Lynn Masse, age 8, of West Warwick, Rhode Island, for her question:

How big were the ships of Columbus?

The brave little ships set sail at 8 a.m. on Friday, August 3, 1492. This was long before cameras were invented so nobody took their pictures. Maybe somebody knew their exact measurements, but these records have been lost. However, experts have read through many old books to find out what those little ships were like. The Santa Maria was a 100 ton ship with an upper deck. The Pinta was a 50 ton ship and the Nina was 40 tons. The two smaller ships had no upper decks.

Most likely, the Santa Maria was about 100 feet long and her upper deck was perhaps 25 feet above the water. The Pinta was only half this size and the Nina was even smaller. However, since the records were lost, we cannot be sure of these figures. In any case, those fragile little ships reached America on October 12, 1492. But the Santa Maria was lost and only the Nina and Pinta returned home. The next year, an artist made a picture of all three ships, but he drew in the details from memory.