The Spanish Navy training ship “Juan Sebastián de Elcano” is one of the largest and oldest tall ships still operational.

As training ship, the “Elcano” (as she is known) is entrusted with the formation and training of the future Spanish Navy officers: the midshipmen. To this end, a six-month training cruise is organised every year, usually sailing outside Spain. Most of the instruction is carried out at sea where midshipmen receive classes and take part in all types of maneuvres. Of the 80 cruises she has completed, 10 of them have been around the world. In all these years the ship has sailed in strong winds and rough seas showing her seaworthy condition. These Midshipmen, who are the senior students of the Spanish Naval Academy, will become the future Officers of the Navy. The crew size is about 232 people, consisting of officers, midshipmen, petty officers and sailors.

The Training Ship is named after a Spanish sailor, who was the first man to ever circumnavigate the World in 1522. He successfully completed the journey that was started under the command of the Portuguese sailor (at the service of the Spanish Crown) Ferdinand Magellan, who was killed during the voyage. Charles I of Spain awarded Elcano a coat of arms with the legend “Tu Primus circumdedisti me” (Latin for “You were the first to go around me.”)
The 83 year old Ship was commissioned on the 29th of February 1928 and was built by the “Echevarrieta & Larrinaga” shipyards in Cádiz. Since then, she has sailed more than a million and a half nautical miles through all the seas of the world and calling at the most important ports in the course of 80 years.

This four mast brig-schooner with crossed foresail has 20 sails, with up to 3151 square meters of sail-area. Since her first Cruise she has sailed over a million and a half nautical miles and visited over 152 ports in 68 different countries. Most recently, it has visited the USA, more specifically the city of Boston, where it stayed for a few days as an ambassador ship.

The ship belongs to the “Sail Training Association” and participates in its races and Naval Weeks. In 1974 she got for the first time the “Boston Tea Cup” awarded to the ship that travels the longest distance in 24 hours in full sail. She has also won that Cup in 1979, 1996/1997 (ninth cruise around the world), 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 1997 she established a new record sailing 275.2 miles in 24 hours. She has reached 17 knots with 75-knot winds and spent 42 at sea without visiting any port. She has also crossed the Magellan Strait twelve times recalling the heroic feat of the Portuguese sailor.