PINTA SHIP WRECK PATCH

“You can point the bow of the caravel with an angle of just 20 degrees off the wind and still get enough lift on the outer edge of the sail to propel forward.” “Lateen sails are almost like wings,” says Castro. Luis Filipe Viera de Castro, a nautical archeologist at Texas A&M University, says that the earlier Portuguese caravels, known as the caravela latina, were rigged with lateen (triangular) sails that hung at 45-degree angle to the deck. Though only two of Columbus’s ships ended up being caravels, Isabella’s decree speaks to the popularity of the vessel during the 15th-century “ Age of Discovery.” Starting with Portuguese explorations of the African coast in the mid-1400s, caravels were prized for their sleek, lightweight hull and their uncanny ability to sail into the wind. Caravels Were Cutting Edge in the 15th Century The caravels of Christopher Columbus, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. When the royal decree went out in 1492 from Queen Isabella of Spain to fund Columbus’s first voyage, it read, “By these presents, we dispatch the noble man Christoforus Colón with three equipped caravels over the Ocean Seas toward the regions of India for certain reasons and purposes.” READ MORE: Why Columbus Day Courts Controversy on October 12 that land had been sighted.Ĭolumbus hadn’t found a western route to India, of course, but his success in crossing the Atlantic was due in large part to the ships he chose for the perilous voyage, particularly the diminutive Niña and Pinta, which were a speedy type of ship called a caravel. With the men close to mutiny against their “foreign” captain, Columbus was about to turn back when the cry went out at 2 a.m. The Santa Maria, Columbus’s flagship, was a larger, heavier cargo ship.įor 35 days, Columbus and his crew of 86 Spanish sailors sailed westward searching for a passage to China and India. Two of the ships, the Niña and Pinta, were tiny by today’s standards-only 50 to 70 feet from bow to stern-but prized for their speed and maneuverability. If it turns out to be occupied, there are few alternates to choose from in the area, so you may get a “New Deal”.On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus and his crew set sail from the port of Palos in southern Spain on three vessels: la Santa Clara (Niña), la Pinta and la Santa Gallega (Santa Maria). Cunners and white coral on one of the masts.Īlthough it’s not far offshore, the Pinta is a relatively long drive from any port.

PINTA SHIP WRECK PATCH

I set him down in a nice patch of anemones, took a few shots, and then let him disappear into a crack in the hull. Lobsters don’t have much stamina, and after a few minutes of tickling, it thrashed itself into exhaustion and became an obliging photo subject. I caught this little lobster in the sand around the back side of the wreck, and carried him up to the top where the light is better. Since the wreck collapsed, it no longer looks like this. Marine growth and a school of baby Sea Bass crowd the top of the wreck. This area of the wreck has since collapsed. The now-exposed engine Timbers spilled out of the cargo hold into the sand Companionways near the stern. Fish abound, some large ones, and lobsters can be found in the spaces between the wood planks, although this small wreck can and does get fished out pretty quickly. On the back side of the wreck, the bottom of the ship is covered with nice mussels, while the top of the wreck is covered with beautiful anemones and hydroids. The stern is exploded, and I believe the engine room is now open. The bow is still in good shape, but the rest of the wreck is wrecked. The first time I saw the Pinta in 1995, the hull was still pretty much intact ( as illustrated above ), but it is now really beginning to decay. It also makes a good multi-level training dive. It is still quite recognizable as a ship, and is the perfect size for sightseeing – you can swim from end to end several times on a single tank of air. This relatively small vessel lies on its port side on a clean sandy bottom. Nonetheless, we now have the Pinta as one of the best dive sites in New Jersey. How two ships in the age of radar and on a clear day could collide on the open sea is a mystery.

Pinta ship wreck