Picturesque World’s Fair, An Elaborate Collection of Colored Views—Published with the Endorsement and Approval of George R. Davis, 1894
THE SANTA MARIA.—The duplicate of the flagship of Columbus, the famous “Santa Maria,” had many thousands of visitors as she lay in Lake Michigan, just in front of the grounds, one of the most interesting of all the Exposition’s attractions. The hosts who boarded her and examined her every part, accustomed as they were to the big ships of today, were surprised at her comparatively small dimensions, though, as a matter of fact, a stancher or safer craft it would be hard to imagine. With her sides built out from her hull so that a veritable platform overhung the water, and built at bow and stern, it must have been a heavy sea indeed by which the decks of the “Santa Maria” were ever wetted. Her sailing qualities, on the other hand, could not have been remarkable. Her model was not that of a craft designed for speed, and she must have wallowed comfortably along at a rate which would not have satisfied a sailor of today. Her length was seventy-one feet and three inches, beam twenty-five feet and eight inches, and depth of hold twelve feet and five inches. She would hardly be classed as a racer, but she was at least reliable. How she was selected has often been told in story, the at one time rebellious city of Palos being compelled to furnish three ships for the expedition as an act of expiation for past misdeeds. The equipment of the vessel was, like its model, in as perfect an imitation of the original as could be produced. The “Santa Maria” was built at the expense of the Spanish government, a graceful recognition of the honors to be paid Spain and the great navigator.
THE SPANISH CARAVELS, “PINTA” AND “NINA.”-The Spanish Caravels should have had their names painted on their sides to distinguish them apart; at least, so thought many of the visitors to the Fair; for their build was singularly alike with the “Santa Maria” and “Pinta.” The “Nina” was distinguishable enough. as she had no raised deck at the bow, did not overhang like the others, and had no square sails of the ordinary type, only the long rakish looking yards which hung slantwise of the masts with a sort of Lascar, piratical sweep to them, a look belied by her ponderous high-built stern.
Between the “Santa Maria” and “Pinta” the main difference was that the former was decked over, had more decorations, and was not quite so squarely built. The “Pinta” absolutely sloped backward at the bow. The “Nina,” it will be remembered, was commanded by Yanez Pinzon, while his brother, Alonzo Pinzon, commanded the “Pinta.” The latter broke her rudder the third day out on the voyage, not as the result of pure accident, either, it was thought: but Columbus had it mended alter a
fashion and kept the vessel along. The whole number of men in the three vessels was but one hundred and twenty, but they were not choicest of mariners, and among them were either cowardly or turbulent spirits enough to keep a commander occupied. Credit should, however, be given to the Pinzons for what they did. They defied superstition and, alone among Spanish ship owners, at time wine manifested something of the daring spirit which is today that of the land for which they sailed.
- Caravels at the Fair
The United State Congress had appropriated the $50,000 necessary for the construction of the three caravels, and on 7 July 1893 the Santa Maria’s captain, Victor M. Concas, wrote in his log book,
- 147 days out of Cadiz, dropped anchor in front of the Worlds’ Columbian Exposition.
The ship was the centerpiece of the last day of the fair, Columbus Day. Scrubbed clean and fully crewed, the Santa Maria and her sister ships left their mooring space near what is now La Rabida hospital and moved to a point off the fair’s music hall where they dropped anchor about 500 yards off the beach and lowered small boats. In the first boat stood an actor portraying Christopher Columbus, sword in one hand and a flag in the other. The pageant had everything: monks kneeling in prayer at the base of a cross, natives of San Salvador ducking behind palm trees for cover, native chiefs summoned, and friendly greetings exchanged between native and foreigner.
- The Santa Maria at the Fair
The glory didn’t last long, and the ship rapidly faded along with the memory of the great white city of 1893. The Knights of Columbus hatched a plan to save the ship in 1900, but nothing came of it. By 1903 The Tribune in an editorial called the ships:
useless, deserted, forgotten hulks, victims of wind and storm and the prey of vandals, stripped of their furnishings and appliances, stripped even of all sentiment and associations, melancholy reminders of the festal days of the white city.
The ship did not go without a fight, though. In fact, on Columbus Day of 1911 the ships set sail again, reaching Grant Park at 8:30 in the morning as 100,000 “natives” lined the shore from Jackson to Grant Park. Even as the celebration went on, the Santa Maria struggled. At one point in the pageant, all of the crew as well as the actors aboard were summoned to the pumps as the ship’s hold began to take on water.
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