La Niña sunk into Corpus Christi Bay for the second time Monday, April 22. Hurricane Harvey sunk her in August 2017. Courtesy photo
La Niña sank in Corpus Christi Bay on Monday, April 22. Interest in the last remaining of three replicas from Christopher Columbus’s fleet had increased with the new year. Six different entities submitted Letters of Interest in taking over the ship’s maintenance. La Niña was scheduled to be moved soon to Aransas Pass for renovation.
Interim City Manager Keith Selman announced to the Corpus Christi City Council at its meeting Tuesday, April 23, that the ship was again underwater. She sunk once before — in August 2017 — as a result of Hurricane Harvey. Divers have been deployed to discover what caused the ship to suddenly take on water.
The city also will investigate the possibility of raising and repairing the ship for portage to a shipyard in Aransas Pass, where city officials there are interested in turning the vessel into a tourist attraction.
An anonymous benefactor had agreed to pay for renovations if the ship stayed in the Coastal Bend, said Rosemary Vega of the Aransas Pass Chamber of Commerce.
“We are really, really optimistic and positive and excited,” Sanchez recently told Corpus Christi Business News. “This is really good news for this boat.”
And then it sank.
La Niña is one of three ships given to Corpus Christi by Spain after the trio toured the world in 1992 celebrating the 500th anniversary of when Christopher Columbus first landed in the western world. The other two ships, which were dry docked at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History for years, eventually rotted. The Pinta and the Santa Maria were dismantled for parts to help rebuild La Niña.
