I see that it was actually Texaco who funded the replicas for Spain so no doubt they could have afforded the best. After their recreation of the historic voyage in 1990, the toured some U.S. ports and after a lot of jockeying, they ended up in Corpus Christi. Unfortunately, the great profit from tourists visiting "Los Barcos" never materialized. The "Santa Maria" and the "Pinta" were damaged in a collision with a barge and are supposedly in drydock waiting for someone to come up with money for repairs, according to a blogger who visited the "Nina" in February, and the ships may be moved to Houston. I guess Texaco has better uses for their petro-dollars these days.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken