Fortunately, we have a fairly exact knowledge of the form and dimensions of the caravel _Santa Maria_, which was the largest of the three vessels. She was reconstructed in 1892-93 at the arsenal of Carraca, by Spanish workmen, under the superintendence of Senor Leopold Wilke, for the Chicago Exhibition of 1893. Senor Wilke had access to every known source of information. Figs. 38 to 40 give a general view, sail-plan and lines, of this ship as reconstructed. The following were her leading dimensions:-- Length of keel 60.68 feet Length between perpendiculars 74.12 " Extreme length of ship proper 93 " Length over all 128.25 " Breadth, extreme 25.71 " Displacement fully laden 233 tons Weight of hull 90.5 " The _Santa Maria_, like most vessels of her time, was provided with an extensive forecastle, which overhung the stem nearly 12 ft. She had also an enormous structure aft, consisting of half and quarter decks above the main deck. She had three masts and a bowsprit. The latter and the fore and main masts were square-rigged, and the mizzen was lateen-rigged. The outside of the hull was strengthened with vertical and longitudinal timber beams. The _Santa Maria_, as reproduced, was sailed across the Atlantic from Spain by Captain D. V. Concas and a Spanish crew in the year 1893. The course taken was exactly the same as that followed by Columbus on his first voyage. The time occupied was thirty-six days, and the maximum speed attained was about 6-1/2 knots. The vessel pitched horribly. In 1497 the first English expedition was made to America under John Cabot. We have no particulars of the ship in which Cabot sailed, but it could not have been a large one, as it is known that the crew only numbered eighteen. The expedition sailed from Bristol in the month of May, and land, which was probably Cape Breton, was sighted on June 24. Bristol was reached on the return journey at the end of July. In the following year Cabot made another voyage, and explored the coast of North America from Cape Breton to as far south as Cape Hatteras. Many other expeditions in the same direction were fitted out in the last years of the fifteenth and the first years of the sixteenth centuries. [Illustration: FIG. 40.--Lines of the _Santa Maria_.]