Found the legendary “Santa Maria” of Christopher Columbus

October 3, 20182min read

“Santa Maria”, the legendary flagship of Christopher Columbus, which sank off Haiti in 1492, seems to have found. According to the British newspaper “The Independent”, Tuesday we learned the wreck of the ship. The expedition, headed by famous American oceanographer, Barry Clifford (Clifford Barry), following the course that has kept in the diaries of Columbus himself, came upon the remains of an ancient ship lying on the seabed near the Northern coast of Haiti. The discovery is likely to be the most important in the history of underwater archaeology.

On August 3, 1492 21,4-metre Spanish Carrack “Santa Maria” (in some sources referred to the 24-meter) led the fleet the first expedition of Christopher Columbus, emerged from the port of Palos de La Frontera, consisting of two vessels – caravels “niña” and “Pinta”, whose sailor first saw the land of the New world on 12 October 1492.

December 25, 1492, having at that time, the discovery of a number of Islands in the Caribbean, the Northern coast of Haiti “Santa Maria” sat on the reef. Stop unsuccessful attempts to save the ship, the expedition with the help of local residents took the “Santa Maria” guns, supplies and valuable cargo.

Part of the wreckage of the ship was used for the construction of a Fort on the island of Haiti, called “La Navidad” (Spanish “Christmas” – on the date of the death of “Santa Maria”). Here Columbus at the time left a part of his team, and the 04 of January, 1493, went to report to Spain. He returned at the head of the flotilla, which consisted already of 17 ships, but too late: visit the island of Haiti on 27 November 1494 Columbus ‘ second expedition found on the site of the Fort “La Navidad” only corpses and ashes.

The remains of the Fort, built from the wreckage of the “Santa Maria”, was discovered by archaeologists in 2003, near the modern Haitian town of Môle Saint-Nicolas. This discovery focused in their perennial quest team Barry Clifford, following the clues left in the diary of Columbus. Examining more than 400 different anomalies of the seabed near the Northern coast of Haiti, the expedition Clifford finally managed to find the crash site of the legendary sailing ship. “All the geographical, underwater topography and archaeological evidence prove conclusively that the remains is the famous flagship Columbus – “Santa Maria,” said Clifford.

Until now, the team of Clifford performed a contactless study of the accident site with the use of marine magnetometers and sonar. Now with the support of the government of the Republic of Haiti archaeologists will begin excavations.