158 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



The Santa Maria measured about ninety feet at the keel. 

 She had four masts, two of them square-rigged, and two fur- 

 nished with the lateen-sails of the Mediterranean. She had 

 a deck extending from stem to stern, and a double deck at the 

 poop, twenty-six feet long, — one-third, nearly, of her entire 

 length. The double deck was pierced for cannon, the forward- 

 deck being armed with smaller pieces, used for throwing stones 

 and grape. From the journal of Columbus we know that he 

 employed, in the manoeuvres, quite a complicated system of 

 ropes and pulleys. Eight anchors hung over her sides. She 

 represented in her general characteristics a modern vessel of 

 twenty guns. She was manned by sixty-six men, not one of 

 whom was from Palos, — one of them being an Englishman, and 

 one an Irishman, — and was commanded by Columbus. 



The Pinta and the Nina were decked only forward and aft, 

 the space in the middle being entirely uncovered. Their 

 armament was equal to that of sloops of sixteen and ten guns 

 respectively. Alonzo Pinzon commanded the Pinta, whose total 

 crew, including the officers, numbered thirty men. The youngest 

 of the three Pinzons, Vincent Yanez, commanded the Nina, 

 with twenty-three men. The provisions of the fleet consisted 

 of smoked beef, salt pork, rice, dried peas and other vegetables, 

 herrings, wine, oil, vinegar, &c, sufficient for a year. 



As the day approached and the danger grew more imminent, 

 the apprehension increased, and the sailors expressed a desire to 

 reconcile themselves with Heaven and obtain absolution for their 

 sins. They went in procession to the monastery of La Rabida, 

 w T ith Columbus at their head, and received the. Eucharist from 

 the hands of the Franciscan Marchena. Columbus, while wait- 

 ing for the land-breeze, retired for a last time to the convent, to 

 meditate upon the duties before him and to peruse his favorite 

 book, the Gospel of St. John. At three o'clock in the morning 

 of the 3d of August he was awakened by the murmuring of the 

 long wished for wind in the tops of the pine-trees which bordered 



