Santa+Maria

The //**Santa María**// was the largest of the three [|ships] used by [|Christopher Columbus] in his first voyage across the [|Atlantic Ocean] in 1492. Her master and owner was [|Juan de la Cosa]. The //Santa María// was a small carrack, or "Nao" around 70 feet, and was used as the flagship for the expedition. In 1492, in the middle of the expedition, the ship was beached accidentally on a reef and its wood used to build shelters. A non-sailing replica found in [|Columbus], [|Ohio], [|USA] The other ships of the Columbus expedition were the [|caravel]-type ships //Santa Clara//, remembered as the //[|Niña]// ("The Girl" – a pun on the name of her owner, Juan Niño) and //[|Pinta]// ("The Painted" – this might be a reference to excessive [|makeup] . All these ships were second-hand (if not third or more) vessels and were never meant for exploration. The //Santa María// was originally named //La Gallega// ("The Gallician"), probably because she was built in Galicia. It seems the ship was known to her sailors as //Marigalante//, literally "Dirty Mary"). [|Bartolomé de Las Casas] never used //La Gallega, Marigalante// or //Santa María// in his writings, preferring to use //la Capitana// or //La Nao//. The ship was about 70 ft (18 m) long, had a deck and three [|masts]. She was the slowest of Columbus' vessels but performed well in the Atlantic crossing. The ship ran aground off the present-day site of [|Môle Saint-Nicolas], [|Haiti] on [|December 25], [|1492]. No authentic contemporary likeness of any of the three ships of the Columbus expedition is known to exist. Several replicas of the //Santa Maria// have been built, all based solely on conjectures.

This information was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_%28ship%29

As with the Santa Maria no clear picture of Christopher Columbus exists today. The link in the article from Wikipedia and these two show some of the portraits that exist.





The files below give a lengthy description of a carrack taken from "The Book of Old Ships" by Gordon Grant and Henry B. Culver.



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