Two ships anchored at the docks at Calhoun’s in downtown Knoxville this week look unlike any of the others stopped here. The ships, replicas of fifteenth century Portugese cavarels, are anchored along the docks.Captain and ship builder Morgan Sanger says the replicas match the Pinta and the Niña, ships of the Columbus expedition, and create a living history he’s been happy to share with area students.
"We made a connection with one of our crew member’s mothers who lives in Nashville and she’s spread it around Tennessee, so we’re getting a lot of homeschools," he says.
Sanger says the ships are especially popular with the students.
"They see the hardships really people had scurvy, they didn’t understand Vitamin C; the food was terrible, the water was rancid; they had to sleep on the deck in all weather - it was a really bad experience for the crew members," he says.
Sanger says he built the ships and sails them to serve as a living history. The ships are docked in Knoxville through November fourth.