men on board!

The historical truth is that the man went no further than the Philippines where a poisoned arrow ended his personal adventure along with his life. His ship, on the other hand, Victoria, was the only one of the fleet of five units, to be able to return to the country with Juan Sebastien de Elcano at the helm accompanied by a handful of men. Shipwrecks, illnesses and other bad encounters had taken their toll on the other carracks and their crews. To give you an idea, there were fifty on board per ship. Certainly not a breeze on stormy days.

Where and when to see it ?

From March 26 to 28, Quai de la République, then near the Criée until April 1. Entrance with the single ticket which gives access to the deck of all tall ships. Ticket office: quai de la République, or at the tourist office or on the website escaleasete.com

Taking on the world in 2004

For some obscure reason, Juan Sebastien de Elcano, even if his name was given to the Spanish sail training ship, was forgotten by history but traces remained of the carrack in documentary sources, chronicles and of course iconographies of the time. Enough in any case to draw up plans and recreate the prestigious three-masted ship after eight months of work. A reconstruction which, due to safety standards, has been equipped with an engine and modern means of navigation. The fact remains that if the Victoria was the first to circumnavigate the world, the new one, the Nao Victoria was the first replica to do the same. In 2004, in fact, the Spanish crew followed exactly the same route as Magellan. It took them two years.

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