Is there actually a vessel type called "Frigatilla" I have only seen this Frigatilla on "Sunken Treasure on Florida Reefs" copyright 1993 by Robert Weller. If you Google frigatilla you only get 2 findings and they are both Weller...
Weller referes to the "Maria Galante" as a Cuban Frigatilla. The Galante was a british vessel so would frigatilla meam frigate or brigantine?
Any hep will be appreciated..
Chagy.....
Researcher, Scuba diver and adventurer , always on the quest of discovering, recovering, conserving and exhibiting colonial-era artifacts and treasure.
Each excavation site is always treated as an archaeological project. "Preserving Maritime History For Future Generations"
"shallow draft". This means that a "frigatilla" would wash up all the way to the beach in a hurricane rather than sinking on the longshore reefs, and probably didn't carry much ballast?
frigates varied in size greatly ---- a frigitilla was a smaller type frigate -- a small shallow draft vessel that was very quick and often used as dispatch vessels and such because of their great speed --foreign smugglers that snuck goods into spain's waters often used these and galera --like a schooner but rowible as well (for extra speed or if there was no wind) both these class vessels were used as trading vessels to sneak in--- do a deal and then haul butt quickly away -- they depended mainly upon their speed to outrun the slower spanish vessels -- but their equal was the spanish patache class vessels which were often used to capture the illegal trading vessels. as Echeverz pataches did to three vessels off of columbia while he sat in porto bello, panama -- one was an english "blandra" class vessel (which might have been sold to Ubilla in havana* since records show he bought one to replace one of the 4 patache class vessels he lost in vera cruz, mexico to a storm -- it might very well that the english blandra is the vessel later known as the MARIA GALANTE)-- one was a french galera class vessel aka "the french prize" or "EL CIERVO" the stag--- the last was a dutch galera class vessel -- called "senora de la popa" -- aka LA Holandesa / Olandesa (the dutch / dutch)--- and the SAN MIGUEL -- not to be mixed up with the NAO SAN MIGUEL A MUCH LARGER AND TOTAL DIFFERANT VESSEL
the main deck of the dutch galera class vessel known by these various names --- La Holandesa / Olandesa / San Miguel (not to be mixed up with the much larger NAO class vessel SAN MIGUEL) / senora de la popa --- main deck and upper works were reported to have sheared off from her hull as as she hit bottom in the shallow water and like a big surf board washed inshore -- that wreckage was fairly intact and was used by Echeverz as shelter & as a recovery campsite -- this was noted in his letters that he wrote and sent back to havana "from the real (shelter) of the Olandesa*" --(spanish for dutch*)