Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1892-08-06
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and large tarpaulins were stretched
across the beams 10 keep the water from
running into the holds and swamping
them, the vessels of four centuries ago
were not supplied v,s.a pumps.
The Santa Maria was rigged with four
masts-the three foremost ones being tit.
I'D with yards or square riggc,t While
the after mast was supplied wSth ta:sx,
sails. A long bowsprit projected isa..a
her bow, but carried no lills az hce
sails. No sails were carried aloft alo,a
the topsails.
During favorable winds a sail was ret
under the bowsprit reaching 10 the
water, and known as the watersail or
spritsail 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
feet left the Canaries from Palos. Ships
in the days of Columbus were supposed
to make headway through the water
only when the wind blew in favorable
direction. The idea of tacking against
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 a speed
of seven knots an hour was not an un-
usual occurrence.
Ac ~ e.,
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.
The officers were known as the patron
or captain, watchman or first mate, a
counselor or navigator, the master of
the deck, scribe or secretary who wrote
the ships log, a steward and a 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 boat called a launch,
which was always towed astern. Re-
fractory sailors We're punished by being
placed in the launch for many days
the heat of the sun and heavy drenchinE
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 q vessel over an unknown sea.
The quadrant, an instrument known to
Columbus as the Sstrolabe, 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 compasscs
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 n
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 tho
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.
It was indeed the crowning spectacle of
the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
LIEUT.. r. II. UBERRoTH, u. s. II. M.