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The Santa Maria

Santa Maria

The largest of the three ships The Santa Maria de la Inmaculada Concepción, The Immaculate Conception of Mary, was used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492. The Santa Maria’s master and owner was Juan de la Cosa.

Known as a carrack or “nao” The Santa Maria was about 70 feet long Columbus used her as his flagship for the expedition. There were about 40 men that manned her crew. She was constructed of wood from the Bialowieza forest from pine and oak.

Columbus’ expedition included 2 other ships of the caravel-type. The Santa Clara was the name of one of the other 2, which everyone would remember as The Nina. This means “The Girl” a joke on the name of her owner Juan Nino. Then there was the Pinta which means “The Painted” thought to refer to her excessive makeup. The three ships were second hand and never meant to be used for exploration.

La Gallega which means “The Galician” was The Santa Maria’s original name. She was constructed in Pontevedra, Galicia and her sailors knew her as Marigalante, which is Spanish for “Gallant Mary”.

The Santa Maria was the slowest of the three ships had a single deck and three masts. She performed very well in the Atlantic crossing. The old girl ran aground off what is known today as Mole Saint-Nicolas, Haiti in December of 1492 on Christmas day and was lost. Her timbers were salvaged and used to build Mole Saint-Nicolas. Originally they called it La Navidad meaning Christmas because the grounding occurred on Christmas Day.

Many believed that this historic voyage was composed of criminals but this is untrue. It is known that the Spanish Sovereigns offered amnesty to convicts who would sign up for the voyage, but only four men took up the offer: one who had killed a man in a fight, and three of his friends who then helped him escape from jail. Columbus’ crew consisted of many experienced seamen from the town of Palos and the coastal area of Galici.

Some of the crew members were also from Andalusia. The voyage money came from the syndicate of seven Genovese bankers in Seville.

There are no known reproductions of the Santa Maria but we have located some of the top models of what she is believed to have looked like. She would make a fine addition to anyone’s collection or displayed in a Hotel lobby or fine Restaurant.