Here you’ll find videos of various lectures or other events at Cabrillo National Monument.

You can check out CNM’s YouTube channel here.

Watch our Tidepool Critter videos.

iNaturalist – Learn how to become a citizen scientist documenting what you find as you explore your park.

CLIMATE KIDS AT CABRILLO

SHAW’S AGAVE

SALTY STARS – February 19, 2014

Jacob Keeton from the San Diego Maritime Museum presented “Salty Stars” to CNM VIPs, discussing the celestial bodies filling the winter sky, with all of the legends associated with them.

Special thanks to Melissa G. for filming and editing this video.

At the beginning of the video, one of the audience members asks, “How do you know what Cabrillo’s ship [the San Salvador] looked like?”  Tavio provided a great off-the-cuff response in the moment.  On review of Tavio’s response, Bob M., our park historian, thought a few points of amplification were in order:

“The first annual conference evaluating the San Salvador was eleven years ago and involved 80 experts from all over the world whose primary intent was to make sure the replica of San Salvador would be as accurate as possible. Over the next seven years all the data were gathered, argued about, and finally synthesized in to what is being built.

In 1542 they called her a galleon but, at that point, the galleon was about half way into its metamorphosis from Carrack to true galleon.  This is shown by her hull being three times as long as it was wide (3 to 1 hull ratio) which was still pretty much a Carrack, but her castles has been cut down by two decks aft and one deck forward giving her vastly improved stability of a galleon.

In 1542 some of these proto-galleons had oars.  Oars were never carried by a Carrack (too heavy) or by a true galleon.  However, these auxiliary oars may have led to the type being called Galleon deriving from the war galley. Except for the oars, a galleon does NOT look anything like a galley.

The only other thing we knew about San Salvador beside her length and hull ratio was she was rated at 200 toneladas.  This is not the tonnage of the ship as we view it today, a tonelada is a measure how much you can cram in to that hull.”