Spanish Ships

Christopher Columbus had three Spanish ships when he sailed from Spain to the Americas looking for a direct passage to Asia. They were the Pinta, the Nina and the Santa Maria. These were small wooden ships; the largest of the three was the Santa Maria. It was about 75 feet long and about 25 feet in width at its widest point at the center of the ship. It had three masts, which are long poles that are attached at bottom of the ship and extend upward that are used to support the sails.

The largest sail was square and located on the main mast with a smaller square sail above it. The two sails on the foremast were square also, but smaller than the mainmast sails. The last sail on the ship was a triangular shaped sail located on the mizzenmast near the rear of the ship. The other two ships were smaller than the Santa Maria, and easier to maneuver. The Pinta was the smallest at about 45 feet long and about 15 feet wide. The Nina was 65 feet long and 18 feet wide. Both of these ships had three masts with the same sail configuration as the Santa Maria.

All of the Spanish ships were made of wood and all used sails to propel them, but there were many different sizes and uses for them. One of them was called a sloop, a small narrow boat with large sails that looked a lot like the sail boats that you can see sailing today. Another type of ship was the merchant ship, which was used to transport merchandise from one port to another, like the cargo ships that we use now. The merchant ship had three masts with eight or more sails, which made it a fast moving ship. It was sometimes used in warfare because of it speed.