Tall ship Nao Trinidad replica docks for tours in Greenport
Credit: Newsday / Tara Smith
Step 500 years back in time touring a replica of the tall ship Nao Trinidad, one of five ships in Ferdinand Magellan’s armada that made the first sailing voyage around the world, while it is docked in Greenport Harbor through June 25.
The ship has four masts – one of which soars 82 feet in the air -- as well as five sails and five decks. Self-guided tours let visitors explore the hold where cargo, food and animals were kept and watch a video about the construction of the replica.
The original ship sailed from Seville, Spain, on Aug. 10, 1519, as the flagship of the fleet that included five ships and 300 men. Nao means vessel or ship in Spanish. Magellan was a Portuguese sailor; when the King of Portugal rejected his idea of an around-the-world undertaking, Magellan went to the King of Spain, who sponsored the adventure.
But when the armada reached the Philippines and the Moluccas after two years at sea, the Trinidad suffered a leak in the hull that eventually caused it to be abandoned. Only one of the original ships – the Nao Victoria, with a crew of just 18 remaining men -- made it back to Spain, completing the circumnavigation of the globe in 1522. Magellan was killed in a battle during the expedition in 1521.
Tall Ship Tour
WHEN | WHERE 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. through June 25 at the East Pier of Greenport Harbor
COST $15 per adult, $5 per child (children under 5 are free) and $35 for families with up to three children
INFO naotrinidad.org
Can't make it to see the Nao Trinidad? A second tall ship, the Kalmar Nyckel, which took Swedish citizens to North America in the 1600s, is scheduled to be coming to Greenport Harbor in August.
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
