Galleon
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Galleon. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a name given by the Spaniards to a very large kind of a vessel, with three masts and three or four decks, such as those used by them in their commerce with South America, to transport the precious metals. They were large clumsy, square-sterned vessels that could make only slow progress under the most favorable conditions. GALLEY. (1) A low, flat-built vessel with one or more rows or banks of oars, said to have been invented by the Corinthians in 700 b. c. The biremes, triremes, quinqueremes, etc., were galleys having so many banks three, five, etc. The oars in a single tier. ( 2) boat for ship's use, from long, and with a beam of its length. It is light and sharp, carrying from 10 to 12 oars, and is used for speedy rowing on expeditions. It usually has six alternate oars rowed by a picked crew. (3) An open boat used on the Thames by English custom house officers, river police, and formerly by press gangs, etc. (4) The cook house on board ship, which is on deck, or in a forward part of the vessel. In distilling, a gallery furnace. In printing, an oblong ceive composing-stick, and on which it is arranged in a column or page. The galley sometimes has a groove to admit a false bottom, called a galley slice.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a large, unwieldy sailing ship. It was formerly much used by the Spaniards. The galleon was an awkward ship of three or four decks, all capable of carrying guns and marines armed with dirk and cutlass. "The galleons," says Motley, "were huge, round-stemmed, clumsy vessels, with bulwarks three or four feet thick, and built up at stem and stern, like castles." The Spaniards employed the galleons especially as treasure-ships in their western commerce. A Spanish galleon laden with treasure of the New World was a prize worthy of Drake or Hawkins. See Drake ; Sir Francis