Columbus’s Flagship Found?
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014May 13, 2014
The long-lost remains of the flagship commanded by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to the Americas may have been located off the coast of Haiti, according to American oceanic explorer Barry Clifford. The discovery of the Santa María, a ship involved in the most important voyage to shape the history of the modern world, is considered by many as the Holy Grail of underwater archaeology. Columbus’s voyage unintentionally changed Europeans’ commonly accepted views of the world. The voyage also set in motion a far-reaching exchange, known as the Columbian Exchange, of plants, animals, and diseases between Afro-Eurasia (Africa, Europe, and Asia) and the Americas.
Christopher Columbus, under the sponsorship of King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I of Spain, set out from Palos, in southwestern Spain, on Aug. 3, 1492, to search for a westward route to Asia. His fleet included three ships–the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María. Before noon on October 12, the ships landed on an island in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus named the island San Salvador (Spanish for Holy Savior).
Clifford and his team originally discovered the remains of a wooden shipwreck in waters 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters) deep off the northern coast of Haiti in 2003. They measured and photographed the wreck, which included an iron cannon that resembled such weapons common in the 1400′s. But the explorers did not attempt collect any of the remains. Only years later, when Clifford was able to examine the photographs in detail and compare them to historical records did he realize they may have come upon the Santa María.
In 2014, Clifford returned with his team to investigate the shipwreck with metal detectors and sonar. They found that the dimensions of the wreck matched well with known measurements of the Santa María. Columbus’s flagship was larger than the small, sturdy caravels of the time (which included the Niña and Pinta), and it had a deck amidships. The location of the wreck also correlated well with accounts written by Columbus himself. The Santa María sank after it crashed and split apart on a reef near Cap-Haïtien, in present-day Haiti, on Christmas Eve night in 1492. Columbus and the crew managed to salvage some items from the stricken ship, which then drifted some distance on ocean currents. In January 1493, Columbus and his crew boarded the Niña to return to Spain.
So far, Cifford’s team has not conducted any excavations to retrieve artifacts that will be needed to prove the ship is indeed the Santa María. The cannon spotted in 2003 has apparently been stolen by looters. The government of Haiti has agreed to provide funding for excavations that could prove that the wreck is that of this most historically important ship.
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