Pinta (ship)

A ship built in medieval Spain in 1441, known as ''La Pinta'' ( Spanish for ''The Painted One'', ''The Look'', or ''The Spotted One'') was the fastest of the three Spanish ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first transatlantic voyage in 1492. The New World was first sighted by Rodrigo de Triana aboard ''La Pinta'' on 12 October 1492. The owner of ''La Pinta'' was Cristóbal Quintero. The Quintero brothers were ship owners from Palos. The owner of the ship allowed Martín Alonso Pinzón to take over the ship so he could keep an eye on her.

''La Pinta'' was a caravel-type vessel. By tradition, Spanish ships were named after saints and usually given nicknames. Thus, ''La Pinta'', like ''La Niña'', was not the ship's actual name; ''La Niña's'' actual name was the ''Santa Clara''. The '' Santa María'''s original nickname was ''La Gallega''. The actual original name of ''La Pinta'' is unknown. The origin of the ship is disputed but is believed to have been built in Spain in 1441. She was later rebuilt for use by Christopher Columbus.

Detail

''La Pinta'' was square rigged and smaller than . The ship displaced approximately 60 tons, with an estimated deck length of and a width of . The crew size was 26 men under Captain Martín Alonso Pinzón.

The other ships of the Columbus expedition were ''La Niña'' (real name ''Santa Clara'') and ''Santa María''. There are no known contemporary likenesses of Columbus's ships.

''Santa María'' (also known as the ''Gallega'') was the largest, of a type known as a carrack (''carraca'' in Spanish), or by the Portuguese term ''nau''. ''La Niña'' and ''La Pinta'' were smaller. They were called caravels, a name then given to the smallest three-masted vessels. Columbus once used the word for a vessel of forty tons, but it generally applied in Portuguese or Spanish use to a vessel ranging from 120 to 140 Spanish "toneles". This word represents a capacity about one-tenth larger than that expressed by the modern English "ton".

''La Niña'', ''La Pinta'', and ''Santa María'' were not the largest ships in Europe at the time. They were small trade ships surpassed in size by ships like , built in Scotland in 1511 with a length of , and a crew of 300 sailors, 120 gunners, and up to 1,000 soldiers. of the Hanseatic League was built in 1462 and was long. Another large ship, the English carrack , was built during the period 1420–1439, was long, and displaced between 1,400 tons and 2,750 tons. Ships built in Europe in the 15th century were designed to sail the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean coastlines. Columbus' smaller-sized ships were considered riskier on the open ocean than larger ships. This made it difficult to recruit crew members, and a small number were jailed prisoners given a light sentence if they would sail with Columbus.

Most of the commerce of the time was the coastal commerce of the Mediterranean, so it was better if ships did not draw much water. As it sailed, the fleet of Columbus consisted of ''Gallega'' (the ''Galician''), which he changed to ''Santa María'', ''La Pinta'' and ''La Niña''. Of these the first was about 100 tons, the second about 70 tons. ''La Niña'' was smaller, not more than 50 tons. One writer says that they were all without full decks, that is, that such decks as they had did not extend from stem to stern. Other authorities, however, speak as if ''La Niña'' only was an open vessel, and the two larger were decked. Columbus himself took command of ''Santa María'', Martin Alonso Pinzon of ''La Pinta'', and his brothers, Francis Martin and Vicente Yanez, of ''La Niña''. The whole company in all three ships likely numbered 90 men (Santa Maria 40, La Nina 24, La Pinta 26) although some historians cite 120 men.

Replicas

A replica of ''La Pinta'' was built by the Spanish government for the Columbian Naval Review of 1893. Along with replicas of ''Santa María'' and ''La Niña'', it participated in the review.

Replicas are on display in two locations in Spain:
* at the Wharf of the Caravels (Spanish: Muelle de las Carabelas) in Palos de la Frontera, Andalusia
* in Baiona, Pontevedra, Galicia

In 2008, a replica of ''La Pinta'', although 15 feet (4.5 m) longer and 8 feet (2.4 m) wider than the original, was launched by the Christopher Columbus Foundation.The Niña & Pinta - The Columbus Foundation
/ref> This ship weighs about 100 tons and often sails alongside an authentic replica of ''La Niña'', which was launched in 1991.

Legacy

Pinta in the Galapagos Islands is named for the ship and Pinzón Island for its captain.

References

External links

Florida Museum of Natural History.
List of crew members on ''La Pinta''.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinta (ship)
Exploration ships
Age of Discovery ships
Individual sailing vessels
Christopher Columbus
1490s in the Spanish West Indies
Spanish West Indies
15th-century ships
Age of Sail individual ships