Vintage 1990 Sealed box Additional Details ------------------------------ Product description: The flag ship, Santa Maria, was a carrack. A carrack has a main mast with a square rig sail and a mizzen mast that is lateen rigged. She was the largest of Columbus' three ships, but also the slowest and hardest to sail. She was about 82 feet long and 26 feet wide. There was little room for her 40 man crew and all the provisions needed for a long journey. Except for the captain and a few officers, there were no sleeping quarters for anyone. On Christmas day in 1492, the Santa Maria ran aground off Hispanolia in the Caribbean and broke apart. From her timbers, Columbus built a fort and left some of the crew to watch over his newly claimed land. The Nina and the Pinta returned to Spain to report their discovery. The bravery of seamen 500 years ago is sometimes very hard to imagine. No one knew what existed beyond the outlying islands of the Azores, Canaries and Madeiras. There were only rumors of land far to the west. Many at that time still believed that the world was flat and if one sailed too far their ship would tumble off the edge of the earth into the dark abyss. And rumors abounded of horrible, man-eating, ship-swallowing sea monsters. It was a time of uncertainties and unknowns. But it was also an exciting time when new lands and new sources of wealth were constantly being discovered. At the beginning of the 14 century, Marco Polo had reach China by traveling east on land. He brought back many treasures and spoke of the vast wealth in spices and precious metals to be found in the Indies. (The Indies at that time included India, China, the East Indies and Japan.) Christopher Columbus, an Italian navigator from Genoa, was eager for fame and fortune. He believed a faster route to the Indies could be found by sailing west. He tried unsuccessfully to convince King John II of Portugal to back his exploration. Undaunted, Columbus then approached King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain promising to discover a new route...