|
The
Ships and their Navigation
The
Three ships, the Pinta,
the Nina and the Santa
Maria, were acquired in a
small seaport town called
Palos de la Frontera.
As a punishment for
something the town or its
citizens had done against
the Crown of Spain, it had
to provide two caravels
whenever commanded to so.
This kind of levy, which
also included the payment
of all the costs of
equipment, was to stay in
effect for a maximum of 12
months. On April 30
1492, the Crown put this
levy into effect and,
through an order of the
Royal Council, the two
caravels were placed under
the command of Columbus.
The payment of four
months' wages to those who
participate in the voyage
and a decree of amnesty to
any criminal who
volunteered were also
authorized by the Council.
Four people only took
advantage of the decree of
amnesty.
Most of the crewmembers
came from the immediate
area or its vicinity:
Palos, Huelva, and Moguer.
The northerner's members
of the crew were mainly on
Juan de la Costa's ship,
la Callega.
Columbus retained most of
its sailor and made her
the flagship and changed
its name to Santa Maria .
To
understand the reason why
he changed the name to
Santa Maria we have to
look in a
place in Spain called La
Rabida. It is the
location of the Monasterio
de Santa Maria de la
Rabida in Huelva.
Cristóbal Colón arrived
to this monastery in 1485
and, after many long hours
of conversation with
Father Juan Perez de
Marchena, great humanist
and expert in Astrology
and Cosmography, found the
scientific arguments that
supported his project.
The Monastery is still
standing today.
It is a beautiful building
from the 15th century that
keeps intact the memory of
the "El Almirante".
At its feet, the visitor
can see the Caravels
Wharf, whose waters hold
the exact replicas of the
vessels that took Cristóbal
Colón to America.
The
three
ships
were: la
Santa
Maria/Gallega,
la Pinta
and la
Santa
Clara
also
known as
la Nina
the
feminine
form of
its
owner
surname,
Nino.
back
to
ships/log
book
directory
back
to
caribbean
directory
The
Santa
Maria/la
Gallega,
_Juan de
la
Costa's
Ship
A
replica
of the
Santa
Maria
click
on the
picture
to
see a
larger
version
She
was a
three-masted
, square
rig
ship.
She
carried
a crew
of about
40 men.
Some
maritime
historians
doing
the
retrospective
analysis
of the
fact
have
concluded
that the
ship
displaced
around
200
tons,
with a
length
77.4
feet, a
beam of
26 feet,
and
draft of
6.9
feet.
The
Santa
Maria
was lost
on
Christmas
Eve,
1492,
when she
ran
aground
off the
north
coast of
Haiti(
near Cap
Haitien)
The
Crew of
The
Santa
Maria
Cristobal
Colon
(Christopher
Columbus),
captain-general
Juan de
la Cosa,
owner
and
master
Diego de
Arana,
master-at-arms
Pedro de
Gutierrez,
royal
steward
Rodrigo
de
Escobedo,
secretary
of the
fleet
Rodrigo
Sanchez,
comptroller
Diego de
Salcedo,
servant
of
Columbus
Luis de
Torres,
interpreter
Rodrigo
de Jerez
Alonso
Chocero
Alonso
Clavijo
Andres
de
Yruenes
Antonia
de
Cuellar,
carpenter
Bartolome
Biues
Bartolome
de
Torres
Bartolome
Garcia,
boatswain
Chachu,
boatswain
Cristobal
Caro,
goldsmith
Diego
Bermudez
Diego
Perez,
painter
Domingo
de
Lequeitio
Domingo
Vizcaino,
cooper
Gonzalo
Franco
Jacomel
Rico
Juan,
servant
Juan de
Jerez
Juan de
la Placa
Juan
Martines
de
Acoque
Juan de
Medina
Juan de
Moguer
Juan
Ruiz de
la Pena
Juan
Sanchez,
physician
Lope,
joiner
Maestre
Juan
Marin de
Urtubia
Pedro de
Terreros,
cabin
boy
Pero
Nino,
pilot
Pedro
Yzquierdo
Pedro de
Lepe
Rodrigo
Gallego,
servant
back
to log
directory
back
to
caribbean
directory
The
Pinta
A
picture
of the
Pinta
click
on the
picture
to see a
larger
version
The
Pinta
was the
second
in size.
She was
a three-masted,
square
rigged
caravel
aproximately
70 feet
long,
with a
beam of
26 feet,
and a
draft
just
over 7
feet.
She
carried
26 men.
The
captain
was
Martin
Alonso
Pinzon
who
deserted
Colombus
and
discovered
the
island
of
Babeque
(Great
Inagua
)
The
Pinta
made
several
more
voyages
across
the
Atlantic
until
1500.
Vincente
Yanez
Pinzon
commanded
the
Pinta
when she
as the
flagship
for the
discovery
of the
Amzon
river.
In July
1500, la
Pinta
was
caught
in a
hurricane
and went
down in
the
vicinity
of the
Turks
and
Caicos
Islands.
Crew
of the
Pinta:
Martin
Alonso
Pinzon,
captain
Francisco
Martin
Pinzon,
master
Cristobal
Garcia
Xalmiento,
pilot
Cristobal
Quintero,
ship's
owner
Francisco
Garcia
Vallejo
Garcia
Hernandez,
steward
Gomez
Rascon
Juan
Bermudez
Juan
Quintero
Juan
Rodriquez
Bermejo
Pedro de
Arcos
Alonso
de Palos
Alvaro
Perez
Anton
Calabres
Bernal,
servant
Diego
Martin
Pinzon
Fernando
Mendes
Francisco
Mendes
Gil
Perez
Juan
Quadrado
Juan
Reynal
Juan
Verde de
Triana
Juan
Vecano
Maestre
Diego,
surgeon
Pedro
Tegero
Sancho
de Rama
back
to log
directory
The
Nina
A
replica
of the
Nina
Click
on the
picture
to see a
larger
version
The
Nina/Santa
Clara
carried
about 58
to 60
tons
cargo.
She was
67 feet
long.
The beam
was 23
feet and
the
draft
5.8
feet.
The
normal
crew
size was
23 men
but on
the
second
voyage,
she
carried
about 40
colonist
to
America.
Although
it was
the
smallest
of the
three
caravels,
la Nina
was a
four-masted
ship.
Originally
lateen-ridged,
she was
squared-ridge
by
Columbus
during a
stopover
in the
Canary
Islands
on the
first
voyage.
The Libro
de
Armadas in
the Archivo
Generale
de
Indias in
Seville
mentioned
that the
ship
carried
10
breech-loading
swivel
guns,
called
bombardas.
The Nina
made 4
more
voyages
to the
new
world
after
the
1492/93
trip.
The
original
Captain,
during
the
first
voyage,
was
Vincente
Yanez
Pinzon,
but
after
the lost
of the
Santa
Maria,
Columbus
became
the
captain.
She was
with
Colombus
on his
second
and
third
voyage,
and
carried
some
cargo to
Espagnola/Hispagnola
on two
other
occasion.
In 1499,
the
historical
caravel
was sold.
Crew
of the
Niña:
Vincente
Yanez
Pinzon,
captain
Juan
Nino,
owner
and
master
Francisco
Nino
Bartolome
Roldan,
apprentice
pilot
Alonso
de
Morales,
carpenter
Andres
de
Huelva
Bartolome
Garcia,
boatswain
Diego
Lorenzo
Fernando
de
Triana
Garcia
Alonso
Juan
Arias,
cabin
boy
Juan
Arraes
Juan
Romero
Maestre
Alonso,
phyiscian
Miguel
de Soria,
servant
Pedro de
Soria
Pero
Arraes
Pero
Sanches
Rodrigo
Monge
Sancho
Ruiz,
pilot
back
to log
book
directory
|
|
|
The log of
Columbus
Columbus
Picture
Click
on the
picture to
see the
Columbus
Voyages
Map
Log
Prologue
(an
excerpt)
In
The Name
of Our
Lord Jesus
Christ
Most
Christian,
exalted,
excellent,
and
powerful
princes,
King and
Queen od
Spain and
of the
islands of
the sea,
our
Sovereigns:
It was
this year
of 1492
that your
Highnesses
concluded
the war
with the
Moors who
reigned in
Europe....................................
Afterwards,
in the
same
month,
based on
the
information
that I had
given to
your
Highnesses
about the
land of
India and
about a
prince
called the
Great
Khan,
which in
our
language
means"Kings
of
Kings,"Your
Highnesses
decided to
send me
Christopher
Columbus,
to the
region of
India, to
see the
princes
there and
the people
and the
lands, and
to learn
of their
disposition,
and of
everything,and
the
measures
which
could be
taken for
their
conversion
to our
Holy
Faith.......................................
Your
Highnesses
as
Catholic
Christians
and
Princes
devoted to
our Holy
Christian
faith and
to the
spreading
of it, and
as
ennemies
of the
Muslim
sect and
of all
idolatries
and
heresies,
ordered
that I
should go
est, but
not by
land as it
is
customary.
I was to
go by the
way of the
west,
whence
until
today we
do not
know with
certainty
anyone
that has
gone. Therefore,
after
having ban
all the
Jews
from your
Kingdoms
and
realms,
during the
same month
of January
Your
Highnesses
ordered me
to go with
a
sufficient
fleet to
the said
region of
India.
For
that
purpose I
was
granted
great
favors and
ennobled;
from then hencefoward
I might
entitle my
self Don
and be
High
Admiral of
the Ocean
Sea and
Vice-roy
and
perpetual
Governor
of all the
Islands
and
continental
land that
I might
discover
and
acquire,
as well as
any other
future
discoveries
in the
Ocean Sea.
Further,
my eldest
son shall
succeed to
the same
position,
and so on
from
generation
to
generation
for ever
after.
back
to log
directory
I
left
Grenada on
Saturday,
the 12th
day of May
in the
same year
of 1492
and went
to the
town of
Palos,
which is a
seaport.
There I
fitted out
three
vessels,
very
suited to
such
undertaking,
I left the
said port
well
supplied
with a
large
quantity
of
provisions
and with
many
seamen on
the third
day of the
month of
August in
the said
year, on a
Friday,
half an
hour
before
sunrise. I
set my
course to
the Canary
Islands of
your
Highnesses,
which are
on the
Ocena Sea,
from there
to embark
on a
voyage
thast will
last until
I arrive
in the
Indies and
deliver
the letter
of your
Highnesses
to those
Princes,
and do all
that your
Highnesses
have
commanded
me to do.
To this
end I
decided to
write down
everything
I might do
and see
and
experience,
from day
to day,
and very
carefully......................
|
|
|
The
beginning
of the
Voyage
Friday,
August 3
1492
Departs
From
Palos,
Spain(
near
Huelva)
"We
sailed on
this third
day of
Agust,
1492, at 8
o'clock in
the
morning,
from the
bar of
Saltes.
The wind
is strong
and
variable,
and we had
gone 45
miles to
the south
by sunset.
After dark
I entered
the course
for the
Cnary
Islands,
to the SW
and south
by
west."
Back
to log
directory
Thursday,
September
6 1492
Departs
Gomera
(Canary
Islands)
after
repair and
refit.
"
The
Log of
Thursday,
October 11
1492
combined
with the
log of
Friday,
October 12
1492
The
land
Discovery
(somewhere
in the
Bahamas)
"The
moon, in
its third
quarter,
rose
shortly
before
midnight.
I estimate
that we
were
making
about 9
knots and
had gone
67 !/2
miles
between
the
beginning
of the
night and
2.00
o'clock in
the
morning.
At two
hours
after
midnight,
the Pinta
fired its
canon, my
prearranged
signal for
the sight
of
land.............
When we
caught up
with the
Pinta,
which was
always
running
ahead
because
she was a
swift
sailer, I
learned
that the
first man
to sight
land was Rodrigo
de Triana,
a seaman
of Lepe..........."
back
to log
directory
Sunday,
October 28
and Monday
October 29
1492
Arrives at
Cuba.
"......................
The
Island is
filled
with very
beautiful
mountains
,
althought
they are
not very
long, only
high. All
the other
land is
high like
Sicily.
According
to what I
can
understand
from the
indians of
Guananini
that are
with me,
this land
is full of
rivers.
They told
me by sign
that there
are 10
large
rivers and
that the
island is
so large
that they
cannot
circumnavigate
it with
their
canoes in
20
days."
back
to log
directory
Thursday,
November
22 1492
Martín
Alonso
Pinzón,
captain of
the Pinta,
deserts
the
expedition
off Cuba.
Thursday,
December 6
1492
Columbus
arrives at
Kyskeya
which he
renamed La
Isla
Espagnola.
"At
the hour
of
vespers,
we enterd
a harbor
that I
named
Puerto de
de San
Nicholas,
in honor
of
St.Nicholas
beacause
it was his
feast day.
As I
approached
the
entrance
of this
harbor, I
marveled
at its
beauty and
excellence.............................................................
I hope to
God that I
can have
some good
trade in
gold
before I
return to
Spain"
back
to log
directory
Tuesday,
December
25 1492
(Christmas
day)
The
Flagship
Santa
Maria
sinks off
Hispaniola
( possibly
near Cap
Haitien
which is
the second
city in
Haiti).
Columbus
used the
remains of
the ship
to build
the first
europeen
settlement
in the new
world.
He named
it La
Navidad.because
it was
Christmas
Day.
Sunday,
January 6
1493
Pinzón
rejoins
Columbus.
back
to log
directory
Wednesday,
January 16
1493
Columbus
departs
Hispaniola
for Spain
in the Niña.
Thursday,
February
14 1493
Niña
and Pinta
are
separated
again in a
fierce
storm.
back
to log
directory
Friday,
February
15 1493
Sighting
of the
Santa
Maria
Island in
the
Azores.
Monday,
March 4
1493
Arrival
at Lisbon,
Portugal.
Friday,
March 15
1493
Niña
and Pinta
return
separately
to Palos,
Spain.
Back
to log
directory |
|
|
