There was no fanfare or fireworks when a small flotilla under the command of Christopher Columbus left the port of Palos on Friday, August 3, 1492, half an hour before dawn. Sailing to unknown shores, the flotilla consisted of three ships. Today these ships are known by the names "Santa Maria", "Pinta" and "Niña".
Instructions
Step 1
The Santa Maria is the largest vessel used by Columbus on his first voyage. The ship was built in Castro Urdiales, in the northeastern Spanish province of Cantabria. No reliable images of him have survived. Judging by the descriptions, the ship belonged to the Nao type or, in other words, the karakka. It was a three-masted sailboat with a separate deck, about seventeen and a half meters in length and a displacement of just over a hundred tons.
Step 2
"Santa Maria" in the Columbus flotilla served as the flagship. Columbus himself in his diaries described her as "a bad ship, completely unsuitable for discovery." "Santa Maria" sank on December 24, 1492, stumbling on a reef near the island of Haiti. Some of the ship's timber went to build a fort named by Columbus La Navidad (Christmas). The Santa Maria anchor is now housed in the National Pantheon Museum in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.
Step 3
The second ship, the Pinta, was smaller than the Santa Maria and belonged to caravels. It was estimated that her displacement was about sixty tons. It was about seventeen meters long and a little over five meters wide. The caravel is famous for the fact that its sailor, Rodrigo de Triana, was the first to see the outlines of America.
Step 4
"Pinta" is a nickname, not the real name of the ship. Traditionally, Spanish ships were named after Christian saints. The real name of this caravel is not known. The date of the ship's construction is also disputed. It is believed to have been launched back in 1441, and overhauled for the Columbus expedition.
Step 5
The Niña is Columbus's favorite ship. It was a small caravel with a displacement of 40 to 60 tons, about 15 meters in length. Like Pinta, Ninya (baby) is the nickname for the ship. Its real name is "Santa Clara". "Niña" is the only ship that participated in both the first and second expeditions of Columbus. In September 1493, she joined a grand fleet of 17 ships sailing for the shores of America.
Step 6
In 1495, "Ninya" became one of the few ships that survived the terrible hurricane of 1495. In 1496 Columbus returned to Spain on it. In 1499, "Ninya" made a solo voyage to the island of Haiti. After 1501, information about her in the historical archives is not found.
