Poodle Skirts! Part 3

This is a progression of where I started on my project up to my completion. I'm so happy with how cute this turned out!!

Poodle Skirts! Part 2

Hello everyone!

Awhile back, my sister and I had started making cute poodle skirts as a fun project. Now we finally have them finished!  (No, they don't take forever to make. We just had life happen a couple times!) Here are some fun pictures of us at a '50s event that was in our town this afternoon. Enjoy!

  

 

                               

                                 

Ship Technology: The Ships Columbus Used versus Ships of Today

Hello everyone!

This is an essay I wrote for a DAR competition that I participated in. I had so much fun researching the different ships and the history behind this that I never would have learned in school. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

Comparing Ship Technology: The Ships Columbus Used Versus Ships of Today

         Leaving on a summer day of August 3, 1492, from the Spanish port of Palos to the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa (Flint, 2018) on the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, Columbus embarked on his journey in search of a shorter route to the Far East with a crew of seasoned sailors and novices, including four convicts (Preparations For The First Voyage Of Discovery, n.d.). Preparing for this voyage required seven years of painstaking negotiations. Learning the path of the trade winds, traveling back and forth to find the best ways to travel, and trying to find supporters to help fund his voyage were only parts of his long wait. He was finally able to receive support from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain (Tergerson T. , 2018) on April 17, 1492, nearly four months prior to their departure. This voyage began a new chapter in the history of the known world.

        Columbus became one the most well known explorers of his time. He traveled across the Atlantic to look for a new route to the Far East though few people had faith in him. The timing of his exploration was perfect: the Crusades whetted the desires of Europeans for spices, perfumes, and silks from the Orient, the technology of navigation and building ships had improved significantly through advances made under Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal giving Portugal control over the route around Africa to the Far East. Italy controlled the land routes to the Far East creating a duopoly of control of goods and prices – and tariffs for those goods. The invasion of the Islamic Moors into Europe through Spain had been halted and the merger of the Spanish kingdoms of Castile and Aragon created a new seat of power in Spain with rulers who were eager to own rights to a new, faster, safer route to the Far East (Tergerson T. , 2018).  Their desire to have a part in this power led King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to finance Columbus’ journey when others would not. Columbus rewarded their investment through his triumph in finding a New World, that he believed to have been the Indies with its copper-colored people and their exotic animals, gold,  and spices. It took a little over two months for Columbus to make this discovery from his initial departure from Spain on his small wooden ships.  Today’s ships can travel more than eight times the speed of Columbus’s ships with better technology and significantly improved cleanliness, sanitation, and comfort levels. What would this have been like for those sailing with Columbus? How would his journey compare to those made on ships today? What are the pros and cons of the ships of Columbus’ time and those of today?

Columbus’ ships were the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. The Santa Maria was a carrack or Nao and Nina and Pinta were caravels (Mariners and Their Ships: A Revolution in Ship Design., 2018). A carrack is a large ship that is approximately 150 feet long that could carry from 50-300 men for exploration and much food to sustain them (Austin, 2013), and thus became a favorite of the explorers.  A caravel is a lightweight ship developed by the Portuguese for traveling around Africa that were capable of remarkable speed, about four to eight knots (Development of Sailing Ships, 2014), and they were excellent for traveling windward (Brittanica, 2007).

         The advantages of fifteenth-century ships are that most of them were relatively small and they could land close to the shore and use rowboats to travel to and from the ship (Richards, 2018). The jobs on the ships were simple. One could hire almost anybody to man the ship, including convicts, as in the case of Columbus’ journey. The ships were made of renewable materials, so when the ship was damaged, it was fairly easy to repair them with supplies that were readily accessible.

         With that said, there were also disadvantages to ships of that time. They were fragile and could easily be destroyed such as when the Santa Maria was shipwrecked off the coast of Hispaniola. The quarters were cramped with very few if any comforts. There was no proper sanitation as we would expect today. The ships had no means to refrigerate to preserve foods, so foods and water spoiled rapidly on long voyages such as this.  While these ships used the renewable resource of wind that is free if the ship was caught in a doldrum the sailors would die (Richards, 2018) (Tergerson T. , 2018). Columbus recognized the risk of mutiny he faced being out to sea with no land in sight for such a long time.  Going to the Canary Islands to ensure fair winds to blow him eastward was crucial in his navigational planning.

         In comparison, a modern ship such as a DDG class ship, or Destroyer, is one of the smaller ships used by today’s U.S. Navy. It has a speed of over thirty knots (United States Navy Fact File, 2018) (Tergerson M. , 2018), with better propulsion resulting in increased speed without the need for wind power so they can travel the shortest route without concern for the direction the winds blow – if they blow.  These ships are much more comfortable, and the food will keep fresh longer with modern refrigeration and shorter travel time. We also have better star navigation charts since 1802 thanks to the accuracy of Nathaniel Bowditch, whose book, “The New American Practical Navigator, first published in 1802, is still carried on board every commissioned U.S. naval vessel.” (Wikipedia Contributors, 2018)

        Even with all the new technology, there are cons to these comfortable ships. With the ships being made of steel, it is more difficult to repair the ship.  The technology employed on these ships require specialists to monitor the technology used and maintain the ships.  This adds to the expense of travel, as does the fuel cost for the non-renewable diesel fuel or nuclear fuel in the cases of some Navy ships (Tergerson T. , 2018). Cost for modern Naval ships is another disadvantage. For comparison, a yacht the size of Columbus’ Santa Maria would cost over six million dollars. (Used Yachts for Sale from 101 to 130 feet, 2018) Modern cruise ships and Destroyers cost $1.25-$1.85 billion (Chanev, 2015) (United States Navy Fact File, 2018).

        Compared to Columbus’s ships, we have many luxuries for which they would have been envious: we are able to go shorter routes without the need of wind power, we are able to keep food fresh longer, the ships are sanitary, we have stronger built ships, and we can navigate across the oceans easily.  Even so, there is also much to envy of them with their ability to repair their ships with renewable materials, the wind as fuel for the ships were renewable and free, captains could hire almost any man to help man the ships, resulting in a somewhat lower cost to operate ships then compared to today’s costs.

          Both eras are to be appreciated for how they have affected the course of our history and how we use our dreams to create something new and to explore new dimensions. These voyages of the seas have inspired new explorers to seek to explore the vastness of space.  Columbus and his three small, wooden ships started that and gave us courage for centuries afterward to be curious, courageous, passionate, and strive for our dreams.

Bibliography

Austin, C. (2013). Ship Information. Retrieved December 07, 2018, from World of Arkuth: http://www.padnd.com/arkuth/ship_info.php

Brittanica, T. E. (2007, August 07). Caravel. (Encyclopedia Britannica Inc.) Retrieved December 07, 2018, from Encyclopedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/technology/caravel

Carrack or Nao. (2018). Retrieved December 07, 2018, from https://exploration.marinersmuseum.org/watercraft/carrack-nao/

Chanev, C. (2015, November 26). Cruise Ship Cost to Build. Retrieved December 08, 2018, from Cruise Mapper: https://www.cruisemapper.com/wiki/759-how-much-does-a-cruise-ship-cost

Contributors, W. (2018, November 20). Nathaniel Bowditch. (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia) Retrieved December 07, 2018, from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Bowditch

Development of Sailing Ships. (2014, April). Retrieved from http://www-labs.iro.umontreal.ca/~vaucher/History/Ships_Discovery/

Flint, V. I. (2018, December 05). Christopher Columbus. (Encylopedia Britannica Inc.) Retrieved December 07, 2018, from Encyclopedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Columbus/The-first-voyage

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Mariners and Their Ships: A Revolution in Ship Design. (2018, November 27). Retrieved December 07, 2018, from encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mariners-and-their-ships-revolution-ship-design

Preparations For The First Voyage Of Discovery. (n.d.). Retrieved December 07, 2018, from Historia del Nuevo Mundo: https://www.historiadelnuevomundo.com/index.php/en/2017/09/preparations-for-the-first-voyage-of-discovery/

Richards, R. (2018, December 07). Advantages and Disadvantages of Modern Ships. (M. Tergerson, Interviewer)

Tergerson, M. (2018, December 07). Navy DDG Class Destroyers. (M. Tergerson, Interviewer)

Tergerson, T. (2018, December 06). History. (M. Tergerson, Interviewer) Retrieved from Share Coach: http://share-coach.com/eng/articles.php?id=12&read=storia

United States Navy Fact File. (2018, February 28). Retrieved from America's Navy Forged by the Sea: https://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=900&ct=4

Used Yachts for Sale from 101 to 130 feet. (2018). Retrieved December 08, 2018, from International Yacht Sales: https://sysyachtsales.com/used-yachts-for-sale-101-130-feet