Columbus’ Fleet

Softley & Page Silversmiths

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Columbus' Fleet Close up of Nina
Close up of Santa Maria Card Models
Click on the photographs to see a larger image

- the three ships on Columbus’ first voyage to the New World in 1492.

There are no drawings or records of the vessels made during Columbus’ lifetime. We took as the most authentic data that deduced over a period of ten years by Señor Martinez Hidalgo, while he was Director of the Museo Maritimo, Barcelona.

Researching data for historic boats can go far beyond determining the details of the boats. For this piece we did considerable research in respect of Columbus’ voyages, representations of which were included in the design of the plinth as cartouches, monsters and pearls. The plinth comprises a separate unit for each vessel designed so that they may be displayed separately or placed contiguously. In the integrated position they total 66 inches (168cm) in length.

We produced two sets of cartridge paper models of the boats at different scales before the client made the final choice on the scale to be used.

Once the scale had been fixed Mike made an accurate set of wooden plugs of the hulls to allow production of the plinths to proceed elsewhere while we produced the boats.

 

Data
Sterling silver with gold cartouches and pearls.
Scale 1:50
Ships hulls Santa Maria 18.0 inch (45.7cm)
Pinta 15.5 inch (39.4cm)
Niña 14.5 inch (36.8cm)
Plinth Integrated 66.0 inch (168cm)

 

 

Softley & Page Silversmiths
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