Nina was a classic caravel with pure lateen rigging, with hanging sails in the middle point of the lateen yard and with shrouds hooked to ship?s broadside. It had no forecastle and it had a small quarter-deck. Christopher Columbus, St. Mary?s captain in the first historical expedition, took the next Atlantic passage with Nina, which had a particularly strong construction, but with reduced a length (a little shorter than 20 metres) at the mercy of the waves.