WATCH: Fascinating pictures from replica of Christopher Columbus Santa Maria ship in Portsmouth

NAO Santa Maria has docked in the Gunwharf Quays marina and is open to the public as it displays a "faithful, full-scale historical reproduction" of the vessel used by Christopher Columbus while discovering America in 1492.

Alongside the Nina and Pinta, the caravels set sail from Palos de la Frontera towards the new world, with previously undiscovered islands and landscapes being known to Europe. After stopping off at the island of La Gomera - known as the Canary Islands today - the ship reached America on October 12, 1492.

The ship did not last much longer though. She ran aground on La Española island on Christmas Day 1492 due to an oversight by the cabin boy at the wheel, sinking as a result. The site where she met her demise - Baie de Caracol on the island of Haiti - her ruins were used to create the first Spanish settlement in America, known as Fuerta Navidad.

See pictures of the vessel below and a video attached with this story.