The world’s largest replica of a traditional Spanish galleon is due off the west Donegal coast today to mark local links with the Spanish Armada.
El Galeón Andalucía left Sligo yesterday evening after a 12-day stay, following an earlier visit to Derry for the Foyle Maritime Festival.
The vessel is expected later at the bay at Mullach Dearg in Cionn Caslach, where crew members are to lay a wreath in memory of sailors lost on the Donegal coast.
The ship is travelling as a floating museum of Spanish maritime history and Andalusian culture during its 2026 European tour.
Local history records that a Spanish Armada vessel ran aground near Mullach Dearg in 1588, with the beach’s Spanish Rock still associated with the account.
The idea for the visit came from local man John Gallagher, known as John Paddy Óg, after he saw El Galeón Andalucía in Derry.
Mr Gallagher said he thought about the Spanish sailors lost off Mullach Dearg in 1588, and the possibility of marking that history while the galleon was in Irish waters.
“Wouldn’t it be some catch to get the galleon to do a fly-by, as I called it, on their way back from Sligo,” he said. “I contacted my friend, John Joe McBride, and that’s how it started.”
Further calls to BBC NI journalist Kevin Sharkey and Donegal TD Pat the Cope Gallagher helped turn the idea into a planned visit.
Public viewing is expected to be possible from coastal vantage points including Árainn Mhór, An Chruit, Gaoth Dobhair, Gabhla, Cionn Caslach and Mullach Dearg.
El Galeón Andalucía is a full-scale replica of galleons used by Spain between the 16th and 18th centuries.
The replica weighs around 500 tonnes and measures 49 metres in length, with four masts and almost 1,000 square metres of sail area.
Since its launch, this galleon – crewed by between 15 and 35 people – has sailed across the world’s oceans and seas.
It has crossed the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Atlantic, and navigated the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, South China Sea, Aegean Sea, Bosphorus, and the Caribbean.