NINA

Nina (another name is Santa Clara) was a Spanish sailing ship - a caravel that was probably launched in the 80s of the 15th century. The length of the vessel was about 15 meters and a width of about 4.5-5 meters. Nina's displacement probably did not exceed 60 tons, and its crew consisted of 24 people. She was one of the three ships that took part in the expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Nina (Spanish girl), which may be surprising, was designed to navigate the Mediterranean Sea as a strictly commercial vessel with a rather limited range. Originally it had three masts with Latin sails, but during Christopher Columbus' expedition to the Azores, it probably received square sails, much better suitable for sailing in the Atlantic. During the famous voyage, the ship's captain was Vicente Pinzon. The famous cruise began with departure from the port of Palos de la Frontera on August 3, 1492. After it crashed, Santa Maria became the flagship of the expedition to sail to the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, which is widely regarded as the discovery of the sea route to America by Europeans. More importantly - on March 15, 1493, she returned to Spain. She also took part in Columbus' Second Expedition and, despite being on the hurricane route, happily returned to her home port in 1496. The last reference to this undoubtedly historic ship dates back to 1501.