Model ship Construction - Nina - Ship Caravel - First voyage Christopher Columbus 1492

Model ship Construction - The Nina (Ship Caravel)
Construction ship model and photo by Nasos Dokos
Video Editor: Takis Kladis
La Nina (Spanish for The Girl) was one of the three Spanish ships used by Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in his first voyage to the West Indies in 1492. As was tradition for Spanish ships of the day, she bore a female saint's name, Santa Clara. However, she was commonly referred to by her nickname, La Niña, which was probably a pun on the name of her owner, Juan Niño of Moguer. She was a standard caravel-type vessel.

The other ships of the Columbus expedition were the caravel-type Pinta and the carrack-type Santa María. The Niña was by far Columbus's favorite. She was originally lateen sail rigged caravela latina, but she was re-rigged as caravela redonda at Azores with square sails for better ocean performance. There is no authentic documentation on the specifics of the Niña's design, although Michele de Cuneo, who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage, mentioned that the Nina was "about 60 toneladas" (60 tons), which may indicate a medium sized Caravel of around 50 feet (15 m) in length on deck. Often said to have had three masts, there is some evidence she may have had four masts.

The Niña, like the Pinta and Santa María, was a smaller trade ship built to sail the Mediterranean sea, not the open ocean. It was greatly surpassed in size by ships like the Peter von Danzig of the Hanseatic League, built in 1462, 51 m (167 ft) in length, and the English carrack Grace Dieu, built during the period 1420–1439, 66.4 m (218 ft) in length and weighing between 1,400 tons and 2,750 tons.
History
On Columbus' first expedition, the Niña carried 24 men, captained by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón. They left Palos de la Frontera on August 3, 1492, stopping at the Canary Islands on August 12, 1492, and continued westward. Landfall was made in the Bahamas at dawn on October 12, 1492.

On February 14, 1493, in the east of the Azores, a storm threatened to capsize the Niña, and at Columbus' instigation, he and the crew took a series of vows to perform certain acts including religious pilgrimages upon their return to Spain. The Niña reached Lisbon, Portugal, on March 4, 1493, and arrived in Palos de la Frontera on March 15, 1493.On the first voyage to America, the crew of the Niña slept on the deck but adopted the use of hammocks after seeing Native Americans utilizing them.

In September 1493, the Niña joined a grand fleet of 17 ships for the second voyage to Hispaniola, becoming the flagship for an exploration of Cuba. She was the only ship to survive the 1495 hurricane, returning quickly to Spain in 1496.

The Niña was then chartered for an unauthorized voyage to Rome. She was captured by a pirate corsair when leaving the port of Cagliari and brought to Cape Pula, Sardinia. The Captain, Alonso Medel, escaped with a few men. He stole a boat, rowed back to the Niña, and made sail, returning to Cadiz.

In 1498, she returned to Hispaniola as advance guard of Columbus' Third Voyage. She was lying in wait at Santo Domingo in 1500. In 1501, she made a trading voyage to the Pearl Coast on the island of Cubagua, Venezuela, and no further log of her is found in historic archives.

The Niña logged at least 25,000 nautical miles (46,000 km) under Columbus' command.
Christopher Columbus (Italian: Cristoforo Colombo; Spanish: Cristóbal Colón; Portuguese: Cristóvão Colombo; born between 31 October 1450 and 30 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer, citizen of the Republic of Genoa. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola, initiated the Spanish colonization of the New World.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ni%C3%B1a

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