Santa Maria (ship)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Santa Maria
Reconstruction of the Santa Maria for the Columbian Naval Review (1904)
Reconstruction of the Santa Maria for the Columbian Naval Review (1904)
Ship data
Ship type Three-masted carrack or caravel (unsettled)
Shipyard Santander
Launch around 1480
Whereabouts Stranded on December 25, 1492
Ship dimensions and crew
length
23.6 m ( Lüa )
width 7.92 m
Draft Max. 2.1 m
 
crew 39 men
Rigging and rigging
Number of masts 3
Number of sails 5
Armament

The Santa Maria was the flagship of Christopher Columbus ' first expedition from 1492 to 1493, on which he sought a western route to East Asia. She was accompanied by the much smaller ships Niña and Pinta . The Santa Maria sailed under the flag of the kingdoms of Castile and León , which is now part of Spanish territory.

history

The robust ship, which Columbus called Nao (old Spanish expression for ship ) belonged to Juan de la Cosa and was rented to Columbus for the project. At that time the ship was still called La Gallega ("the Galician woman") after the place where it was built . De la Cosa was also on board, but Christopher Columbus led the ship as captain until it was stranded, see below.

Instead of a sea route to "East Asia" - as it was his real goal (see introduction to Christopher Columbus ) - Columbus rediscovered America for Europe on his first voyage . Not the continent, however, but islands on the northeastern edge of the Bahamas , such as the island called Guanahani by the indigenous peoples (see entry in the logbook on October 12, 1492), which Columbus gave the name San Salvador .

On December 25, 1492, the Santa Maria ran on a sandbank in front of Hispaniola , the island with today's states of Haiti and Dominican Republic . The ship could no longer be saved. The wood was used to build the first Spanish settlement on American soil, La Navidad , where Columbus left about 30 to 35 of his people.

Quote: “Neither the general literature on shipping, nor the Spanish specialist literature provide precise information on Columbus' ships. Most of what we know comes from the logbook of the Genoese Navigator. ”Therefore, the information on the dimensions is by no means as precise as it appears in the table on the right.

In 2003 a wreck was found off the coast of Haiti that was supposed to be the remains of the Santa Maria. This was only published in May 2014. According to research by UNESCO , however, the wreck is far too modern and probably dates from the 17th or 18th century.

construction

The experts argue about which ship class the Santa Maria belongs to: In terms of structure, it is a caravel - but the sails are more similar to that of a carrack , which is why it is more likely to be seen as such.

The main mast had a height of 26.6 m, to which both a main sail decorated with a red cross and an additional top sail were attached. The foremast was fitted with a square sail, while the mizzenmast was fitted with a latin sail . In addition, two leeward sails could be set on the Rahe and the bowsprit sails on the bowsprit.

Columbus noted in the logbook entry of December 26, 1492: "[...], because the Santa Maria was a very clumsy ship and not suitable for voyages of discovery."

designation

The Martian crater Santa Maria is named after her.

literature

  • Attilio Cucari: Sailing Ships - The Queens of the Seas, History and Typology. Bassermann-Verlag, Munich 2008; Italian original edition: Velieri. Mondadori Electra SpA, Milan 2004.
  • Wolfram zu Mondfeld, Peter Holz, Johannes Soyener: The ships of Christoforo Colombo 1492: Santa María-Nina-Pinta. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1991, ISBN 3-7822-0515-4 .
  • Xavier Pastor: The Columbus Ships. Delius-Klasing, Bielefeld 1993, ISBN 3-7688-0815-7 .

Web links

Commons : Santa Maria  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Attilio Cucari: sailboats. The queens of the seas - history and typology . Bassermann-Verlag, Munich 2008, p. 20
  2. ^ William F. Keegan: Sailing into History , Florida Museum of Natural History, July 7, 1991
  3. ↑ a b Robert H. Fuson (ed.): The logbook of Cristoph Columbus. Gustav-Lübbe-Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1987, p. 254.
  4. ↑ Robert H. Fuson (ed.): The log book of Cristoph Columbus. Gustav-Lübbe-Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1987, p. 130.
  5. ↑ Divers apparently find the wreck of the "Santa Maria". In: Spiegel Online. May 13, 2014, accessed December 11, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Researchers claim to have discovered the wreck of the “Santa Maria”. In: faz.net. May 14, 2014, accessed December 11, 2014 .
  7. ↑ Find was not Columbus' ship after all. n-tv.de, October 6, 2014, accessed October 8, 2014 .
  8. ↑ Robert H. Fuson (ed.): The log book of Cristoph Columbus . Gustav-Lübbe-Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1987, p. 261.