"Archeologists may soon find remains of Columbus' ships"
 
in "Intelligencer Journal" (Thursday, April 4, 1991, p. A-3)
 
     St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica (AP)--Archeologists believe they may
soon find the 500-year-old remains of two ships Christopher
Columbus and his crew lived on for more than a year while
marooned on Jamaica.
     The caravels, the Capitana and the Santiago de Palos, were
the last ships Columbus commanded and would be the first
recovered.
     Columbus abandoned the vessels fastened side-by-side on a
beach when he and his crew of 115 were rescued from Jamaica on
July 29, 1504, at the end of his ill-fated fourth voyage.  He
died in Spain two years later.
     The Capitana and the Santiago de Palos are thought to be
buried under water, mud and sand at St. Ann's Bay on Jamaica's
northern coast about 45 miles northwest of Kingston.  Attempts to
find the ships began in the 1930s.
     Now, with sonar and probing equipment and research of
historical documents, nautical archaeologists have narrowed the
search to a relatively small portion of the bay.
     They hope to recover at least some of the ships' remains by
next year, the 500th anniversary of Columbus' first voyage.
     Project director James Parrent of the Institute of Nautical
Archaeology at Texas A&M University rates his chances, "on a
scale of one to 10, an eight."
     Parrent believes the chances are good of finding well-
preserved hull remains because the caravels ran aground in soft
sediment and shallow water.
     St. Ann's Bay is sheltered by a coral reef, but the beach
has been altered over the centuries by hurricanes, earthquakes,
erosion and deposits of sand and sediment.
     On a recent visit to the site, Ywone Edwards of the Jamaica
National Heritage Trust, a partner in the project, said the
Columbus ships could be a boon to tourism on the island.
     Not only would the remains be the first recovered from a
Columbus ship, they would be the first from a known caravel,
Parrent said.
     The sailing vessel, noted for its speed and maneuverability,
propelled much Spanish and Portuguese exploration in the 15th and
16th centuries, but little is known about how they were built.
     No architectural plans of the caravel have been found. 
Parrent hopes to learn much about the vessel's design and
technical capabilities, possibly settling some of the scholarly
debate about its role in Europe's expansion.
     Artifacts could also provide new insights into shipboard
life in the early 16th century and the ways of the Arawak Indians
who traded with Columbus, the archaeologist said.
     Columbus' fourth voyage began from Spain on April 3, 1502,
with four caravels and a crew of 140.  He was looking for a
western passage to the Orient and its gold, silk and spices.
     What he encountered were continual storms, an Indian attack,
disease, desertions, a mutiny and the destruction of his fleet by
wood worms.
     "Ships more riddled with holes than a honeycomb, and the
crews were spiritless and despairing," his journal recorded. 
Columbus himself was stricken with malaria and arthritis.
     Having abandoned two of his leaky caravels off Panama,
Columbus deliberately ran the Capitana and the Santiago de Palos
aground on Jamaica and built huts on them to house the crew while
they awaited rescue.
     The stranded Europeans, their numbers reduced to 116,
survived for one year and five days on food provided by local
Arawaks.
     They were rescued by two ships summoned from neighboring
Hispaniola, which is now the island shared by Haiti and the
Dominican Republic.