The Nina is docked in Treasure Cove Village. And where there’s a replica of a Spanish ship, there must be conquistadors.

About 10 of the Spanish soldiers – faithfully played by participants in local reenactment troupe Goode’s Company – are performing for the crowds at Northwest Passage.

They’re donned in the garb of the era, down to metal helmets and breastplates. They regularly march in formation and swordfight for the crowds. And they’re ready for battle with pikes and muskets.

“We’re a ‘company of foote,’ or infantry, fighting in the low countries – today’s Netherlands,” said Gordon Frye of the Renaissance Military Society. “Because the English and the Spanish saw each other so often on the battlefield, their look and manner really began to resemble each other.

“That’s why, even though we primarily focus on Elizabethan reenactments, we can play the part of the Spanish.”

The group, which consists of men from around the Puget Sound area, is portraying the Spanish as an homage to the country’s history of North American exploration.

Reenactments of times past from the 1580s to the late Victorian era will be an ongoing staple of Tall Ships Tacoma, said John Salicco, the living history coordinator with the festival.

“People can often get more interested in history if they see it before their own eyes,” he said. “And we aim to entertain at the same time.”