Not only the ship cost a lot of money but the cannons were very expensive. There were some cannon factories in Spain mainly (Bilboa) that were specialized in bronze cannons which were more expensive and more durable while the cannons made in England were cheaper but made of iron.
Iron cannons were unreliable and most of the time exploded, killing the people using them.
I wrote some notes after researching about guns and cannons builders but I don't know where I put my notes.
I remember that there were 2 different ways to build cannons, using cast iron or bronze(which is made out of a mold) and Wrouth (which consist of layering piece of metal and hammering them together.
The factories that made bronze cannons were importing their copper from Nagasaki. They said that their copper was of better quality than the one from Northern Europe.
Also, the Hanseatique League (which was a group or guild of merchants from the Baltic Sea),introduced the rear rudder. The Ships in the Mediterranean Sea were still using two rudders on each side of the ship until 1300.
I researched how and where Lime juice was made to fight scurvy, who made the first compas, the wind direction in the Red Sea, the gulf of Arabia, etc.
I spent quite a few years reading about everything from shipbuilding to the Crusades, the Silk, Spices and other caravan roads, the Knights of St-John, the Ottoman Empire, the Barbary Coast, the pirates vs Privateers, the goods that were important in Medieval times.
Did you know that sugar was considered a Spice back then?
The kings and rich people used clove to kill bad breath since they didn't brush their teeth. ð
I'm very passionate about these subjects. ð
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