Columbus' Ships Visit Kentucky

No matter where you live, interesting things will come your way several times each year. Just last weekend the Green Turtle Bay Resort hosted the Nina and the Pinta, accurate replicas of two of the three ships Christopher Columbus sailed on his first voyage to the New World.

These ships were made for a film about Columbus some years ago, but they were built to be seaworthy, and now sail all around the world, introducing people everywhere to the latest thing in seafaring technology, circa the 15th century.

The heat wave had just finally broken, and it was an absolutely beautiful Saturday. As a result, the parks were mobbed, and so were the ships. These little ships originally sailed with a crew of eleven--with a couple hundred tourists on board they really list to the side where everyone climbs aboard!

What is most startling to modern people is how small these ships are, both in their overall size and in things like ceiling height, which is about 5'8". But 15th century European men averaged only about five feet tall. They were also very young, those men who risked their lives in hopes of reaching India and coming home with silk, spices, tea, and gold. Most of the sailors were between 14 and 20, and the cabin boy was only 9. But in those days a boy became legally a man at 14.

Watch your local news for events like this one in your area. Not only does it make a lovely day out, but it gives everyone a sense of history that you just don't get from reading books or watching TV.

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Geezer-Chick's guest blog on York, England is here.

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