The San Cristobal and the LaMagdalena appear to have been naos, a class of sailing vessels called "ships" which has become the generic term. These ranged up to 1,000 tons -- the largest of their day -- and depended upon square sails for their main driving power. They had only limited cross-wind control from an aft lateen sail. It probably was for this reason that Soto's fleet had to mark time in the Bahama Channel until more favorable winds blew up.

Caravels originally were vessels with edge-to-edge hull planking. In time the term came to mean any long, narrow boat of 20 to 100 tons burden with several masts. This was the type of vessel used by Columbus on his first voyage, although the Santa Maria was rated over 100 tons and referred to by the Admiral as a "nao."

A galleon originally was a sailing ship with a rowing galley. Eventually it standardized into a large, armed merchant vessel with high bulwarks, three or four decks, two or three masts and square-rigged sails. A typical size was about 1,000 tons, but any multi-decked ship often was so called.

Brigantines were open, flat-bottomed boats of very shallow draft, a single mast and easily rowed.

The square sails of the larger vessels provided maximum propulsion when the winds were

right, but rendered ships somewhat unwieldy in close quarters. Narrow, twisting channels could not be safely navigated by these ships under sail. If it was imperative that such ships be brought into close quarters they had to be "kedged." An anchor was carried ahead in a row boat and the ship then pulled forward on the tether with the ship's capstan.

All of Soto's fleet did not necessarily come up within a few hundred yards of the landing site. In-deed, we are informed that the cargo was transfer-red to shore in boats. However, we also are told that the large vessels penetrated the port for a considerable distance by "coming up on the tides." This suggests extensive shoals, narrow channels and much kedging.

DRAFTS OF SHIPS

Very little is known about the drafts of ships of those days -- a surprising lack of information inasmuch as early mariners put so much store in relative depths as an aid to navigation.

For example, nautical engineers have long debated the dimensions and draft of Columbus' Santa Maria.

Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, in his book "Admiral of the Ocean Sea," surmises that the