Santa Maria (ship)

The Santa Maria was the largest of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492.

The Santa Maria was a "Nao" (ship), probably a carrack-type vessel and was used as a mother ship for the expedition. In 1492, in the middle of the expidition, the ship was shipwrecked in a storm.

The other ships of the Columbus expedition were: the "Santa Clara" remenbered as the Niña ("The (young) Girl" - a pun on the name of her owner, Juan Niño) and Pinta ("The Painted" - this might be a reference to excessive makeup). All these ships were second-hand (if not third or more) vessels.

The ship was originally named "La Gallega" ("The Gallician"), probably because she was built in Galicia, (but it was also an euphemism to design a prostitute, it seems the ship was known to her sailors as "Marigalante", literally "dirty Mary".). Bartolomeo de Las Casas never use "La Gallega", "Marigalante" nor "Santa Maria" in his writings, preferring to use "la Capitana" or "La Nao".

The ship was about 117 feet (36 metres) long, had a deck and three masts. She was the slowest of Colombus vessels but performed well in the Atlantic crossing. The ship ran aground off Haiti on Dec. 25, 1492, and was lost.