Realizing that the ship was beyond repair, Columbus ordered his men to strip the timbers from the ship which were then used to build a fort which Columbus called La Navidad (Christmas).Īfter the success of his first voyage, the Spanish Sovereigns spared no expense in fitting out Columbus’ second voyage with a total of seventeen ships for the colonization of Hispaniola. During the return trip, shortly before midnight on Christmas Eve in 1492, an unauthorized crewmate was manning the wheel and the currents carried the ship onto a sandbank, running her aground off Haiti. The Santa María was the slowest of Columbus’ vessels, but performed well in the Atlantic Ocean crossing. The Admiral sent her as an advance guard to the New World for his third voyage in 1498, but the last that is known of the ship was a record of her voyage to the Pearl Coast in 1501. The Niña was Columbus’ favorite and he bought a half share in the ship for his second voyage to the New World, where she served as his flagship. Smallest of the fleet was the Niña, captained by Vicente Añes Pinzón, brother of Martín. Her fate following the second voyage to the New World is also not recorded. It is believed that she was built in 1441, making the ship over a half century old at the time of Columbus’ first voyage. It was a lighter and faster ship than the much wider Santa Maria, but little is known about the Pinta.
On its first voyage across the Atlantic, the Pinta was captained by Martín Alonso Pinzón. The Niña and Pinta were smaller than the Santa Maria, weighing between 50 and 75 tons, with a deck length of 50 to 60 feet. The exact measurements of length and width of the three ships have not survived, but good estimates of their capacity can be judged from notes written by their crew members. The actual name of the Pinta (the Painted One) is unknown. The Niña (the Girl) was actually christened the Santa Clara and sailed for at least 46 years. The other ships of the Columbus expedition were the smaller caravel-type ships. She had a single deck, three small masts and as a cargo ship weighed about 100 tons. The Santa Maria was the largest of the ships and was a medium-sized carrack, with a deck roughly about 58 feet long. The Niña and Pinta were nicknames given to the vessels. Few realize that only the Santa Maria was the true name of the three ships. "Ideally, if excavations go well and depending on the state of preservation of any buried timber, it may ultimately be possible to lift any surviving remains of the vessel, fully conserve them and then put them on permanent public exhibition in a museum in Haiti," he said, adding that "the wreck has the potential to play a major role in helping to further develop Haiti's tourism industry in the future.Everyone knows the names of the three ships that sailed on Christopher Columbus’ maiden voyage to the New World – the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria. "It would be very exciting but I remain skeptical because people make claims all the time."Ĭlifford said that if the shipwreck was indeed confirmed to be Columbus' Santa Maria, it should remain in Haiti. "If whoever finds the Santa Maria can confirm that it's the Santa Maria, that's kind of like the Holy Grail," Crisman said. The Santa Maria sank slowly in 1492 and the crew had time to remove valuable items, such as a cannon, that might have helped confirm the identity of the wreckage centuries later. However, there are reasons to be skeptical that this is indeed the Santa Maria, said Kevin Crisman, director of the Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation at Texas A&M University.Ĭrisman told the Associated Press that many Spanish ships sunk off Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic during that era. Replicas of Columbus' ships, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, sail past the Statue of Liberty June 26, 1992, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus' landing in the Americas. It will be a wonderful opportunity to work with the Haitian authorities to preserve the evidence and artifacts of the ship that changed the world," Clifford told The Independent. "We've informed the Haitian government of our discovery - and we are looking forward to working with them and other Haitian colleagues to ensure that the site is fully protected and preserved. Over the last several years, Clifford and his team investigated over 400 possible locations, narrowing down a tiny area where the shipwreck, which could be the Santa Maria, was found. Clifford then used the explorer's diary to try to determine where the location of the shipwreck could be, according to the British newspaper. Clifford's discovery was made possible by the work of other archaeologists, which suggested the probable location of Columbus' fort.
0 kommentar(er)
