No. XIII
La Pinta
1:27 · Spanish caravel, 1492
La Pinta, “the painted one”, was the fastest of the three ships in Christopher Columbus’s fleet on his transatlantic voyage of 1492. The other two were the Santa María and the Niña. On 12 October 1492 Rodrigo de Triana, a Spanish sailor on board the Pinta, was the first to sight the New World.
The names were nicknames rather than the ships’ official names. The Niña was really the Santa Clara, and the Santa María was originally La Gallega. The Pinta’s real name is unknown.
She was a square-rigged caravel, smaller than the Santa María, of about 60 tons, with a deck length of 17 m and a beam of 5.36 m. She carried a crew of 26, against 40 on the Santa María and 24 on the Niña. None of the three was built for the open ocean, and to find enough crew the Crown offered prisoners reduced sentences if they signed on for the voyage.
About the model
The model carries a red cross on each of its square sails, with lateen sails on the mizzen.