does anyone know what happened to the ships Christopher Columbus sailed in on when he came to america?

Question

are they on display anywhere? and what is the oldest historical boat/ship in the world that u can get on and look around or ride?

Answer 1

Direct quotes from:

http://www.statesman.com/travel/content/travel/stories/05/1COLUMBUS.html

"...Spanish replicas of the three ships that Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World glided into Corpus Christi in 1992...

...But today, the Pinta and the Santa Maria sit in dry dock at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. They're open to tours but are slowly falling apart, their paint peeling and wooden planks rotting. And the Niña, docked at a downtown marina, is closed to the public...

...The government of Spain built the ship replicas to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyages to the New World. It took five years and millions of dollars to research, plan, build and outfit the fleet...

Direct quote from:

http://www.santamaria.org/vv_about_ship.php

"The Fate of the Santa Maria
The Santa Maria never left the "new world". She ran aground and became hopelessly stuck on Christmas Day 1492 on the island of Isla Espanola (modern-day Haiti). Columbus had the Santa Maria disassembled and used the timbers to build a fortress in what Columbus called La Navidad, the first Spanish settlement. Because of the loss of the Santa Maria, Columbus was forced to leave 39 men and supplies at La Navidad to await for his return."


Direct quote from:

http://huntsville.about.com/library/weekly/aa110403a.htm

"...The Pinta returned home but disappeared from history without a trace. The Nina was the favorite of Columbus. He logged over 25,000 miles under Columbus' command. Her official religious name was the "Santa Clara" after the patron saint of Moguer. Her nickname was Nina, after her master-owner Juan Nino of Moguer."

Answer 2

Columbus Ships Corpus Christi

Answer 3

The Columbus expeditions showed in earliest records
that 11 boats were commissioned and 1 sank just off the
Sotheby Island near England. This one was far north in order to secure supplies they believed might be on ice floats
like seals, bears. 4 Ships returned to northern France by
navigation mistakes and finally got back to Italy, or Spain,
depending on what expeditions it was. There is little news
to distinguish the various trips, there were dozens within a
20 year period that got across. One was even loaded with
servants captured on a spanish island. Though none is well
reported the Nina survived the trip. The Santa Maria crashed off the coast of New Jersey and is viewable as well
as some work to restore artifacts was completed in 1966.
The Pinta was also found after it was lost course and it
crashed further north and no relics remain. Two boats on
the original trip and a trailing hunter party 3 days later found
there way to the east coast of America. The south carolina
colonies of roanoke, the far western cuban island of Virgin
islands all have some historical pieces.

Answer 4

My friend is going on an archeological expedition to the Dominican Republic where they are diving to recover pieces, it's believed that the ships the Nina & Santa Maria were sunk in Isabella bay by a hurricane in 1494.

Here is some more complete info on what happened with the Columbus expedition ships.

http://www.indiana.edu/~r317doc/dr/old/html/sha.html

I don't know what the oldest ship on display is.

Answer 5

mtvtoni has an....er, interesting view of history unknown to most others......

none of the original ships are extant; other posters ( except toni) covered it well.......

the oldest ship you can actually get aboard and visit? hmmmmmmm......probably HMS Victory, built circa 1760....close second would be USS Constitution in Boston, 1792; Vassa and Mary Rose are over a hundred and fifty years older but are static displays and you cant go aboard;

oldest still functional you can go out on a ride on? hmmmmmmmmmmm look up "Gazella of Philadelphia" or "Elisa" down in Houston