March 5, 2018

Offering a step back into the 15^th century, students were able to experience a part of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the New World as the Nina and Pinta sailed into Orange Beach. The replicas of the historic ships that carried Columbus from Spain to the Americas in 1492 docked at the Wharf and were open for tours March 2-5. The ships are a floating museum that visit 30 to 40 ports annually on the Gulf Coast, Eastern Seaboard, Great Lakes and midwestern rivers. The new Nina was built to scale and set sail in 1991, appearing in the movie “1492.” The new Pinta is 15 feet longer and 8 feet wider than the original to provide adequate space for walk-on tours. It has air conditioning as well.

Read more at the Columbus Foundation.

Christopher Columbus, c. 1892. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

The voyage of Christopher Columbus by Gustav Adolf Closs, 1892. (Wikipedia)

Landing of Christopher Columbus in America, at San Salvador, October 12th A.D. 1492. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

The Niña And Pinta exhibition at the World’s War, 1893. (C.D. Arnold, Official Views of the World’s Columbian Exposition, Wikipedia)

Replicas of the Caravels Pinta, Niña and the carrack Santa Maria. Lying in the North River, New York, 1912. (E. Benjamin Andrews, Wikipedia)

(Columbus Foundation)

(Columbus Foundation)

Replica of the Niña in Morro Bay, CA, 2008. (Mike Baird, Wikipedia)

(Columbus Foundation)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.