How did the ships of the Great Expedition that opened the New World looked like? Traditionally, they say of three caravels, fast vessels with light hulls, two or three masts and various rig. As historians say, Columbus's squadron consisted of two caravels - Pinta and Niña - and the Santa Maria classified "nao" ("ship"). It was a specific vessel with three masts, two of which with square rig and the mizzen mast with Latin one. There was a superstructure in the bow part of the ship. According to these details the Santa Maria can be called caracca.

One mustn't be confused with small sizes of the Santa Maria: the ship's solid construction, navigation science of that time and enormous experience of the great sailor Columbus brought success of the enterprise. The date of 1492 is famous around the world.