“Pinta”
XV
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At the beginning of the summer of 1492, Christopher Columbus had the
task of choosing three ships from out of all the boats along the coast of Andalusia, he knew very well what kind of ships he was
looking for. From 1477 to 1483, he had gone on long voyages around the Atlantic
and in Porto Santo he compiled documents that had belonged to his
father-in-law, Bartholomew de Perestrello, who had for many years been the
Governor of the Madeira Islands; he had also gathered information on the Great
Portuguese Discoveries along the coast of Africa. Finally Christopher Columbus
choose the Nao Santa Maria originally named "La Gallege" which was
owned by Juan de la Coas,
who sailed with Columbus as his Captain.
On the 3 of August 1942 she left the Spanish harbor Palos de la Frontera bound for the Canary Islands together with the caravels
"Pinta" and " Nina".
Cristopher Colombus wrote in his "Book on the First Voyage "We sailed
South with a strong wind until sunset for 60 miles, which are 15
leagues; then Southeast and South, a quarter by Southeast, which was the way to
the Canaries, then...on the 12 of October the sailor Rodrigo de Triana made out
land. He left to reach the Indies, he finally
discovered the New World..."
The Pinta was captained by MartÌn Alonso PinzÑn, a leading mariner from the
town of Moguer
in Andalucia. Pinta was a caravel, a smaller, lighter, and faster ship
than the tubby Santa Maria.
We don't know much about Pinta, but it probably was about 70 tons.
Philips puts the length of Pinta at 17 meters, keel length 13 meters, beam 5 meters, and depth 2 meters. She probably had
three masts, and most likely carried sails like those of Santa Maria, except for the topsail,
and perhaps the spritsail.
Scale 1:20.
Length 36” (900 mm), width 15” (370 mm), height 32” (800 mm).
