Wages paid to the crew and a current understanding of crew list for Christopher Columbus’ first voyage to the Americas is provided at Columbus Ships Crew.
Crew size:
- 41 – Santa Maria
- 26 – Pinta
- 20 – Nina
- 87 – total
Of particular interest to me is the pay information provided in the article. It also lists reference points for gold and silver.
Will list that info here for future reference. All amounts are maravedis, which was the Spanish currency at the time. This data is for 1492 in Spain.
| position | pay/month, in maravedis | ounces of gold | ounces of silver |
| Master / pilot | 2,000 | 0.67 | 20.0 |
| able seamen | 1,000 | 0.33 | 10.0 |
| ordinary seamen | 666 | 0.22 | 6.7 |
Article provides some reference points so we can infer amounts across time;
| reference | cost, in maravedis | ounces of gold | ounces of silver |
| total payroll/month | 250,180 | 83.39 | 2,501.8 |
| Gold, one ounce | 3,000 | 30.0 | |
| Sliver, one ounce | 100 | ||
| Wheat, one bushel | 73 | 0.02 | 0.7 |
That gives value of gold to silver at a ratio of 30:1.