What sail would Christopher Columbus have used?

Question

I'm doing a diorama of a 17th-18th century exploration sailing ship (like Christopher Columbus or Ferdinand Magellan might've used) for a summer AP assignment. I made sails for the ship, but I want to use a design for the front main sail (I don't know sail terms, sorry) like the Jolly Rodger was on the pirate ships. What would be the appropriate design for a Portuguese or Spanish exploration ship?

Thanks!

Answer 1

He used the Castilian coat of arms of Queen Isabella of Spain as his "colors", but they were flown as flags on his ships, not on the sails. The sails themselves were just white canvas with red stripes...common Spanish sails. Here are some pictures of the banners, sails and flags used:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Escud...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Colum...

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Santa_...

Answer 2

Attention.

17th and 18th centuries ships had NOTHING to do with the ships Columbus and Magellan (by the way his real name was Magalhães, he was portuguese) used, since they were 15th and 16th century explorers. They used far smaller ships, both of them used copies of the portuguese Caravel, a very innovative small and maneuverable ship the portuguese created in the mid 15th century that was able to sail against the wind, thus opening a whole new way of exploring without having to depend exclusively on a favourable wind. It had a triangular sail called lateen.

In the 17th and 18th century the spanish used the giant Galleons to go to the Americas and the portuguese had the gigantic Naus that made the longest voyages, from Portugal to India and from there to Japan. These ships had many sails, both square and lateen.

By the way, the crosses on spanish and portuguese ships were different:

-  the spanish had a red cross with even bars

- the portuguese had a red cross inspired in the templar knights cross, and this because the Templars continued to exist in Portugal under the name Order of Christ and even more, they were the mentors behind Portugal's plan of explorationthe began very early, 100 years before the spanish. Prince Henry for example was himself the chief knight of the Order of Christ.

Answer 3

the big square sail on the forward mast is the foresail......pronounced "forsul" on National Talk Like a Pirate Day.....and would have had a big red Maltese Cross on it