The caravels of Christopher Columbus

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I love boats and if there are many mythical boats these are the three caravels of Christopher Columbus.

There was Santa Maria, Pinta and La Niña

The Santa María

Santa Maria, also known as La Gallega, is one of three ships that allowed Christopher Columbus to cross the Atlantic Ocean during his first expedition in 1492.

This large ship was built in Galicia (autonomous community with historical nation status, located at the north-western tip of Spain and is surrounded by the Principality of Asturias, Castile and Leon, Portugal, the Atlantic Ocean and the Cantabrian Sea) and owned by Juan de la Cosa.

It was 25 meters long and 8 meters wide and weighed 223 tons, with a crew of 40 sailors. The length of his keel was 16 m and the surface of his sails 270 m2.

It is the flagship (the highest ranking naval officer's ship in the fleet, admiral being the highest rank, and it is customary for this ship to fly a distinctive flag making it recognizable from its fleet) of the first expedition of Columbus which lasted a little more than two months, starting from Palos de la Frontera the night of August 3, 1492 and which approached the island of Guanahani in the night of Thursday 11 to Friday the following October 12.

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Columbus had to make a stop in the Canary Islands, on the island of La Gomera, to refuel and repair the rudder that was defective.
He left La Gomera on 09 September 1492 and lost sight of the island of Hierro, the westernmost of the Canaries, plunging into the unknown.

After a journey of more than two months in the Caribbean Sea, Santa Maria was shipwrecked on the Christmas Eve of the same year, on the coast of Hispaniola off Cap-Haitien. Subsequently, his wood was used for the construction of Fort La Navidad, the first European settlement in the New World located about ten kilometers further east, on the site of the village of En Bas Saline, near the village of Seaside on the territory of the current town of Limonade.

Columbus left 39 of his crewmen who were all massacred by the Taino Indians, before the return of the navigator.

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The Pinta

The Pinta means the one that is made up is one of the three caravels of the first expedition of Columbus in America that will discover the first round trip between the New World and Europe.

Pinta was smaller than Santa Maria and its official name was Santa Anna.

It was 17 meters long and could support up to 30 crew members.

It was built in the shipyard of Palos de la Frontera and was chosen by Martín Alonso Pinzón, who had previously rented it, for its nautical qualities.

The caravels were part of the technology protected by a state secret in Portugal, because according to the will of King John II, these ships could not be sold or lent to foreigners without his permission.

Under the command of Captain Martín Alonso Pinzón, she left the port of Palos de la Frontera on the night of August 3, 1492.

Shortly thereafter, on her arrival in the Canary Islands, she had to repair the rudder that had dislodged; Columbus thought it was the owners, Gómez Rascón and Cristóbal Quintero, to whom she had been hired, and who had also boarded as sailors, who had sabotaged her to escape the expedition.

At 2 o'clock on October 12, 1492, it was from the Pinta that was shouted Tierra by a young sailor named Rodrigo de Triana, near the island of Guanahani, probably San Salvador in the Bahamas.

She is the first to bring the news to Spain on her return, arriving at the port of Baiona near Vigo, March 03, 1493.

An identical reproduction of the ship was made in the city of Baiona, in Galicia where it is today moored and made available to the public. It is thus possible to visit it.

Each year, according to a local tradition, during the month of March, this reproduction is taken on the high seas, then directed to the port of Baiona, accompanied by hundreds of boats, to commemorate the return of the Pinta of the Americas, 03 March 1493 : this custom is called the Fiesta de la Arribada.

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La Niña

La Niña means the girl is one of the caravels of the first Columbian expedition to America, with Pinta and Santa Maria. His official name was Santa Clara.

She was the smallest of the three, able to move up to 20 crewmen for a length of about 23 meters.

Under the command of Captain Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, she left the port of Palos de la Frontera the night of 03 August 1492.

Christopher Columbus himself takes his command for the return trip in the company of the Pinta but a storm separates them from it before arriving in Lisbon on March 4, 1493.

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