"SAGRES" is a sailing ship with broken topsails and mizzen. The hull is made of steel, with the 10 mm curved and welded at some points.
The ship has ten watertight bulkheads, four of these having a total of 7 hydraulic watertight doors (operated locally or from a distance) that guarantee the compartments remain watertight when closed. The lower decks are equally watertight and provided with watertight hatches. The main deck doesn't have openings, with exception of an escape trunk, being the entrance to the lower decks through doors set in the superstructure, and leading down to the lower decks.
The excellence of its design and seaworthyness are attested by the fact that the German Navy built, twenty years later, in 1958, its present school ship, the "Gorch Fock", to the same plans.
The ship has tanks with capacity for 113,000 liters of fuel and 3,250 liters of lubricating oil, enough to run the engine for about 30 days.
The helm is manual, with two method of control: the emergency steering in the stern which is directly linked to the steering gear; and the standard steering wheels (3) that act mechanically via mitre wheels. Normally two men are enough for the maneuver of the rudder. The selection is made in the box of the mechanism where an engagement exists for the effect.
The anchors are raised by means of the electrical bow capstan. There are two stockless anchors of 1.750 Kg each, attached to chain cable of 44 mm. The starboard and portside stockless anchor have ten and nine shackles, respectively. There is still a kedge anchor and a spare bow anchor, ready for use.
On the quarter deck there is a smaller manual capstan, for the handling of ropes and cables.