What was the name of Christopher Columbus's flagship on his 1492 voyage?

Christopher Columbus’s flagship on his 1492 voyage was the Santa María.

The Santa María was the largest of the expedition’s three vessels and served as Columbus’s command ship. Unlike the smaller Niña and Pinta, it was a carrack, or nau, a sturdier commercial sailing vessel suited to carrying supplies and crew across the Atlantic. Its master and owner was Juan de la Cosa, while Columbus commanded the expedition.

The ship was originally called La Gallega, meaning “the Galician,” and was later known as Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción. The expedition also included the caravel-type ships Niña and Pinta. Their names are sometimes confused because all three crossed the Atlantic together, but only the Santa María was the flagship.

On December 25, 1492, the Santa María ran aground near present-day Cap-Haïtien on Hispaniola. Its timbers were salvaged and used to build the settlement of La Navidad. The wreck’s precise location remains uncertain, and surviving replicas necessarily rely on estimates because the ship’s exact dimensions are not known.