This is a replica of the Santa Maria. The ship Columbus sailed on to Cuba and surrounding area, where he committed genocide upon beautiful peaceful people in search of gold.

There were 39 people on the Santa Maria.

This is the bathroom. One and Two. They had a brush they all shared called the bitter end that was left to drag in the water in between patrons. They also had water sitting in barrels for over two months. After a while it started to taste funny and they added wine to mask the bad taste. The wine retarded the bacterial, etc growth to an extent. But still I wonder if the runs were common and this got a lot of use.

This is Columbus' cabin. Supposedly shared with 2 or 3 aristocrats to keep an eye on him and probably a couple of serving boys? Only Columbus got a bed? Supposedly Columbus was 6'3" or so. Which would mean he would have had to stoop to walk in here.

This is the view from Columbus' bed.

The crow's nest.

Just outside the Columbus' cabin. Looking down on the main deck. 35 or so sailors all slept on the main deck. And they didn't have that thing covering it.

To Columbus' cabin.

Near the front middle is the pump used to get out the leaking bilge water. Supposedly they would almost have to constantly pump it out.
Of to the far right is where they cooked the food. Wood was used as fuel. Usually one hot meal a day. Consisting of beans, with onions and garlic primarily. Otherwise there was hardtack, which was flour, salt and water baked very slowly. Was like a rock and usually needed to be soaked in water in order to eat.
They kept animals at the front end of the boat so they'd have some meat. Which is absurd, but that's what they did.

This hourglass was how time was kept. A prayer was (yelled?) out each turn of the hourglass.

So much pain and suffering and early death back then. You'd need a god so much more.


The simplistic rudder.

They had many cannons. You had to stick a bit of hot wire through the hole on top to ignite the powder. I'd worry it would explode back out of the tiny hole. Apparently not.

Wish I remembered the terms. This used to move heavy things. Mainly to pull up barrels from below deck.

Rock plus tar/oil, etc put between boards to stop leaks. Was a constant process apparently?

Below deck (What's the proper term?) Didn't have a floor back then. Just rounded with rocks piled as ballast. Still the boat rocked so much Columbus complained it was like trying to sail in a turtle shell.

The floor was just covered with rocks and barrels full of water and food. Also had rats. Just had a rope ladder, not stairs. They'd tie rope around whatever they wanted to bring up and use that device to lift it up.

Now when feeding fish, they just start walking up to me with an expectant look, and much lip licking.