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GRAFTON - The Pinta and Nina replicas are bringing tourists from Illinois, Missouri and beyond to the Grafton riverfront near The Loading Dock.
The ships will be harbored there until Aug. 17 and have tours available all weekend during the day in Grafton.
Michael Sprague has devoted two years of his life to the Pinta and now leads the efforts in taking care of the ship. He said he intended to spend a brief time on a voyage with the famed replica, but time has moved quickly and now he is at the two-year mark. He is now a first mate on his ship.
“I love it,” he said of his experience. “Most of our set up when we dock is setting up the ramp and store on the boat. The ramp is pretty heavy and not easy to set up. We also have museum pieces we have to set up.”
The Nina is nearly an exact model size-wise compared to the original, Sprague said.
“The Pinta replica is 15-feet longer and 6-feet wider (than the original),” he said.
The Nina replica was built in 1991 with the same tools that the original was built with 500 years ago, Sprague added. The Pinta replica was built in 2005. The Santa Maria was also part of the group of three ships that was bound for North America, but it ran aground near what is today Haiti, back then Espanola. Christopher Columbus led four expeditions to Central and North America in his discoveries.
Kathy Shelton and her friend Carol Mitchell of O'Fallon, Mo., visited the replicas in Grafton and thought they were a perfect look back in time. Both women are retired teachers and said these replicas bring history home, especially to younger visitors.
The Nina and Pinta played such an important role in world history, Sprague said, because they opened up the Eastern and Western Hemisphere and different cultures to one another.
In the original discovery of North America in 1492, there were 26 crew members on the Pinta, 24 on the Nina and 40 on the Santa Maria.
Today’s replicas have sails but also use motors to power up and down rivers.
Sprague said today’s crew has been to Grafton before and always enjoys the visit to the city.
Sprague and the others aboard the ship live downstairs in quarters, which are not for public display. He visited the ships once when they were ported and noticed they needed help, so he applied, and the rest is history.
Sprague said it has been a simple, but interesting life the past two years, something he will never forget.
Sprague, 23, is originally from La Crosse, Wisconsin. He said if a person craves adventure and loves the water, this is a great place to be.
“It is really awesome,” he said of his experience. “A lot of people don’t understand Columbus’ time, but this helps bring it to them. I have loved being a part of this.”
The tours are available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily until the ships depart.
