Sailing Ships in the Age of Discovery

by

Jonathon Oestereich

Sailing vessels played extremely important roles during the Age of Discovery. Ships carried European and Mediteranian peoples to far off lands they could not reach on foot, or sped them faster around lands too long or treacherous to cross. Maybe it is to ships that the age of discovery should be accredited too, but the ships needed men to sail them, and ideas of where to go. To get a better idea of the types of sailing vessels, and the lives of the explorers and sailors on them, let us look to the most heralded of explorers, Christopher Columbus.

It is well recorded that Columbus sailed with three small ships, the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria to discover an ocean route directly west to China and India. All three ships differed from one another and performed different tasks along the way. It is difficult to explain each ship, fore scant information remains to their overall configuration.

The flagship of Columbus's fleet, Santa Maria, was classified as a Nao. A wide and slow ship, the Santa Maria was originally designed to carry cargo in the Mediteranian sea, not the open ocean. The largest of the three ships, she displaced around 100 tons. Tonnage of the ship was determined by how many casks or barrels of wine the ship could hold in the water. Two barrels of wine were equaled to one ship rated ton. There is still much controversy over the overall dimensions of the ship, but we can assume by taking the best examples, to place the Santa Maria somewhere between these measurements.

"length of deck....26.3 meters-24.7m
length of keel.... 19.0 meters-16.5m
width of deck.....7.5 meters-8.2m
depth+draft....... 5.5 meters-7.4m"
( Martinez-Hidalgo 15-19 )

The Santa Maria had three Masts and five sails. In order from bow to stern, the sails were set up in order of; First, the sprit sail on the bowsprit of the ship. Next the first masted foresail (fore mast0 then main mast with upper top sail, to the mizzen mast (rear mast). A total of four square sails forward with a triangular mizzen mast in the rear. The sprit-sail, fore sail and mizzen balanced the ship and aided in steering, while the main provided the greatest means of propulsion. (Chatterton, 30-31 )

The ships deck was composed of five portions or levels. The main deck, protected by gun whales, was the lowest open deck on ship. Next would have been the raised quarter deck with stern-castle, and highest point being the poop dick, all to the rear. The fore-castle was approximately as high as the quarter deck, and forward most point on ship. The hold ( below main deck ) of the Santa Maria had two parts withe the lowst being bilge and ballast area. The bilge was where water would collect first if there was a leak, and ballast were stones or metals placed in the bottom of the ship for balance. This area was then covered with planking to provide storage for provisions and possibly officer quarters.

The Nina and Pinta were both classified as caravels. The caravel was a smaller, faster, and better sailing ship than the Nao, but both Nina and Pinta could carry less cargo. The Nina displaced 55-60 tons and its rough dimensions are as follows:

"length of deck......21.5 meters
length of keel......15.5 meters
width of deck.......6.5 meters
depth+draft.........4.5 meters."
( Martinez-Hidalgo, 97 )

The smallest of the three, Nina originally had four lateen sails and three masts. With a stop in the Canary Islands, Columbus had the ship refitted with square sails on the fore and main with a lateen sail remaining on the mizzen. This sail configuration made the Nina the fastest of all three ships. The decks of the ship had only two parts, main and quarter. The main was protected by gunwales and raised to the quarter deck in the rear. The main covered the hold and the quarter deck provided a small cabin for the captian. Both Nina and Pinta had Bilge and ballast areas. The Pinta had three masts, fore, main, and mizzen. The fore and main both had square sails, and the mizzen was triangular. The ship sisplaced about 65-70 tons, making it the second largest but, very close in size to the Nina. The dimensions for the Pinta are:

"length of deck..........22.5 meters
length of keel..........16.2 meters
width of deck...........6.75 meters
depth+draft.............4.5 meters."
( Martinez-Hidalgo, 100 )

The crews of each ship were displaced by the size of each vessel. The Santa Maria had 40 men, the Nina 20 and the Pinta 26. ( Fuson, 13-15 ) Each ship had a master or captain in command of the entire ship. The only exception to this rule, was Columbus as Admiral of the Santa Maria. A piolt would have been employed for navigation and keeping of accurate charts and records. A boatswain was to carry out orders for the captain, inspect gear and maintain the cleaning of the ship. The Master-atarms disiplined the crw when needed and looked over all weapons. A paymaster kept track of expenses and looked after the crows interests and share of booty. A steward was in charge of food, drink and fuel. He was also the only person on ship with a key to the storeroom. Carpenters, maintained tools and bilge pumps, while a caulker kept the ship water-tight, and the cooper cared for containers of wine, water and barreled foods. Cabin boys and apprentices filled out the remaining crew. ( Martinez-Hidalgo, 73-74 ) It has been falsely recorded throughout history that the crew Columbus used to sail to the new world was composed of criminals and mutineers. Only one sailor is recorded to have had a criminal background, and he was pardoned by the king before Columbus set sail. "The crews had a very important part in the great voyage and faced the unknown and immense Atlantic and its perils, known or imagined, with steadiness and fortitude." ( Martinez-Hidalgo, 86 )

The idea tha Columbus's crew tried to mutiny on the first voyage is unfounded. The stress of not seeing land for three weeks, the terrible condition they lived in, and the natural stress of the job led sailors to grumble, but nowhere is it recorded that the sailors tried to turn the ships around. ( Martinez-Hidalgo, 85 ) Almost all the men were recruited from surrounding areas by the captians. They new the men well, and had most likely sailed with them before.

The crews of the tree ships for the most part braved the elements literally out in the open. Columbus was probably the only individual to have a small cabin in the stern-castle of the ship. Small and cramped with his own supplies, it probably only contained a bunk and desk. Columbus would have most certainly had a bed and he refers to writing at the small table of his quarters in his journal. The other captains and officers probably slept in small compartments in the hold while the rest of the crew found the most comfortable spot they could find. Regular seamen were forbidden to sleep in the hold, and with rotting food the men probably would have elected to brave the outside environments. Space was at a premium, and other than the clothes they had on their backs, seamen were only allowed to carry the tools of their trade.

Eating on ship might have been one of the most trying events that all sailors had to face. Columbus had provisioned his ships for one whole year. In an age of non-refrigeration, the storing capabilities on an ocean going vessel were very poor at best.

The following is a list of some of the food stores that the ships carried. Water, honey, dry legumes, vinegar, raisens, salted fish, wine, rice, salted or pickled meats, olive oil, garlic, lard, molasses, almonds, flour,cheese, sea biscuits (hardtack), sugar. ( Sorre, 1-6 ) This diet contained no real vegetables that the men could obtain vitamins from. Their meals were high in fat anf sodium, screaming of unhealthlyness. The men of all the ships were provided hot meals, but only if the weather cooperated. These hot meals were cooked upon a devise called a fogon. The fogon was a cast iron fire box, filled with sand and dirt. The fire was made upon the sand and sirt and acted like a normal campfire. Should it have rained or the seas be too rough, the meal of the say was cold and uncooked.

The quality of the food that the sailors ate was always in question. No matter how hard a cooper worked, it was next to impossibly to keep dry providions from becoming wet, and presered food from draining out of the barrels and spoiling. Most meats and fish were pickeled or salted to preserve them from spoilage. This made it difficult on the sailors, because water was always rationed and the food continually made them thirsty. Wine was also rationed not due to its scarcity, but because of its high alcohol content. Alcohol acted as a natural preservative, and wine without a high alcohol content on the high seas, would sour quickly. ( Sorre, 1-6 )

Worms from the wooden casks and hull itself attacked the food. It was not uncommon for a sailor to casually pull a worm out from meat of biscuit. "At might time when the werms that thrived in the dampness of the hold could not be seen, the men ate." ( Martinez-Hidalgo,77 ) One of the sailors most staple foods was a bread type substance called hardtack. It was made by baking bread until it was very hard. Then the bread was pulverized into powder, and remixed with water into a dough. It was them re-baked, the process repeated, and then baked into small biscuit suaresd. This produced a very hard, well keeping biscuit that if kept away from moisture would keep for two years. The sailors would dunk the hardtack into water or stew to soften it up enogh to eat. Most dishes were prepared in a gruel or stew form. Legumes and meat were placed into a caldron and cooked together. Most men at without utensils, the bowl being their only form of plate. ( Sorre, 1-6 )

Life on board was routine and monotonous, sailors were constantly repairing things. The men were divided into two groups or gangs. Each group was assigned a watch, The watches were divided into night and day. Routines included minding of sails, rigging, and the ships always leaked so bilge was always being pumped, leaks being plugged and the decks being washed. Sailors and Europeans in general barly ever washed. One can only imagine the stench and absolute putrid oders that permiated the ship. Food was always rotting or spoiling in the hold. Sailors wore the cloths on their backs day in and out while sweating in their toils. Going to the bathroom was as simple as placing ones posterior over the gun whale and letting fly. A constant scrubbing of the gun whales was need to keep the rails free or human waste. With the condition the food was in, the gastro-intestinal problem must have been a mess. Quarters were very cramped, so privacy was nonexistent. One man's sickness was the whole crews problem. Sickness and disease could spread rapidly and sailors were constantly wary.

The Age of Discovery was not only Europes's aquisition of lands and peoples, but a trial and error process for sailing methods to date. The men who sailed the ships were pioneers for ways to better the art form of sea travel. The trials and tribulations of their journeys would continue the long process of bettering sailing for the future generations of Europeans. Sailing to the New World, I dout they even considered the idea.