Spanish navigator and explorer Martín Alonso Pinzón (1441-1493) captained the Pinta during Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the New World in 1492.

In 1492 when Christopher Columbus set out aboard the Santa Maria on the voyage that made him known for centuries afterward as the man who discovered the New World, he was accompanied by Martín Alonso Pinzón, a former explorer in his own right, who captained the Pinta. An accomplished navigator and seaman, Pinzón was ruled by ambitions shared by many such men, including Columbus: the thirst for wealth, glory, and the approval of royalty. While for some such ambitions led to glory, such was not the case for Pinzón. Due to what Columbus described as frequent disobedience and Pinzón's abandonment of the small squadron in search of personal glory, he became known...