The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
FLOATING HISTORY
Full-scale replicas of Nina and Pinta sail through Harborpark on way to Hartford as part of U.S. tour
MIDDLETOWN » David Zenk has spent his summers sailing the Gulf and East coasts, the Great Lakes and Midwestern river system since 2013, but he’s not a well-to-do yachtsman leisurely traveling the country’s waterways, taking in myriad pleasures of each port.
Rather, the full-time substitute teacher volunteers his time aboard the Pinta and Nina, among the crew of two lovingly built vessels that are exact replicas of Christopher Columbus’s ships. This week, the vessels made their way up the Connecticut River from New Rochelle, New York, on their way to Mortensen Riverfront Plaza in Hartford, where they become docked floating museums through June 14.
As the tiniest of flotillas made its way by Harborpark
“I was impressed how small these vessels are and could not imagine that they crossed the ocean from Spain to the New World.” — Rich Sylvester, photographer
in Middletown, photographer Rich Sylvester stood along the boardwalk, taking in the magnificence of the Nina and Pinta — and capturing their voyage on camera.
Sylvester learned about the event from the Who fish website, but couldn’t find information about when the pair would be sailing past Middletown, he said, so he went to the river around 8 a.m. and waited until 11:30, when they came along.
“I was impressed how small these vessels are and could not imagine that they crossed the ocean from Spain to the New World,” the city resident said. “It amazed me how tiny these were and you think of them sailing 400 years ago and not knowing what the heck you’re going to run into.”
Zenk, a 64-year-old Hudson, Wisconsin, history teacher and senior deckhand, who goes by “DZ” on board ship, is just about at the halfway point, after putting the boats in March 1 at Perdido Key, Florida.
During the school year, Zenk spends his time in the classroom, teaching teenagers about the world through hands-on projects. But nothing, he said, compares to the immediate understanding of, and immersion in, history that happens when young people step aboard what Archaeology magazine called “the most historically correct Columbus replica ever built.”
Students, he said, “get a tactile sense feeling all the lines, the wood of the ship, and to a certain extent, the sails; different pieces of equipment that we operate the ship with.
“They get the audible — where they’re hearing the wind in the flags and in the lines, hearing the water lapping on the hull — they’ve got an olfactory sense, where they’re able to get the scent of pine tar that these ships used to be covered in to waterproof and preserve the wood,” Zenk said.
The Nina and Pinta tour 11 months of the year, making 30 to 40 stops along the way, he said. After Hartford, the flotilla will travel to Newport, Rhode Island, then Bridgeport, Connecticut.
“For me, given my background in sailing and history teaching, it’s a perfect combination of living history and sailing and far and away the best classroom I’ve ever had,” Zenk said. “Take five groups of 25 or 30 middle school or high school kids in a social studies classroom for 45 minutes — where you’ve attempted to decorate walls according to whatever era you’re studying.
“They have to use a little bit of imagination to get themselves into that era, but bring them down to the ships, now you’ve got all your senses firing because they come on board ship and get a better sense of their size,” Zenk said.
He and the crew will pass through many other states, including Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Tennessee and Arkansas, pulling into port in November for the winter in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
“When you go down to the (Connecticut) shore, you’ll see cabin cruisers bigger than these things: there’s not much room,” Sylvester said.
It took about 15 minutes for the motorized vessels to silently make their way from the bend in the river, under the Arrigoni Bridge, into Cromwell and up to Hartford Wednesday. “I couldn’t hear a thing. There were no sails up,” he added. “It was pretty exciting
to see,” Sylvester said. “I can just imagine what it’s like on the ship. It’s not a pleasure cruise, that’s for sure. I was impressed by how small they are, traveling from Spain to the Caribbean — that was a long haul.
“These were brave men, and a little crazy, for sure,” he said.
The caravel Nina (a small, fast Spanish or Portuguese sailing ship from the 15th through 17th centuries) was built completely by hand and without the use of power tools. In 2005, the Pinta, also a caravel, was launched in Brazil, Zenk said. The original was the first ship to sight land in the New World, according to The Columbus Foundation, based in the British Virgin Islands, which runs the program.
“The Pinta is a larger version of the archetypal caravel and offers larger deck space for walk-aboard tours and has a 40-foot air-conditioned main cabin down below with seating,” according to the foundation.
“I’m the senior crew by dint of age and experience,” said Zenk said, who has been sailing for 41 years. “The average age of the crew is mid-20s, and I imagine I raise the average by a couple of decades,” he said with a self-deprecating laugh.
He said volunteers commit to three to four weeks aboard initially, and after that, “assuming you survive,” may help out as often as they like.
“These are floating museums that serve to educate people about Columbus’ ships, the caravel itself, the Age of Exploration and each of his four voyages,” Zenk said.
Caravels were developed by Prince Henry the Navigator in Portugal in the mid-1400s, “a ship that was designed to be fast, nimble, simple to sail,” Zenk said.
“Our ships were designed specifically to be able to outrun pirates that were intercepting trade around the Mediterranean and African coast,” he added. “These were the fastest ships around in the 16th century.”
On the original vessels, Zenk said, the hull housed all the cargo ship’s stores, supplies, provisions and livestock. “The crew lived on deck 24 hours a day.
“When it’s hot enough, these kids are getting a real sense of what it was like for sailors in that era being aboard ships, exploring the world for three and four years at a time,” Zenk said, “just how small they actually were and what kind of accomplishment it was, and how difficult life was.”
While in port, the public may take walk-aboard, self-guided tours. Admission is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors and $6 for students 5 to 16. There is no admission charge for children 4 and under are free. The ships are open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and no reservations are necessary. For information and port dates and locations, call 787-672-2152 or email columfnd1492@ gmail.com. Visit ninapinta. org or Columbus Ships on Facebook for details.