It was in the year of our lord, 1602, when we left home and hearth to seek our fortunes in far off lands; fully aware of the risk involved in such a venture.  In spite all our fears to the contrary, after a long and hard journey, fate rewarded us with a beautiful patch of earth...to call our own...

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The Santa Maria (short for The Holy Mary of the Immaculate Conception in its original Spanish) was the largest of the three ships used in the fleet by Christopher Columbus to journey to the West Indies, attempting to discover a passage to the east across the ocean and inadvertedly discovering the new world.  The ship, a second or third hand used vessel not intended for exploration, was provided for Christopher Columbus as part of a paid expedition by Queen Isabella of Spain when his native Italian government denied him the chance.  Through his actions the modern Western World as we know it today gained a massive foothold with the discovering of the New World, the Americas, and even, though much later, an oceanic route to Asia and the Indies.

This Minecraft vessel is, in all intents and purposes, a relatively to-scale version of the great ship, built with Dark Oak wood and filled with supplies to ready it for sailing.  Three versions have schematics made: one without sails, one with the sails furled up, and one with the sails in full wind.  The last of these includes a version where it's dunked in water so that, should you ever put it in an ocean, the bottom deck doesn't suddenly start leaking. (just remember to copy air when you past it in *winks*

Rigging is made of fences with ladders attached.  BE FOREWARNED! Ladders will all collapse if blocks are placed nearby, or if fences are broken.  Fences don't naturally hold ladders, so if you want them back you have to either edit in MCEdit or re-paste the schematic again

The map this is included in happens to have a modest-sized Carrack and a smaller ship I built with it.  While neither of these are the Nina or the Pinta, they're still pretty cool.  Enjoy them!

-Kerian