Pinta Wooden Ship Model Kit – 1:50 Scale Columbus Fleet Caravel

On 3 August 1492, three small ships left the port of Palos de la Frontera in southern Spain, bound westward into the unknown Atlantic. The flagship was the Santa María; the other two were caravels — the Niña and the Pinta. Together they formed the fleet of Christopher Columbus on what would become one of the most consequential voyages in human history.

The Pinta was the fastest of the three ships, a lateen-rigged caravel of approximately 60 tonnes that had been modified before departure to carry square sails better suited to Atlantic downwind sailing. She was commanded by Martín Alonso Pinzón, one of the most experienced navigators in the fleet. It was the Pinta’s lookout, Rodrigo de Triana, who first sighted land on 12 October 1492 — the island the Taino people called Guanahani, which Columbus named San Salvador.

The Pinta returned safely to Spain in March 1493, completing one of the most remarkable ocean crossings in history. Her exact fate after the return is unknown — she disappears from the historical record, leaving behind only the story of her great voyage. This model kit captures her as she appeared on that crossing: sails full, running before the trade winds, bound for a world that Europe did not yet know existed. Handcrafted and kitted in Ocean Relic Studio’s Zhoushan workshop, founded in 1980.