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The bombardeta was the largest gun on board the San Salvador. Royal ordinances governing Spanish maritime activity required that a vessel of the size of San Salvador carry four of these guns. Historians suggest that in practice this requirement was not always followed. Large guns of this type, when on board, were likely stowed below as ballast, with one readily available for firing on the weather deck. The others would be hauled up and placed in position when contact with enemy vessels was likely, or on occasion as part of a show of force. Guns of this type were capable of firing a round shot about five pounds in weight.
Bombardetas were breech loading. The detachable powder chamber could be prepared with a charge before being slotted into place on the two-wheeled gun carriage. While relatively fast to load and fire, guns of this type were particularly hazardous for the crews that manned them. Over time, the seal between the powder chamber and the main tube could become compromised, allowing gasses to escape on firing. Catastrophic failures could result in the death or maiming of the crew.
In 1542 Juan RodrÃguez Cabrillo and his companions believed they were setting out on a voyage that would ultimately take them all the way to East Asia and the coast of China. They were specifically instructed by Spanish colonial authorities not to engage in hostilities with indigenous peoples on the way, and to avoid contact with the vessels of other nations. At this time, Portugal controlled vital trading networks in East and Southeast Asia, and the Spaniards and Portuguese engaged in a maritime rivalry that occasionally erupted into outright hostility. The bombardetas on San Salvador would have afforded some protection against pirates in Asia, as well as fellow European rivals like the Portuguese. They would have also provided a show of force when favorable first impressions were deemed necessary. The replica bombardetas on board San Salvador are patterned after similar pieces recovered by maritime archaeologists from the 1554 shipwrecks of Spanish vessels at Padre Island in the Gulf of Mexico.
