In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue!

This past week, we had a few days off for Fall Break. Sooo, it seemed a perfect time for FIELD TRIPS! I had read in the newspaper that replicas of the Nina and Pinta were sailing into the town near us, and that they would be open for tours. How can a homeschooler resist that? So we had to go take a look. The Nina was built completely by hand and without the use of power tools. Our tour guide told us that the family who made her have been making this type of ship in Brazil for over 500 years! Much information is known about the Nina because Columbus later sold this ship, and had to describe in detail what the ship was like in the bill of sale. The Pinta replica was more recently built in Brazil, and is a 50% larger version than the real Pinta, built so to be able to accomidate larger groups for private parties, etc.

This photo here shows the Pinta replica.

An anchor that was aboard the Nina replica. This anchor is actually a real antique anchor--found by divers and donated to this sailing museum. Cool! We learned that the ships would carry many anchors. Sometimes they simply got stuck on something, and the sailors would have to take an ax to the rope and just cut it free. So it stands to reason that divers might find a few of them out there!

Alison and dad examining the life raft. Or actually the small "go to shore" boat, as there was no way all the crew would be able to fit into this small boat in time of emergency! Typical crew would consist of 27 men and boys. If you were a seven year old boy, you would be old enough to work on a ship.

I was surprised to see how small the cannons were, having been used to seeing much larger ones at forts. The cannons would be shot off every time the ship came to a new port. They still carry on this tradition today, but instead of shooting off cannons and taking the risk of hitting some house or building several miles away, they instead shoot off hamburger buns. I bet the ducks like them! :)

This looks like a photographer's dream! Or maybe he thinks his parents just dragged him along.......nnnnaw!

Lots and lots of lines!

And sails! These ships are built so authentic that they can sail under their own power, just like the original ones could have. But due to coast guard regulations, each ship must be outfitted with navagation devices and an engine, just in case of emergency. But whenever possible, they will sail and navagate using only the equipment that Columbus and crew would have had.

The tiller of the boat. I didn't realize that they didn't have steering wheels--those didn't come along for another 100 years or so. So all the directional changes the boat was making were made from the very back of the boat--and with the sails down, the person steering could not even SEE the front of the boat, due to the sails blocking their view! So they had at all times someone posted at the front of the boat, someone steering at the back, and a runner going inbetween each of those two!

The tiller comes out the back of the boat, and goes way down into the water. Our tour guide told us that he can change the tiller just one foot, and the boat will start to change directions! That's pretty responsive!

Happy field trippers!

Pine tar, used to coat everything to help preserve the wood. In Columbus' day, it would have been straight pine tar and would have always remained a little sticky--yuck! Now a days, on these replicas, they coat them with pine tar but have included a drying agent into the formula--much nicer!

Austin getting a try at winding the windlass--used for bringing up the 400 feet of anchor line. Three turns of the windlass brought the anchor up how much? One foot! So to draw up the whole anchor would take the better part of a whole day! This is why if there was any sort of trouble brewing, be it storm or natives, if the ship had to get away in a hurry, they would simply ax the anchors. No time to draw them in!

Heave Ho!

Ah, this is MUCH better than staying home and doing workbook pages! Throw the workbooks overboard! Make them walk the plank! (Just kidding, just kidding, I really do love books, even--gasp!--some workbooks.)

The Nina's small "run to shore" boat. By the way, this boat was built by the Brazilian family's 14 year old son. I was VERY impressed! Don't know if they are homeschoolers or not, but if not they should be--that looks like a GREAT homeschool project to me!

Maybe Alison would like to be the tiller for the Nina? Nope! She still wants to be an astronaut!

Quick hop back over onto the Pinta, for one more look before we go home.

Good-by Nina! It was great seeing you and learning more about Columbus!

Good-by Pinta! Maybe you will sail to our town again some day!