Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and His Galleon (20)

galeon

Source: Photos by WTL© (2015) on board the Spanish Galleon in St. Augustine, Florida, on September 8, 2015.
Image: This galleon, an authentic replica of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés' galeón San Pelayo, carried 965 square meters of sails, and it had 34,169 feel of ropes.
Humanities Question: Please interpret this image in two senses: (a) a totally realistic sense of material history and culture, on the one hand, and (b) a totally symbolic sense on the other hand (hint: what symbolic sense might the shape and strength of the main mast have and also the maze of ropes or lines focusing upward toward the so-called crows nest?)