It would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to return the Pinta and Santa Maria to the ocean. The city’s museum opened the Pinta and the Santa Maria to visitors, and funds from higher admissions prices have been earmarked for maintenance.īut the future still is uncertain. Last week, the city stepped in as a reluctant caretaker, obtaining insurance for all three vessels and pledging to maintain them. “It would be more dignified if we sank them,” said Mirta Blay, a board member of the Columbus Fleet Association who is frustrated with past management of the ships. None has been maintained for more than a year the nonprofit group charged with managing the vessels is penniless. Its sister ships, damaged from an errant barge, are displayed in dry dock at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. Today, the Niña floats in the city marina and is closed to the public. Corpus Christi won the bidding war in May 1993. The wood came from forests that carpenters harvested to construct the originals.Ĭities on the tour were smitten by “Las Carabelas” and vied to keep the symbolic vessels permanently, along with the promise of tourists. Hemp was used to caulk the hull and decks. The nails were hand-forged, as they were in the 15th century. However the story goes, the conclusion holds less promise than the beginning for the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, a trio of wooden replicas that were welcomed by cheering crowds when they sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1992.īuilt to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the New World, the ships cost the Spanish government millions of dollars. Or as some people prefer to tell it, how a community ruined a cultural treasure and racked up millions of dollars of debt. CORPUS CHRISTI - This is the tale of a fateful trip, three tiny ships, and how they were nearly lost.
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