Spanish Nao “Santa Maria”
XV
Main menu
The flagship Santa
Maria had the nickname La Gallega. It was a
nao, which simply means "ship" in old Spanish; today, we might
call such a ship a carrack. She was fat and slow, designed for hauling cargo, not
for exploration. Some sources say that the Santa Maria was about 100 tons,
meaning that it could carry 100 toneladas, which were large casks of
wine. There has been much speculation about just how large such a ship would
be; the best current thinking, by Carla Rahn Philips, puts the length of Santa
Maria at 18 meters, keel length at 12 meters, beam 6 meters, and a depth of
3 meters from keel to deck.
The Santa Maria
had three masts (fore, main, and mizzen), each of which carried one large sail.
The foresail and mainsail were square; the sail on the mizzen, or rear, mast
was a triangular sail known as a lateen. In addition, the ship carried a small
square sail on the bowsprit, and small topsail on the mainmast above the
mainsail.
Scale 1:20.
Length 48” (1200 mm), width 15” (370 mm),
height 38” (960 mm).
