One of the three ships of Columbus' small fleet during his search for the western passage to the
Indies.
Nina was a classic caravel with pure latin rigging, with hanging sails in the middle point of the
lateen yard and with shrouds hooked to ship's broadside. It had no forecastle and it had a small
quarter-deck. Christopher Columbus, Santa Maria's ship captain in the first historical expedition,
took the next atlantic passage with Nina, which had a particularly strong construction.
Columbus's ships image: (c) Copyright The Bettmann Archive.