The Ships
of Columbus:

Replicas
of the Niña
and the Pinta
Navigate All the Way
to Northern Alabama.

Christopher Columbus and the Great Age of Discovery
HIST 351  ~  Fall 2010

They that go down to the sea in ships,
That do business in great waters;
These see the works of the Lord,
And his wonders in the deep.
For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind,
Which lifteth the waves thereof.
They mount up to the heaven,
They go down again to the depths:
Their soul is melted because of trouble.
       — Psalm 107, v. 23-26
 

By Ronald Fritze
November 2, 2010

The three ships from Columbus’s first voyage to the Americas are among the most famous ships in history. The names of the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Marie are as well known as the Titanic, the Bismarck, Old Ironsides for Americans, or the Victory for the British.

Reading the names in a book, looking at pictures, or seeing the ships in a movie requires a great leap of imagination to understand what Columbus and his crew experienced crossing the ocean. To help cross the divide between imagination and reality, people over the ages have built various replicas of the ships of Columbus.

They Did Fine at the Chicago Exposition
But Fell Afoul of Storms on the Atlantic.

Back in 1892 the Spanish constructed replicas of the three ships of Columbus to be part of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The problem came when bold mariners launched the replicas and tried to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. They ran into some stormy weather and suffered enough damage that they had to be towed in for repairs — an option not available to Columbus whenever he got into trouble. He had to make repairs on the fly and sail out of harm’s way.

Ironically, the Scandinavians built replicas of Norse long ships to commemorate Leif Ericsson’s voyage to America. The long ships managed to sail across the Atlantic and up the St. Lawrence into the Great Lakes, arriving at Chicago without a hitch and vindicating Scandinavian discontent over all the attention given to Columbus’s achievement. Doubly ironic, Ericsson would have sailed in a round ship called a knorr, not in an oared long ship.

A hundred years after the Chicago exposition, Spain again constructed replicas of the Columbus ships. The 1992 models were equipped with engines and radios. And the sailors had better luck with the weather, making it across the Atlantic without any serious problems.

Despite Rain-Drenched Hordes,
the Tour at Galveston Was Worth the Trouble.

The three Spanish ships toured the United States for the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s first voyage and drew large crowds. I got to see them at Galveston, Texas. That venue attracted hordes of Houstonians. The day I saw the ships, it was a two-and-a-half hour wait in line on a rainy day. It could have been worse. On sunny days the wait in line was eight to nine hours — and sometimes you got turned away.

Despite the lines and the wet weather, I thought it was worth the trouble, despite the fact that visitors could tour only one of the ships. In the exhibit area you had to pick the Niña, Pinta, or the Santa Marie. I ended up in the Pinta line. After the exhibition closed in 1993, the Columbus ships ended up as exhibits in the Museum of Science and History in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Niña on the Tennessee River ~ September 30, 2010
Photo by Ron Fritze

Other people continue to build replicas of the Columbus ships. John Sarsfield had a replica of the Niña built in Brazil using traditional techniques in time for 1992. This ship was used in the movie 1492.  It was joined by a replica of the Pinta some years later. But because the Pinta was intended to be used for tour groups, it was built 50 per cent larger in order to hold one hundred passengers. So the Niña is the truly authentic ship of the pair.

A Wonderful Turn of Events
Finds the Niña Moored at Huntsville.

Since the Niña and the Pinta were both caravels, they essentially would have been the same size. Fortunately for us here in northern Alabama, the Niña and the Pinta have been touring up the Tennessee River with stops in Florence, Decatur, and Huntsville. It has been a great opportunity for me and my students to experience Columbus ships. I got the see the ships at Huntsville.

The Niña is sixty-five feet long and eighteen feet wide at its widest point. It draws seven feet of water with another seven feet of the main hull above water. That is not counting the quarterdeck. On the voyage out, the Niña carried a crew of twenty-two men. If you have had a chance to walk on the deck of the Niña, you need to remember that all twenty-two men would have been on the deck or the quarterdeck all the time.

On the way back, the Niña carried about thirty people because of the sinking of the Santa Marie. But as cramped at that might seem, the Niña actually carried 127 people in a pinch. Hopefully that was a short trip!

A Far Cry from a Cruise on the Queen Mary

The crews of ships from the Age of Exploration spent very little time below deck as cargo, supplies, and animal passengers were lodged in the hold. One can only imagine what it smelled like down there with pigs and horses not getting out for a potty break for five weeks or more.

Crew members worked and slept on deck. There was no privacy and no quiet. Fifteenth-century people didn’t expect privacy like we do today. Life on the Columbus ships would also have been dirty. The ships were covered with pine pitch. It was brushed on all the wood and continually replenished to protect the wood. A crewman could not escape it.

On the other hand, the crew probably spent little time at sea in dry conditions. These ships are small, so waves and spray would have kept things damp. While the Santa Marie had a few cabins, the Niña and the Pinta were largely open and not protected from the elements. Clearly, sailing on these ships in frigid arctic waters would have been a chilly experience. There were also no facilities on the ships for gourmet cooking, or even cooking the way your mom did it. Food was repetitive and would not have required a lot of preparation. Remember, fire on a wooden ship posed a significant danger.

School children on the deck of the Pinta

Taking a walk on the deck of the Niña on a pleasant and sunny day at the end of September in Alabama is no substitute for living like Columbus’s sailors lived. The modern people who crew the Niña get closer to that experience, but they are not crowding twenty-two people on the ship. They also have an engine to propel them up river, although the sails do work just fine.

Looking into the hold where they sleep, I also spotted bunks with clean sheets — no pigs or horses for this voyage. The crew are also sailing up the Tennessee and making frequent stops where they get to go on shore and eat some real food for real people, real modern people that is. When the ships stopped briefly at Decatur, Big Bob Gibson’s Barbeque fed the crew.

Rough at Sea, Rough on Land

So, we all have to think long and hard about what it would have been like for a crewman to be constantly dirty, frequently wet, eating boring and probably constipating food, and never having any time alone. If it sounds rough, it was — very rough in fact.

Still, it is important to remember that in those times, life on land was hard for most people as well. Lands people ate boring food, were dirty, and living in cramped conditions. They just weren’t wet most of the time, unless the roof on their hut was leaking. And it probably was. If you wonder why modern people live longer, it is not just because of modern medicine. Even poor Americans enjoy luxuries that were beyond the imagination and the reach of kings and nobles a few centuries ago.

The opportunity to experience living history can be a joy for the history buff, especially if you decide to enjoy a nice lunch with friends after you’re finished.

On the deck of the Niña (from left) are Mark Lambert,
Kayla Lowery, Kathleen Dunseith, Ron Fritze, and Sean Busick

Christopher Columbus and the Great Age of Discovery
HIST 351  ~  Fall 2010