The Nina and Pinta
I do not know what I expected when I boarded the Nina and Pinta on their resent visit to Portland, Maine.
The first thing that grabs your attention is the size. Not a bad size for sailing around the bay, but to attempt to cross an uncharted ocean. Maybe that is why the sailors were only payed a portion of their pay the rest on completion of the trip. Now I assumed that like now, when your watch was done you could go below to your bunk and clill till your next watch, Not So. Below deck would be filled with the cargo and provisions needed for the trip and everything needed when they arrived at their destination. When your watch was done you would need to find a place on the deck to rest, preferably on a pile of rope or cargo as the deck would very often be awash with cold seawater.
Nothing was easy. Just launching the long boat was a job, as everything was covered in tar to make it waterproof and to protect it from the effects of the harsh ocean environment. This meant that the boat weighed about twice as much as our modern boats.
Everything was done by hand, from steering the boat with a tiller to the raising of the anchor.
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