The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-12-06
SANTA MAR|AIS
STILL SAILING ON
new FOUND SEAS
Has Been to Pacific Coast
and Great Lakes Since
She Left Bridgeport.

The Santa Maria. which was on ex-
| hibition in this city two summers ago
| is still in existence and has covered
great stretches Of water since it's ap-
pearance in Bridgeport according to
the following account published this
week in the Hartford Times:
| This is hardly the age Of romance.
To the contrary it is the age when real
| ism is rampant; and yet there is many
an exception, for romance is more real
| err dies. .
| A strong Whit of romance woven in
with history has been blowing all up
| in the shape Of an old craft, the Santa
Maria-supposed to be a model of the
| ship In which Columbus sailed across
the Atlantic and discovered America.
| A few weeks ago she sailed into
the harbor of Charlottetown, Prince
| Edward Island, with her overhanging
| bow and high galleon-like stern ma
king an odd appearance indeed be-
| side the fast, fore-and-aft -schooners
Iof the lower bay. Where did she
Ecome from? Everybody asked of ev-
eryone else, running toward the water
front, where people jostled each other
in their excitement to catch the first
near view Of the strange craft Her
captain, a good-natured Connecticut
man, hailing from New London Gone
paper said he belonged in Hartford)
gave the crowd every opportunity to
see this odd-looking ship and to hear
her history, which is here appended:
At the time 1891) that William E.
Curtis of Chicago represented the
United States government as chief of
the Latin-American department, at
Madrid, Spain, he conceived the idea
| that replica of the three ships which
comprised Columbus's fleet when he
discovered America in 1892, would be
welcome both to the Spanish and the
American people. The Spanish gov
lernment officials hailed the idea with
enthusiasm and Queen Maria Christina
became personally very much interest
ed in these duplicates of "The Great
Mariners" ships; for was it not
through the influence of Queen of
Spain that the original ships had been
made possible And then, too, 1892
was the 400th anniversary of the dis
covery of America. And what better
way could honor be paid to Columbus
than to build ships the exact models
in every particular of those ships in
which he had made his celebrated
voyage. So the naval architects and
archaeo1ogists were set to work and
in about year they turned out these
replica ships of Columbus Santa
,;o 10
ships are therefore believed to be his
torical1y exact
The Santa Maria was built at the
expense. of the Spanish government
and the Pinta and Nina at the expense
Of the United States The vessels
made their first public appearance at
the port of Huelva, Spain, when the
Spaniards were celebrating with great
festivity the 400th anniversary of the
discovery Of the new world by Column
bus. They met the royal yacht with
the queen of Spain on board as she
sailed into that port from Cadiz. What
a meeting that was of: the old and the
new; with what hush Of hearts too
full for utterance the people waited
and greeted the appearance of these
quaint old ships with their sugges-
ton Of Spanish glory and Spanish
achievement in that great discovery
of this noble western world! If the
dead know what goes on on earth
that must have been happy moment
for Columbus.
After this 1.-The daunt1ess three
started from Spain for America to go
on exhibition at the Worlds Column
bia exposition at Chicago. The San
ia Maria crossed the Atlantic under
her on sail just as her prototype had
done. She was commanded by Cap
tain Conchas of the Spanish navy Her
crew was made up of Spanish sailors
and she was conveyed by a Spanish
man-of-wa4- Her two sister boats
were commanded by United States ma
val officers and were lowed over. Two
United States warships conveyed the
tiny craft The ships followed the
course taken by Columbus in the fif-
teenth century. A great reception was
given them on their arrival in Havana,
Cuba, and they took part in a round
of festivities inaugurated by the Gu
bans who for lavishness in public fetes
have few equals this side Of the water.
They then went on to the United
States and met with gracious recep-
ton at every city on the way to Chi
cago where thousands turned out to
view this strange old craft with her
lofty cast1e-like stern and curious
masts with the crows nest'' where
the lookout KEEP his vigil and gave
the cry of '1and"-This land, that no
mariners eye had ever seen before,
and which was to mean SO much to the
world.
At the Chicago exposition thousands
of people visited her and should this
account be read by anyone who saw
her then, it will interest them to know
that she has been on exhibition at the
Panama exposition at San Francisco
making the trip by way Of Lake Erie,
the Erie canal and the Hudson river
down the coast through the Panama
canal, and that now she is on her wav
back She spent last winter at West
erly, r. I. On August she arrived
in New London. From there she sail
ed for Newport. r. l., and afterwards
went to Buzzard's Bay, towing through
the Cape Cod Canal. The next port
of call for the Santa Maria was Hall
fax, Nova Scotia. Judge what a stir
the appearance of such a craft made in
historic Halifax. From Halifax in tow
of the big Moulton she laid her course
for the Gut of Canso and appeared
in Charlottetown, October 4.
The Santa Maria has been out from