What was the name of the Christopher Columbus' flagship - the ship on which Columbus travelled in his 1492 voyage to the new world?

Of the three vessels on the historic 1492 voyage, the Santa María was the largest and served as the expedition's flagship. Originally named La Gallega, it was a type of ship known as a nao or carrack, and at around 100 tons, it was significantly larger than its two companions, the smaller, faster caravels named the Pinta and the Niña. Though it was the slowest of the fleet, the Santa María was a sturdy, reliable vessel that successfully carried Christopher Columbus and his crew across the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.

The celebrated flagship's career, however, came to an abrupt and dramatic end just weeks after arriving in the Americas. On Christmas Eve of 1492, while sailing near the coast of what is now Haiti, the ship ran aground on a sandbank. With Columbus and the ship's steersman asleep, an inexperienced cabin boy had been left at the helm, and the currents carried the vessel onto the reef (Deals). The damage was irreparable, and the crew had to abandon the ship.

The final chapter of the Santa María's story is also the first chapter of European settlement in the New World. Unable to fit the entire crew onto the two remaining ships for the return journey to Spain, Columbus ordered his men to strip the timbers from the wrecked vessel. This salvaged wood was then used to build a small fort named La Navidad, in honor of the day the ship was lost. This impromptu settlement became the first Spanish colony in the Americas, a direct and unexpected consequence of the flagship's untimely demise.