Niña (ship)

La Niña (Spanish for The Girl) was one of the three Spanish ships used by Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus in his first voyage to the West Indies in 1492. She was originally named Santa Clara, a name that followed the tradition of Spanish ships bearing the name of a female saint. However, she was more commonly called La Niña, meaning "The Little Girl." This nickname was likely a playful reference to her owner, Juan Niño of Moguer, whose surname "Niño" means "Little Boy."

Niña was Columbus's favorite ship during his journey. She was a caravel, a type of small and fast sailing ship well-suited for exploring new waters. Before the voyage began, her sails were changed in Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands, to improve her performance in the open ocean. Although we don’t have exact details about her size and design, one person who sailed with Columbus later described her as being about 60 tons, which suggests she was a medium-sized ship around 50 feet long.

Unlike larger ships of the time, Niña, along with the other ships Pinta and Santa María, were smaller trading ships made for the Mediterranean Sea. They were much smaller than enormous ships like Peter von Danzig from the Hanseatic League or the English carrack Grace Dieu. Still, Niña played a very important role in one of the most famous voyages in history.

History

On Christopher Columbus's first trip to the West Indies in 1492, the ship Niña carried 26 men led by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón. They started from Palos de la Frontera on August 3, 1492, stopped at the Canary Islands, and reached the Bahamas on October 12, 1492.

Later, during a storm near the Azores in February 1493, the Niña almost crashed into rocks. The crew made promises to do special things when they returned to Spain. The ship made it to Lisbon, Portugal, and then back to Palos de la Frontera by March 15, 1493. The crew of Niña started using hammocks after seeing Native Americans using them.

Niña joined Columbus's second voyage on September 25, 1493, helping discover parts of Cuba and Jamaica. But on June 30, 1494, the ship got stuck and damaged. In 1495, a big storm in Hispaniola hurt the Niña and sank other ships. A new ship called Santa Cruz was built to replace them. In 1496, Niña returned to Spain with Columbus.

The ship then went on an unauthorized trip to Rome but was captured by a pirate near Cagliari. The captain, Alonso Medel, escaped and managed to bring the ship back to Cádiz. In 1498, Niña returned to Hispaniola for Columbus's third voyage and was later used for trading along the Pearl Coast of Venezuela. The ship traveled over 25,000 nautical miles under Columbus's leadership.

Replicas

A copy of Niña was made by the Spanish government for a big event in 1893. Along with copies of Santa María and Pinta, it joined the celebration.

Today, a copy of Niña sails around the world. This copy was built between 1988 and 1991 by a team in Brazil. They used old building ways from the 15th century and strong wood. The crew says the ship can move about 5–7 knots, which is faster than older ships from that time. The copy weighs 75 tons.

In 1991, the copy went to Costa Rica for a movie called 1492: Conquest of Paradise. Since then, it has visited many ports in North America so people can see and explore it. The ship still travels to ports in the eastern and middle parts of the United States with its sister copy, Pinta. In September 2020, during Hurricane Sally, the ship broke free from its dock in Pensacola, Florida and later ran aground in Pensacola Bay.

Copies of Niña and Pinta were also built in Valença, Brazil using the same old methods. Other copies can be found in Andalusia, Spain, at El Puerto de Santa María and at the Wharf of the Caravels in Palos de la Frontera. There was once a copy in Corpus Christi, Texas, but it sank in April 2017 during Hurricane Harvey.

A famous restaurant in San Francisco called Bernstein's Fish Grotto was made to look like Niña.