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Brimfield students tour the Nina on Columbus Day

Posted October 07, 2007 11:00 pm

Catharine Schaidle

While most schoolchildren spent Monday in various leisurely pursuits, some Brimfield Grade School students went on a field trip to understand what the Columbus Day holiday is about.

They toured a replica of the Niña, the smallest of the three ships that Christopher Columbus sailed on in his voyages of discovery.

The children were fascinated to learn that the small boat on the replica ship used to take passengers to shore was actually built by a 14-year-old.

"A 14-year-old apprenticed to the family that built the Niña built this ship's boat," explained crew member James Leaf.

"So if you wanted to turn this way, which way would you turn your rudder?" he asked the students.

They all pointed in the same direction as him: "No, it goes in the opposite direction," Leaf said.

"I think the rudder is cool," second-grader Grace Staley said after hearing an explanation of its function.

Two weeks ago, when she heard that the Niña would be docked in Peoria, Brimfield first-grade teacher Barb Godfrey approached Principal Dennis McNamara to see if some of the classes could go see it. Unlike other schools, Brimfield often files a waiver to keep the kids in class on holidays to do educational programs.

"Our students learn so much more by staying in school than if they were to stay at home playing with their friends or siblings," Godfrey said. "We're hoping they will remember a little more by seeing the Niña."

In a statement, McNamara said the school "observes some of the designated holidays by teaching the children through field trips and using guest speakers in lieu of taking the day off."

Both adults and children scrambled aboard the caravel, which is what Portuguese and Spanish explorers called their trading ships, and listened with interest as Leaf and fellow crew member Kenny Thompson gave their talk.

"This quadrant that looks like a pizza is used to figure out your latitude, whether you're going east or west," Thompson said. "There was no way to figure out longitude, north or south, so you just had to guess, and sometimes you could be dead wrong."

Second-grader Ian Lister said, "I liked the poop deck best," although it was unclear whether he was really referring to the deck that makes up the roof of a cabin built in the rear of the ship.

Once back at school, the students were scheduled to munch beef jerky as they watched a new Columbus video, read books on the explorer and measured and compared the size of the Niña with their classrooms.

The Niña replica was built in Bahia, Brazil, by the Columbus Foundation. Since 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus's entry into the New World, it has been on tour as a sailing museum to educate the public.

It was declared the most historically accurate rendition of a Columbus ship by Archeology magazine, but also is outfitted with some modern amenities, including a diesel engine to help it get up river.

It will be open to visitors from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through Sunday.

Catharine Schaidle can be reached at (309) 686-3290 or cschaidle@pjstar.com.

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