The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-05-13

ted with yards or square rigged, while
the after mast was supplied with lateen
sails. A long bowsprit projected from
her bow, but carried no jibs or head
sails. No sails were carried aloft above
the topsails.
| During favorable winds sail was set
under the bowsprit reaching to the
water, and known as the watersail or
| spritsal. This sail fell into disuse over
| two centuries ago.
The Pinta and Nina were caravels,
but rugged exclusively with lateen sails.
The former, however, was partially
| square rugged prior to sailing, and the
| latter was similarly changed before the
| fleet left the Canaries from Palos. Ships
in the days of Columbus were supposed
to make Roadway through the water
| only when the wind blew in favorable
| direction. The idea of tacking against
| n head wind was entirely unknown to
the mariners of the past, notwithstand-
ing the fact that ships have been pro-
PEELED by sail power alone for thousands
Of years. Yet in spite of all these OBJ
stacles and disadvantages we find in the
logbook of the Santa Maria that speed
of seven knots an hour was not an un-
usual occurrence.
AS it was customary to employ oars
against contrary winds, the crews of the
ships were necessarily larger in pro-
portion TO their size than in modern
ships. No less than 100 men were en-
ployed to sail the ships of Columbus.
Tho offirarc yx-o,o lynnr-,, ,o {l,a ,>,%ro,,
or captain, watchman or first mate, q
counselor or navigator, the master of
the deck, scribe or secretary who wrote
the ships log, steward and surgeon.
The rigging consisted entirely of hemp.
Their anchor cables were hemp hawsers,
each following the Old rule of four times
the mainmast in length. Each ship was
supplied with a boat called launch,
which was always towed astern. Re-
fractory sailors were punished by being
placed in the launch for many days
upon short allowances and exposed to
the heat of the sun and heavy drenching
of the waves.
Although the compass was known to
the Arabs long before Columbus and
by the Chinese as far back as the begin
ming of the Christian era, yet this in
strument was in itself not sufficient to
navigate Il vessel over an unknown sea.
The quadrant, an instrument known to
Columbus as the astrolabe, was sup
piled to each ship; by its use in astro-
nomical observations the ships position
upon the high seas with respect to the
equator could be readily ascertained,
and also errors existing in the compasses
causing the ships to deviate from their
true courses were found and the proper
adjustments accordingly made.
Thus Columbus was able to embark
and sail away with that feeling of self
reliance which had won him success on
all his previous expeditions. The little
town of Palos, then the greatest seaport
on the Mediterranean, never sent out q
grander marine spectacle than when
Columbus embarked and weighed anchor
and stood boldly down the Rio Tinto to
sea, followed closely in his wake by the
Pinta and Nina. The lavish golden
carvings which decorated these ships
the red and yellow standards of Spain,
the gay streamers floating in the breeze
from every mast and spar, these alto
gether presented to the cheering crowds
gathered on the wharves, housetops and
neighboring hills picturesque sight
1t was indeed the crowning spectacle of
the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
LIEUT.. r. FL. UBERRoTH, U. S. r. NJ.