
The vessel continues to visit ports across the Eastern to mid-United States along with its sister replica ship, Pinta. In 1991, the replica sailed to Costa Rica to take part in the filming of 1492: Conquest of Paradise, and Niña has visited hundreds of North America ports to give the public a chance to see and tour the ship. The crew of Niña say that it can make about 5–7 knots (9.3–13.0 km/h 5.8–8.1 mph), which is quicker than older designs of the era. The sails were designed by Nance using square main sails and two aft lateen sails as were used by ships of this size at the end of the 15th century. They built it from heavy, teredo-resistant Brazilian hardwoods using only adzes, axes, hand saws, and chisels. The 4-masted replica Niña was built 1988-1991 by engineer and naval researcher John Patrick Sarsfield, British naval historian Jonathan Morton Nance, and a group of master shipbuilders in Bahia, Brazil who were still using design and construction techniques dating back to the 15th century. Ī replica of Niña (based upon theory there are no known contemporary likenesses of any of the three ships) now sails around the world. Along with replicas of Santa María and Pinta she participated in the review. Replicas Niña and Pinta replicas at the 1893 Columbian Exposition The replica of the Columbus FoundationĪ replica of Niña was built by the Spanish government for the Columbian Naval Review of 1893. Niña logged at least 25,000 nautical miles (46,000 km) under Columbus' command. 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. She was lying in wait at Santo Domingo in 1500. In 1498, she returned to Hispaniola as advance guard of Columbus's Third Voyage. He stole a boat, rowed back to Niña, and made sail, returning to Cádiz. The Captain, Alonso Medel, escaped with a few men. She was captured by a pirate corsair when leaving the port of Cagliari and brought to Cape Pula, Sardinia. Niña was then chartered for an unauthorized voyage to Rome. She was the only ship to survive the 1495 hurricane, returning quickly to Spain in 1496. In September 1493, Niña joined a grand fleet of 17 ships for the second voyage to Hispaniola, becoming the flagship for an exploration of Cuba. On the first voyage to America, the crew of Niña slept on the deck but adopted the use of hammocks after seeing Native Americans utilizing them. Niña reached Lisbon, Portugal, on 4 March 1493, and arrived in Palos de la Frontera on 15 March 1493.
#NINA PINTA CINCINNATI TIMES SERIES#
On 14 February 1493, in the east of the Azores, a storm threatened to capsize Niña, and at Columbus's instigation, he and the crew took a series of vows to perform certain acts including religious pilgrimages upon their return to Spain. Landfall was made in the Bahamas at dawn on 12 October 1492. They left Palos de la Frontera on 3 August 1492, stopping at the Canary Islands on 12 August 1492, and continued westward.

On Columbus's first expedition, Niña carried 26 men, captained by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/24575845/20131123_jla_at5_125.0.jpg)
It was greatly surpassed in size by ships like 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, weighing between 1,400 and 2,750 tons, and 66.4 m (218 ft) long, in both weight and length.

Niña, like Pinta and Santa María, was a smaller trade ship built to sail the Mediterranean sea, not the open ocean. Often said to have had three masts, there is some evidence she may have had four masts. There is no authentic documentation on the specifics of Niña 's design, although Michele de Cuneo, who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage, mentioned that Niña was " about 60 toneladas" (60 tons), which may indicate a medium-sized caravel of around 50 feet (15 m) in length on deck.

She was originally lateen sail rigged caravela latina, but she was re-rigged as a caravela redonda at Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands, with square sails for better ocean performance. The other ships of the Columbus expedition were the caravel-type Pinta and the carrack-type Santa María. However, she was commonly referred to by her nickname, La Niña ('The Little Girl'), which was probably a pun on the name of her owner, Juan Niño of Moguer ('Niño, his surname, meaning 'Little Boy'). As was tradition for Spanish ships of the day, she bore a female saint's name, Santa Clara. La Niña ( 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. Nickame is Spanish meaning "little girl" – captained by Balboa A depiction of Niña as a caravel on the left
