History floats into Waukegan Harbor

A bit of history floated into Waukegan Harbor Tuesday afternoon.

Full-scale replicas of Christopher Columbus' ships the Nina and Pinta arrived in Lake County after a 28-hour journey from their last stop in Menominee, Wis.

"My husband turned to me and said, 'If I didn't know better, I think there's pirate ships coming into harbor,'" said Nancy Gilman. She and her husband Steve happened to be having lunch when the ships arrived. The Mundelein couple was among the handful of people surprised to see the vessels gliding in.

Commissioned by the Virgin Islands-based Columbus Foundation, the historically accurate boats will be docked at the harbor through Sunday. Public tours will be given daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets are $7 for adults, $6 for senior citizens and $5 for children. There is no charge for kids under 4.

Assembled by Brazilian ship builders, the Nina was crafted in 1991, the Pinta in 2006. This is the first time the pair has journeyed together, said ships' captain Kyle Friauf.

"We're touring the Great Lakes region now and will head down the Mississippi and Ohio rivers after that," Friauf said. "We travel all over the world. We're on the water 50 weeks a year."

Friauf said the ships were built by hand and without the use of power tools. He said Archaeology Magazine called the Nina the "most historically correct Columbus replica ever built." It was used in the movie "1492." The Nina is precisely the same size as the original, but the Pinta is slightly larger, Friauf said.

The intention is to be as historically accurate as possible, but Friauf admitted these boats have a few features lacking in Columbus' time.

"We have a global positioning system, radar and diesel engines," he said. "And the crew gets to sleep down below. In Columbus' time, the only thing that went below was cargo. Everyone else was on deck."

Some of the people on hand Tuesday marveled at the idea folks crossed the Atlantic in these relatively small, wooden ships.

"It's a wonder anyone survived coming over on these boats," said Jan Bellevage of Gurnee. "This is really cool."