The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-07-30
COlUMBuS' ANCHOR
 ON BOARD REPLICA
 OF 1iSANTA MARlA''
Imitation of Great Discov- er's Flagship is in
 Bridgeport Waters.

Highly interesting from an histor- l ical viewpoint is the Santa Maria, the l replica of the flagship in which Co., 1anbus sailed across the Atlantic to discover the New World. which is now anchored at SteeplechaSe dock be side the Stratford avenue bridge. The ship, with its various decks is a most fascinating place and needs only a short flight of fancy to imagine an intrepid mariner wandering about di- recfing his men or mounting the hur- ricane deck and anxIDz1sty staring at the unknown which was before him. Indeed, he is to be seen in wax, sit ting at the table in his cabin which is on the quarter deck. Before him is spread the funny. old map of 1457 which he is discussing with his chief navigator, who stands beside him. The furniture of the cabin is that of the fifteenth century and there are carved sea. chests, his bunk. also carved, and all about are battle axes, boarding axes, candelabra, sun dfaIs, con1passes, crucffKes and various other articles taken from the nu- seurns of Spain and dating back to the .Columtian period. It seems that there and people of authority have said that the Santa Maria contains the largest collection of antiques of this period that there is.
 One of the most interesting relics aboard the ship is the original anchor was wrecked off ghe coast Of Hayti in 1492. When Spain was building it's replica she carefully studied out the place where the ship went down and then sent over men to seek among the wreckage. One of the. things they recovered was this old anchor that the salt water in which it had been submerged for 400 years. had greatly eaten away. The iron had haked and on some of the flakes were deciphered the words. Madrid, Spain 145os' The anchor was made by hand in Madrid at that time It was fashioned in pieces and then hand-we1ded together and more than a year was spent in making it It has been greatly eaten away from it's or lginal weight of 2,86O> pounds.
 On the quarterback is mounted the old figuerhead of the Nina. one of the other two ships of Columbus fleet. The dgurehead is hand carved with skill that was remarkable The full rounded features and flowing curly locks of the typical Spanish beauty are discernibIe but little marred by the weather of more than 400 years. Capt. W. T. Warf1eid, who has charge of the Santa Maria, claims that the hgurehead is his mascot and affec- tionate1y refers to it as Lizzie.
 
 between ships. Tn the prison are two realistic wax representations of the two life convicts whom Queen Isae-s bella, pardoned to take the voyage as part of Columbus crew. On their return they were to be set free. How ever they mutineed on the high seas and the commander was forced to put them in irons in the prison. The hos pita1 was nothing but a place, and not a very comfortable place at that where the sick man might lay.
 The new Santa Maria was built in Cadiz, Spain, in 1890, and was taken across the Atlantic. under her own sail in command of Captain Concas of the Spanish navy. More than 5000 square yards of canvas were used and a crew of 45 in making the voyage. From Hampton Roads, she was lowed through the Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence river, and the Great Lakes to Chicago. where tiae Columbian ex- position was being held. Here, on behalf of his government, Captain Coneas presented her to the govern mer1t of the United States During her stay in Chicago more than 4,00O,- 900 people visited her. Two years ago last spring she started on her trip to the Pacific coast, stopping at all the Iareg cities enroute. Her command- CTS expect to make San Francisco the latter part of October, thus getting in the last two months at the Panama exposition.
 The Santa Maria is in command of Charles Stephenson, the former row ing coach of Harvard varsity crew and in charge of Captain Warf1eld. She will be stationed at the Steeple- chase dock for the coming two weeks and will be open to the public from 10 a. m- to 10 p. m- daily
 S,r E2ssa~ A.45 a m