Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1912 — The Oldest Ship. [ARTICLE]

The Oldest Ship.

The oldest ship In the world was recentlv brr’ren rn nt Teneriffe, Canary islands. It was the Italian ship Anita, built In Genoa in 1548, and almost an exact duplicate of the Santa Maria, the famous galleon in which Columbus made his voyage of discovery. The Anita was built for strength rather than grace or speed, broad-beamed and clumsy, but had weathered hurricanes and typhoons in all parts of the globe, and escaped unharmed from the perils of the deep from Cape Horn to Hudson bay. 1 She had a world's record as the slowest ship afloat, averaging 205 days between Baltimore, Md., and Rio de Janeiro. As her lack of speed was losing money to her owner, and she seemed destined to defy the elements and enrich Lloyds* Indefinitely as long as she remained afloat, It was decided to sell her for what she would bring piecemeal, and use the money she brought toward constructing a new vessel.