Tortuga?

Freo Today. 29 June 2022. Spotted the other day sailing past South Mole. Deanna Shanahan of famous Instagram duo @flotsamandjetsam6162 caught her in full flight. We are told she’s the ketch ‘Tortuga’. Nice lines. Nice name. Wonder what it means? – Well in answer to that question we gather Christopher Columbus and Cuba and Haiti figure in the story. Tortuga is an important stand in the Caribbean. The first Europeans to land on Tortuga were the Spanish in 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus into the New World. On 6 December 1492, three Spanish ships entered the Windward Passage that separates Cuba and Haiti. At sunrise, Columbus noticed an island whose contours emerged from the morning mist. Because the shape reminded him of a turtle’s shell, he chose the name of Tortuga.