RCGC Ships. For this trade, the Company had numerous ships, more than 70 of which enabled a fluid exchange Guipuzcoa, Cadiz, and Venezuela. Since the availability of ships was vital to the Guipuzcoana's traffic, from the beginning of its history, management was concerned with vessel construction. To this end, it had its own shipyards in Pasajes, from where around 50% of the trading company's ships were shipped. When, due to war, shipwrecks, etc., the loss of ships jeopardized the Company's traffic, it resorted to the acquisition of foreign vessels, both French, English, and Dutch. Through this policy, Guipuzcoana maintained a sufficient number of its own ships throughout its history. Chartered vessels were rare. However, following the declaration of war with England in 1779, and as the Guipuzcoana Company was unable to conduct trade regularly, it did so through Curaçao and Amsterdam. To this end, it used a variety of chartered vessels, especially Dutch ones. This dependence on foreign vessels or vessels not belonging to the trading company worsened when, in early 1780, in the midst of the war against England, seven Guipuzcoana ships were seized. The first RCGC ships to set sail for the Venezuelan coast were the San Joaquín and the San Ignacio, accompanied by the Santa Bárbara, also known as the Guipuzcoana Galley, which was smaller than the first two. All three vessels left the port of Pasajes in the summer of 1730. Both the San Joaquín and the San Ignacio were packed with goods to meet the needs of the Venezuelan colony: numerous textiles, oils, spirits, wines, flour, as well as ironmongery, iron items, etc., swelled their cargo. Both the ships and their cargo were insured in European ports, as was continued to be done on future voyages. By 1734, the Guipuzcoana Company informed its shareholders that it had 9 ships, which demonstrates the efforts of the mercantile company to increase its trade.