L & P Miles : Day 5 on our Texas trek

72º here in Cape Girardeau, MO at 9:00 pm as I start this. Ideal weather all day, though a little warm.
Spent the morning around the trailer and we drove to brother Don's a little after 11 am.

We had lunch with Don and his wife Vicki at their house and then went down to the Mississippi River to visit the hand-built replicas of Christopher Columbus' Pinta and Nina ships that are docked there. The Nina was built by hand without power tools, Lane said in a news release.Archaeology magazine called the ship “the most historically correct Columbus replica ever built.” In 2005, the Pinta was launched in Brazil. The Pinta and the Nina tour together as a new, self-contained “sailing museum” to educate the public and schoolchildren about the caravel, a Portuguese ship used by Columbus and many early explorers, Lane said. “Historians consider the caravel the space shuttle of the 15th century,” Lane said in the release. We did a tour of the ships, waiting for some time in line. Click HERE for website.

while we were on the Nina

The bow of the Nina

This is from an information paper handed out for the tour:

Nina & Pinta info. Nina Pinta

Length 65 ft 85 ft

Beam 18 ft 24 ft

Draft 7 ft 7 ft

Sail Area 1,919 sq ft 4,000 sq ft

Displacement 80 Tons 101 Tons

1492. The original 'Nina', 'Pinta', and 'Santa Maria' used by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage across the Atlantic were common trading vessels. The 'Nina' and 'Pinta' were Caravels. And, were used by explorers during the Age of Discovery. The 'Pinta' returned home and disappeared from history without a trace but the 'Nina'; now there's a woman with a past.

Built in the Ribera de Moguer, an estuary, now silted up, of the Rio Tinto. 'Nina' made the entire First Voyage, bringing Columbus safely home. She accompanied the grand fleet of the Second Voyage to Hispaniola and Columbus selected her out of seventeen ships for his flagship on an exploratory voyage to Cuba, and purchased a half share in her. She was the only vessel in West Indian waters to survive the hurricane of 1495, and then brought back the Admiral and 120 passengers to Spain in 1496.

She was then chartered for an unauthorized voyage to Rome, and was captured by a corsair when leaving the port of Cagliari, and brought to an anchor at Cape Pula, Sardinia where she was stripped of her arms and crew. The Captain, Alonso Medel, escaped with a few men, stole a boat, rowed back to 'Nina', cut her cables and made sail. She returned to Cadiz in time to sail for Hispaniola early in 1498, as advance guard of Columbus' Third Voyage. She was lying in Santo Domingo in 1500, and we last heard of her making a trading voyage to the Pearl Coast in 1501. The 'Nina' logged at least 25,000 miles under Columbus' command.

In 1988, an American engineer and maritime historian, John Patrick Sarsfield, began building what was to become the first truly, historically correct replica of a 15th Century Caravel. John had discovered a group of master builders in Bahia Brazil who were still using design and construction techniques dating back to the 15th Century.

It was in Valenca, Brazil, using only adzes, axes, hand saws, and chisels, in addition to naturally-shaped timbers from the local forest, the Sarsfield 'Nina' was built.

Johathon Nance, a British maritime historian and main researcher for the project, produced a sail plan for the ship, which represents the 'Nina' as she would have appeared during the eight busy years of her life following her departure from the Canary Islands in September 1492.

The Santa Clare, A.K.A Pinta, was built in Valenca 16 yers later to accompany the Nina on her tours of the western hemisphere. Built in the same shipyard with the same shipwrights, the Pinta & the Nina are two of the "greatest ships in history".

Frequently asked questions -

1. Where is the Santa Maria? -- The Columbus Foundation does not have one for three reasons; she never made it back to Europe, she is too big to make it through the waterways these ships go through and Christopher Columbus did not like the Santa Maria because she was very slow and clumsy. There are no plans to build her.

2. Why are the ships black? -- They were covered in pine tar, a natural water resistant.

3. How many were on the crews of the ships then and today? -- The Nina had 24, the Pinta had 26 and Santa Maria had 40. Today, 7 on the Nina and 9 on the Pinta.

4. How did the ships get here? -- The ships have auxiliary power with the Nina having a single Perkins diesel engine on her port side and 230 hp; and the Pinta has twin screws, each 130 hp.

5. Who built the ships? How long did it take to build them? -- They were built in Valenca, Brazil by eighth generation Portuguese shipwrights. It took 32 months and 20 men for the Nina and the Pinta took 36 months.

6. Under what conditions do the ships sail? -- When there is a strong aft wind and a big body of water.

7. How long was the first voyage? -- A little over 7 months long, with the actual crossing to the Bahamas being 33 days.

8. Where and when was Christopher Columbus born? Died? -- He was born in 1451 in Genoa. He died on May 20, 1506 in Valladolid, Spain.

9. Who were the captains of the Nina and Pinta? -- Brothers Martin and Vincent Pinzon who were from Palos, Spain.

10. Where is the home port for the Nina and Pinta replica ships? -- There is no home port for these ships because they are always moving 11 months out of the year.

11. Where is the crew from? -- The crew are volunteers from all over the United States and the Caribbean.

Was a lot of standing in line, walking, up and down a lot of steps, in a hot sunny afternoon, but was interesting with the stories told of the original building and use of the ships.