The largest vessel of the "Discovery Fleet" was only sixty-five or
seventy feet long by about twenty feet in breadth, and of one hundred
tons' burden; Columbus having purposely chosen small ships because they
would be better adapted for going close to shore and up rivers. Only the
_Santa Maria_ was decked amidships, the others had their cabins at
either end. The cross was painted on all the sails. Columbus commanded
the _Santa Maria_, with Juan de la Cosa as pilot; Martin Alonzo
Pinzon took the _Pinta_, and his brother Vincente (pronounced Vin-
then'tay) took the _Nina_.

All told, one hundred men went forth on the famous voyage (although some
writers put it at one hundred and twenty) and a number of these had
never been to sea before. Among the hundred was a notary to draw up all
papers of ownership (when it came to dividing Columbus's tenth part of
the gold, precious stones, etc., that should be found); a historian, to
keep an official record of all that should occur; a metallurgist, to
examine ores; and an orientalist, learned in foreign tongues, who would
interpret what the western peoples might say to the newcomers who
claimed the heathen lands for Spain. Besides these, there were two other
learned men--a physician and a surgeon. Columbus himself was to act as
map-maker and chart-maker. Strange to say, there is no record of a
priest accompanying the expedition.

The great seriousness of the undertaking was felt more and more in Palos
as work on the little caravels progressed. People spoke of it in awed
tones and shook their heads dismally. Every day during the last week or
two all the crew went religiously and faithfully to church. Columbus,
being a religious man, no doubt approved of this; yet it surely would
have sent him forth in better spirits if his crew had looked upon his
venture more light-heartedly, and less as if they were foredoomed to