Arizona weekly citizen., 1892-08-06
pINTA

l Wltl TIT and secured by heavy iron bolts, as to withstand the battle of the elements during that long and weary journey l over the trackless Atlantic
 l On account of these ships being built | hign at the ends and low amidships, nigh seas would often be taken upon the decks when sailing with side wind and to prevent this high stanchions or | posts were inserted in the upper plank | of the rails. to which screens of heavy canvas were laced, making a temporary bulwark. which proved to be very effec- tive in keeping out the water. In the case of the two smaller ships heavy mats and large tarpaulins were stretched across the beams to keep the water from running into the holds and swamping them: the vessels of four centuries ago were not supplied with pumps.
 The Santa Maria was rigged with four masJs-the three foremost ones being fit. 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.
 Daring favorable winds a sail was set nnder the bowsprit reaching to 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 rigged exclusively with lateen sails The former, however, was partially square rigged 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 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, notwithstsnd- ing the fact that ships have been pro pelled by sail power alone for thousands of years. Yet in spite of all these ob- 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 l20 men were em- 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, a scribe or secretary who wrote the ships log. steward and surgeon.
 Tlerigging consisted entirely of hemp. Their anchor cables were hemp hawseTs, each following the old rule of four times the mainmast in length. Each ship was supplied with boat called a launch. which was always lowed 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 hing of the Christian era, yet this in- strument was in itself not sufficient to navigate 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 a grander marine spectacle than when Columbus em barked 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. It was indeed the crowning spectacle of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
 LIEUT.. R. H. UBERRoTH, U. S. R. Nj