"NINA" Christopher Columbus all Wooden Boat Replica

[chuckm]

The Nina came to Beaumont, Texas and a co-worker of mine went to tour it and took these pics, thought you guys might want to take a look. Here is a link.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2095466859&idx=0

If there is any problems with the link let me know.

[Hwyl]

Always amazed at the size, what she's about 65'?

[Nanoose]

Is that a FULL SIZE replica?

[John E Hardiman]

Is that a FULL SIZE replica?

Yes, that is full size...and she had a 30 man crew.

See this site: http://www.sailtexas.com/columbusships.html

[chuckm]

Right now she's sailing with a 5 man crew. They take meager donations of 5$ a person to look around at the ship plus any tip's. She was built in Brazil and No modern tools were used in her making. They tried to build her exactly as if she was built in the day of Christopher Columbus. The only thing different is that under her main deck they have made bunks for the crew, The origingal Crew slept on deck. They have added a diesel engine. There is no electronic navigation equipment except for handheld GPS units that the crew uses. It originally was made for a movie for hollywood (I think it was called 1492). I think it originally had a 30 man crew when it first set sail from Brazil. Since its birth the ship has not stop sailing. It continuously sails from port to port and takes on tours.

[willmarsh3]

Also look at this site:

http://www.thenina.com/

She comes to Guntersville, AL every couple of years and docks just off of 431. She's a sight to behold. :)

[gert]

at least the helmsman had a nice protected work place :)

[bholderman]

I cant imagine crossing the Atlantic in that thing.

[brian.cunningham]

In December 1991, the Niña left Brazil and sailed to Costa Rica on a 4000 mile unescorted maiden voyage to take part in the filming of 1492. Since then, the ship has visited over 300 ports in the U.S. She is the only 'sailing museum' which is continually 'discovering' new ports, while giving the public an opportunity to visit one of the greatest little ships in the world's history.
Impressive.

[almeyer]

The Nina is in Galveston now. I stopped by to see her after work, and was impressed. Neat little ship (75' LOA according to the crew member, draws 6 feet, beam looked like it might have been 10-12 feet). Rigging was simple but practical. I'm going to go back on Monday and take my camera.
Al

[almeyer]

here's a link to the photos I took today. I'm still very much on the learning curve, so if I've got some of the descriptions wrong, please feel free to give me an education.
Al
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2095355321&idx=0

[Woxbox]

Almeyer -- fantastic series of shots and descriptions. Too often such links don't get all the great close-ups like that. I really like the way they keep the boat true to period as much as possible. I crew on the Kalmar Nyckel, and we've got technology that's maybe 200 years ahead of that - but not all that much happened in those 200 years. The boats got bigger, the rigs more complex, but the essentials are all the same - including the lateen mizzen and the windlass.
You seem to have studied the terminology pretty carefully. Those lines that pull the deadeyes together are lanyards, and the "lower blocks" on the halyards that are actually the top end of pretty massive timbers are called knightheads on our ship. An odd one is the lines that control the lower end of the mizzen. We call them bowlines, because they act more or less like the bowlines on the square sails -- even although in the case of the mizzen, they're attached to the yard.
I hope they sail her up the East Coast sometime. I'd love take the tour.

[andrewe]

Out of interest, If you ever get to southern spain, replicas of the Santa Maria, Niña and Pinta were built for the ´92 Expo. in Sevilla. They are now in a dedicated port by Polos de la Fronteira (Huelva) which is the actual port that Columbus set sail from. Around the basin are examples of period victualing and foundry,cordage exibits, with a museum of navigation and other items of the day. They do not sail the boats and our reaction was exactly the same as yours-how on earth did so many live on these tiny ships-80 on the S. Maria alone. Whole thing was fascinating.
Andrew