GCIACS President Joseph Ventura organized a wonderful tour on a beautiful day for twenty members of the GCIAS. The ships are in Biloxi for a few weeks as they tour the Western Hemisphere. Prior to the tour, Dee Zee – a former history teacher and the ships’ historian, spent fifteen minutes giving a detailed talk on the history of Christopher Columbus and the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. “Dee Zee” talk educated the group on what to look for as it toured the ships, which also had staff on board to show details.

In 1450 the Ottoman Turks closed off the land trade route to the Far East. In 1476, Columbus was on a ship that was sunk by Barbary Coast pirates of Africa, but survived by holding on the a board and swimming two miles to land outside of Portugal. The pirates of the Barbary Coast believed the non-Muslims had to pay a “tribute.” This belief lasted for over 400 years until 1804 and the Barbary Coast Wars. Hence the words in the Marine Hymn: “To the shores of Tripoli.”