CHAP. V I I I ]
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.
123
After the great difficulties made by various courts in patroniz ing this enterprise, it is surprising how inconsiderable an arma ment was required.
It is evident that Columbus had reduced his
requisitions to the narrowest limits, lest any great expense should cause impediment.
Three small vessels were apparently all that
he had requested.
Two of them were light barks, called caravels,
not superior to river and coasting craft of more modern days. Representations of this class of vessels exist in old prints and paintings.*
They are delineated as open, and without deck in
the centre, but built up high at the prow and stern, with fore castles and cabins for the accommodation of the crew.
Peter
Martyr, the learned contemporary of Columbus, says that only one of the three vessels was decked.
The smallness of the ves
sels was considered an advantage by Columbus, in a voyage of discovery, enabling him to run close to the shores, and to enter shallow rivers and harbors.
In his third voyage, when coasting
the Gulf of Paria, he complained of the size of his ship, being nearly a hundred tons burthen.
But that such long and perilous
expeditions, into unknown seas, should be undertaken in vessels without decks, and that they should live through the violent tem pests, by which they were frequently assailed, remain among the singular circumstances of these daring voyages. At length, by the beginning of August, every difficulty was vanquished, and the vessels were ready for sea.
The largest,
which had been prepared expressly for the voyage, and was decked, was called the Santa Maria: on board of this ship Colum bus hoisted his flag. The second, called the Pinta, was com manded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon, accompanied by his brother * See Illustrations, article “ Ships of Columbus.”