Santa María (ship) facts for kids
Santa María was the biggest of the three ships Christopher Columbus used on his first trip across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492. Its original name was La Gallega. Juan de la Cosa was the ship's owner and captain.
1892 replica
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Quick facts for kids History |
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| Name | Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción (originally La Gallega) |
| Namesake | Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary |
| Owner | Juan de la Cosa |
| Launched | 1460 |
| Stricken | 25 December 1492 |
| Fate | Ran aground |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Carrack |
| Displacement | est. 150 metric tons of displacement |
| Tons burthen | est. 108 tons BM |
| Length |
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| Beam | est. 5.5 m (18 ft) |
| Draught | est. 3.2 m (10 ft) |
| Propulsion | sail |
| Complement | 40 |
| Armament | 4 × 90 mm bombards, 50 mm culebrinas |
| Notes | Captained by Christopher Columbus |
Contents
The Ship's Story
Santa María was built in Pontevedra, a place in Galicia, Spain. It was likely a medium-sized ship called a nau or carrack. It was about 58 ft (17.7 m) long on its deck.
The ship was used as the main ship for Columbus's journey. Santa María had one deck and three small masts.
Columbus's Fleet
The other ships with Columbus were smaller caravels. They were called La Niña ("The Girl") and La Pinta ("The Painted"). All these ships were not new; they had been used before.
They were not built for exploring new lands. Niña, Pinta, and Santa María were like small merchant ships. They were similar in size to a modern cruising yacht.
We don't know the exact size of the ships. But we can guess their size from old stories and shipwrecks. These old shipwrecks are similar in size to Santa María.
Santa María was Columbus's largest ship. It was about 19 m (62 ft) long overall. Niña and Pinta were smaller. They were only about 15 to 18 metres (49 to 59 ft) long on deck.
The Shipwreck
Santa María had three masts. It was the slowest of Columbus's ships. But it sailed well across the Atlantic Ocean.
On December 24, 1492, Columbus had not slept for two days. At 11:00 p.m., he decided to go to sleep. The night was calm. The steersman also decided to sleep.
This left only a cabin boy to steer the ship. Columbus had always said this was not allowed. With the boy steering, ocean currents pushed the ship onto a sandbank.
It ran aground near where Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, is today. The ship sank the next day. Columbus saw that the ship could not be fixed.
He told his men to take the wood from the ship. This wood was used to build a fort. Columbus named it La Navidad (Christmas). He chose this name because the ship sank on Christmas Day.
Santa María had several anchors, maybe six. One of these anchors is now in a museum in Haiti. It is at the Musée du Panthéon National Haïtien in Port-au-Prince.
In 2014, an underwater explorer named Barry Clifford said he found the wreck of Santa María. But experts from UNESCO checked it. They said in October 2014 that it was not Columbus's ship. The metal parts showed it was from the 17th or 18th century.
The Crew
Many people think Columbus's crew were criminals. But this is not true. Many were experienced sailors. They came from the port of Palos in Spain. They also came from the Galicia region.
It is true that the Spanish rulers offered a pardon to people in jail if they joined the trip. But only four men took this offer. One had killed a man in a fight. His three friends had helped him escape from jail.
The trip was mainly paid for by a group of bankers from Genoa. They lived in Seville, Spain. This group was connected to Amerigo Vespucci.
The names of the Santa María crew are known. But for many, only their first name is known. Their hometown was used to tell them apart.
Crew List
- Cristoforo Colon (Christopher Columbus), captain-general
- Juan de la Cosa, owner and master
- Pedro Alonso Niño, pilot
- Diego de Arana, master-at-arms
- Pedro de Gutierrez, royal steward
- Rodrigo de Escobedo, secretary of the fleet
- Rodrigo Sanchez, comptroller
- Luis de Torres, interpreter
- Bartolome Garcia, boatswain
- Chachu, boatswain
- Cristobal Caro, goldsmith
- Juan Sanchez, physician
- Antonio de Cuéllar, carpenter
- Diego Perez, painter
- Lope, joiner
- Rodrigo de Triana
- Maestre Juan
- Rodrigo de Jerez
- Alonso Chocero
- Alonso Clavijo
- Andres de Yruenes
- Bartolome Biues
- Bartolome de Torres
- James Wardropper (Lord of the Wardrobes)
- Diego Bermudez
- Domingo de Lequeitio
- Gonzalo Franco
- Jacomel Rico
- Juan (Horacio Crassocius from La Rabida Friary)
- Juan de Jerez
- Juan de la Placa
- Juan Martines de Acoque
- Juan de Medina
- Juan de Moguer
- Juan Ruiz de la Pena
- Marin de Urtubia
- Pedro Yzquierdo
- Pedro de Lepe
- Pedro de Salcedo, servant of Columbus and ship's boy
- Rodrigo de Gallego
- Pedro de Terreros, cabin boy
- Diego García
Replicas of Santa María
- Replicas of the Santa María
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Santa Maria de Colombo, built by craftsmen from Câmara de Lobos, Madeira
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Replica in West Edmonton Mall
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Replica in Columbus, Ohio
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1998 replica in Madeira
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Replica in Wharf of the Caravels, Palos de la Frontera, Spain
We don't know much for sure about the real size of Santa María. No drawings or documents from that time have survived. Since the 1800s, many copies of the ship have been built.
400th Anniversary Replica
People in Spain started wanting to rebuild Santa María around 1890. This was for the 400th anniversary of Columbus's trip. A copy built by the Spanish government in 1892 showed the ship as a nau.
West Edmonton Mall Replica
A copy of Santa María was built for Expo 1986. It was placed in the "Deep Sea Adventure Lake" at West Edmonton Mall. This ship was carved and painted by hand. It was then moved by trucks across the Rocky Mountains to Edmonton, Alberta.
500th Anniversary Replica
The city of Columbus, Ohio, ordered a copy of the ship. It was built in Albany, New York. The ship was then cut in half and moved by truck to the Scioto River. This copy cost about $1.2 million.
The ship was made of white cedar wood. The original ship was made of oak. Cedar was used to make the copy last longer in the river and cost less. The main mast was made from one douglas fir tree.
A Spanish marine historian said this copy was the most real Santa María replica in the world. This was said during the ship's naming ceremony in 1991. The ship was removed from the river in 2014. It was cut into 10 pieces and stored. There are plans to fix it, but they have stopped for now.
Madeira Replica
A working copy of the ship was built on the island of Madeira. It was built between 1997 and 1998. This ship is 22 m (72 ft) long and 7 m (23 ft) wide.
In 1998, this Santa María copy went to an expo in Lisbon. Over 97,000 people visited it in 25 days. Thousands more have sailed on this copy since then. It is now in Funchal.
Legacy
Santa María gave its name to Santa Maria Island. This island is now called Floreana Island. It is part of Ecuador's Galápagos Archipelago. Pinta Island is still named after another of Columbus's ships.
See also
In Spanish: Santa María (barco) para niños
- Columbian Exchange
- Niña
- Pinta
- Pinzón brothers
- Santa María Rupes, a ridge on planet Mercury named after this ship
- Ship replica (including a list of ship replicas)
- Voyages of Christopher Columbus
- Wharf of the Caravels