The principal warships of the opposing English and Spanish fleets in the 1588 confrontation of the Spanish Armada were galleons, with the modified English race-built galleons developed by John Hawkins proving decisive, while the capacious Spanish galleons, designed primarily as transports, showed great endurance in the battles and in the great storms on the voyage home; most survived the ordeal. Galleons were constructed from oak (for the keel), pine (for the masts) and various hardwoods for hull and decking. Hulls were usually carvel-built. The expenses involved in galleon construction were enormous. Hundreds of expert tradesmen (including carpenters, pitch-melters, blacksmiths, coopers, shipwrights, etc.) worked day and night for months before a galleon was seaworthy. To cover the expense, galleons were often funded by groups of wealthy businessmen who pooled resources for a new ship. Therefore, most galleons were originally consigned for trade, although those captured by rival states were usually put into military service. The most common gun used aboard a galleon was the demi-culverin, although gun sizes up to demi-cannon were possible. Because of the long periods often spent at sea and poor conditions on board, many of the crew often perished during the voyage; therefore advanced rigging systems were developed so that the vessel could be sailed home by an active sailing crew a fraction of the size aboard at departure. Galleons were a class of blue-water sailing ship that combined the easy-to-maneuver fore-and-aft rig of smaller shipping (boats) with the square rig of late middle ages cargo vessels. The galleons solidified the place of the square-rig and the centrally situated tallest main-masts and the slightly shorter fore-masts of a square-rigged ship characteristic of the 16th-19th centuries, but introduced the use of the lateen rig to sail closer to the wind on a tack than could a square-rigged vessel—an important attribute in restricted waters, but more so over long voyages where holding a few compass points closer to the wind might save hundreds of miles and days or weeks of sailing 'beating into the wind'. The most distinguishing features of the galleon include the long, prominent beak or beakhead followed by a foremast and mainmast, both noticeably taller than the single or double lateen-rigged mizzenmasts with their sloped lateen-rig yards, and below those the square quarter gallery at the stern.