THE GREAT VOYAGE. THE SQUADRON SAILS--REFITS ATCANARY ISLANDS--HOPES AND FEARS OF THE VOYAGE-THE DOUBTS OF THE CREW--LAND DISCOVERED.

　　At last all was ready. That is to say, the fleet was so far ready thatColumbus was ready to start. The vessels were small, as we think ofvessels, but he was not dissatisfied. He says in the beginning of his journal,"I armed three vessels very fit for such an enterprise." He had left Grenadaas late as the twelfth of May. He had crossed Spain to Palos,[*] and in lessthan three months had fitted out the ships and was ready for sea.

　　[*] Palos is now so insignificant a place that on some important mapsof Spain it will not be found. It is on the east side of the Tinto river; andHuelva, on the west side, has taken its place.

　　The harbor of Palos is now ruined. Mud and gravel, brought down bythe River Tinto, have filled up the bay, so that even small boats cannotapproach the shore. The traveler finds, however, the island of Saltes, quiteoutside the bay, much as Columbus left it. It is a small spit of sand,covered with shells and with a few seashore herbs. His own account of thegreat voyage begins with the words:

　　"Friday, August 3, 1492. Set sail from the bar of Saltes at 8 o'clock,and proceeded with a strong breeze till sunset sixty miles, or fifteenleagues south, afterward southwest and south by west, which is in thedirection of the Canaries."It appears, therefore, that the great voyage, the most important andsuccessful ever made, began on Friday, the day which is said to be somuch disliked by sailors. Columbus never alludes to this superstition.

　　He had always meant to sail first for the Canaries, which were themost western land then known in the latitude of his voyage. From Lisbonto the famous city of "Quisay," or "Quinsay," in Asia, Toscanelli, hislearned correspondent, supposed the distance to be less than one thousandleagues westward. From the Canary islands, on that supposition, thedistance would be ten degrees less. The distance to Cipango, or Japan,would be much less.

　　As it proved, the squadron had to make some stay at the Canaries. Therudder of the Pinta was disabled, and she proved leaky. It was suspectedthat the owners, from whom she had been forcibly taken, had intentionallydisabled her, or that possibly the crew had injured her. But Columbus saysin his journal that Martin Alonso Pinzon, captain of the Pinta, was a manof capacity and courage, and that this quieted his apprehensions. From theninth of August to the second of September, nearly four weeks were spentby the Pinta and her crew at the Grand Canary island, and she wasrepaired. She proved afterwards a serviceable vessel, the fastest of thefleet. At the Canaries they heard stories of lands seen to the westward, towhich Columbus refers in his journal. On the sixth of September theysailed from Gomera and on the eighth they lost sight of land. Nor did theysee land again for thirty-three days. Such was the length of the greatvoyage. All the time, most naturally, they were wishing for signs, not ofland perhaps, but which might show whether this great ocean were reallydifferent from other seas. On the whole the voyage was not a dangerousone.

　　According to the Admiral's reckoning--and in his own journalColumbus always calls himself the Admiral--its length was one thousandand eighty-nine leagues. This was not far from right, the real distancebeing, in a direct line, three thousand one hundred and forty nautical miles,or three thousand six hundred and twenty statute miles.[*] It would not beconsidered a very long voyage for small vessels now. In general the coursewas west. Sometimes, for special reasons, they sailed south of west. Ifthey had sailed precisely west they would have struck the shore of theUnited States a little north of the spot where St. Augustine now is, aboutthe northern line of Florida.

　　[*] The computations from Santa Cruz, in the Canaries, to SanSalvador give this result, as kindly made for us by Lieutenant Mozer, ofthe United States navy.

　　Had the coast of Asia been, indeed, as near as Toscanelli andColumbus supposed, this latitude of the Canary islands would have beenquite near the mouth of the Yang-tse-Kiang river, in China, which waswhat Columbus was seeking. For nearly a generation afterwards he and his followers supposed that the coast of that region was what they had found.

　　It was on Saturday, the eighth of September, that they lost sight ofTeneriffe. On the eleventh they saw a large piece of the mast of a shipafloat. On the fourteenth they saw a "tropic-bird," which the sailorsthought was never seen more than twenty-five leagues from land; but itmust be remembered, that, outside of the Mediterranean, few of the sailorshad ever been farther themselves. On the sixteenth they began to meet"large patches of weeds, very green, which appeared to have been recentlywashed away from land." This was their first knowledge of the "Sargassosea," a curious tract in mid-Atlantic which is always green with floatingseaweeds. "The continent we shall find farther on," wrote the confidentAdmiral.

　　An observation of the sun on the seventeenth proved what had beensuspected before, that the needles of the compasses were not pointingprecisely to the north. The variation of the needle, since that time, hasbeen a recognized fact. But this observation at so critical a time firstdisclosed it. The crew were naturally alarmed. Here was evidence that, inthe great ocean, common laws were not to be relied upon. But they hadgreat respect for Columbus's knowledge of such subjects. He told themthat it was not the north which had changed, nor the needle, which wastrue to the north, but the polar star revolved, like other stars, and for thetime they were satisfied.

　　The same day they saw weeds which he was sure were land weeds.

　　From them he took a living crab, whose unintentional voyage eastwardwas a great encouragement to the bolder adventurer westward. Columbuskept the crab, saying that such were never found eighty leagues from land.

　　In fact this poor crab was at least nine hundred and seventy leagues fromthe Bahamas, as this same journal proves. On the eighteenth the Pinta ranahead of the other vessels, Martin Alonso was so sure that he should reachland that night. But it was not to come so soon.

　　Columbus every day announced to his crew a less distance as theresult of the day than they had really sailed. For he was afraid of theirdistrust, and did not dare let them know how far they were from home.

　　The private journal, therefore, has such entries as this, "Sailed more than fifty-five leagues, wrote down only forty-eight." That is, he wrote on thedaily log, which was open to inspection, a distance some leagues less thanthey had really made.

　　On the twentieth pelicans are spoken of, on the twenty-first "suchabundance of weeds that the ocean seemed covered with them," "the seasmooth as a river, and the finest air in the world. Saw a whale, anindication of land, as they always keep near the coast." To later times, thisnote, also, shows how ignorant Columbus then was of mid-ocean.

　　On the twenty-second, to the Admiral's relief, there was a head wind;for the crew began to think that with perpetual east winds they wouldnever return to Spain. They had been in what are known as the trade winds.

　　On the twenty-third the smoother water gave place to a rough sea, and hewrites that this "was favorable to me, as it happened formerly to Moseswhen he led the Jews from Egypt."The next day, thanks to the headwinds, their progress was less. On thetwenty-fifth, Pinzon, of the Pinta, felt sure that they were near the outerislands of Asia as they appeared on the Toscanelli map, and at sunsetcalled out with joy that he saw land, claiming a reward for such news. Thecrews of both vessels sang "Glory to God in the highest," and the crew ofthe little Nina were sure that the bank was land. On this occasion theychanged from a western course to the southwest. But alas! the land was afog-bank and the reward never came to Martin Pinzon. On the twenty-sixth, again "the sea was like a river." This was Wednesday. In three daysthey sailed sixty-nine leagues. Saturday was calm. They saw a bird called"Rabihorcado," which never alights at sea, nor goes twenty leagues fromland," wrote the confident Columbus; "Nothing is wanting but the singingof the nightingale," he says.

　　Sunday, the thirtieth, brought "tropic-birds" again, "a very clear sign ofland." Monday the journal shows them seven hundred and seven leaguesfrom Ferro. Tuesday a white gull was the only visitor. Wednesday they hadpardelas and great quantities of seaweed. Columbus began to be sure thatthey had passed "the islands" and were nearing the continent of Asia.

　　Thursday they had a flock of pardelas, two pelicans, a rabihorcado and agull. Friday, the fifth of October, brought pardelas and flying-fishes.

　　We have copied these simple intimations from the journal to show howconstantly Columbus supposed that he was near the coast of Asia. On thesixth of October Pinzon asked that the course might be changed to thesouthwest. But Columbus held on. On the seventh the Nina was ahead,and fired a gun and hoisted her flag in token that she saw land. But againthey were disappointed. Columbus gave directions to keep close order atsunrise and sunset. The next day he did change the course to westsouthwest, following flights of birds from the north which went in thatdirection. On the eighth "the sea was like the river at Seville," the weedswere very few and they took land birds on board the ships. On the ninththey sailed southwest five leagues, and then with a change of wind wentwest by north. All night they heard the birds of passage passing.

　　On the tenth of October the men made remonstrance, which has beenexaggerated in history into a revolt. It is said, in books of authority, thatColumbus begged them to sail west only three days more. But in theprivate journal of the tenth he says simply: "The seamen complained ofthe length of the voyage. They did not wish to go any farther. The Admiraldid his best to renew their courage, and reminded them of the profitswhich would come to them. He added, boldly, that no complaints wouldchange his purpose, that he had set out to go to the Indies, and that withthe Lord's assistance he should keep on until he came there." This is theonly passage in the journal which has any resemblance to the account ofthe mutiny.

　　If it happened, as Oviedo says, three days before the discovery, itwould have been on the eighth of October. On that day the entry is,"Steered west southwest, and sailed day and night eleven or twelveleagues--at times, during the night, fifteen miles an hour--if the log can berelied upon. Found the sea like the river at Seville, thanks to God. The airwas as soft as that of Seville in April, and so fragrant that it was deliciousto breathe it. The weeds appeared very fresh. Many land birds, one ofwhich they took, flying towards the southwest, also grajaos, ducks and apelican were seen."This is not the account of a mutiny. And the discovery of Columbus'sown journal makes that certain, which was probable before, that the romantic account of the despair of the crews was embroidered on thenarrative after the event, and by people who wanted to improve the story.

　　It was, perhaps, borrowed from a story of Diaz's voyage. We havefollowed the daily record to show how constantly they supposed, on theother hand, that they were always nearing land.

　　With the eleventh of October, came certainty. The eleventh issometimes spoken of as the day of discovery, and sometimes the twelfth,when they landed on the first island of the new world.

　　The whole original record of the discovery is this: "Oct. 11, course towest and southwest. Heavier sea than they had known, pardelas and agreen branch near the caravel of the Admiral. From the Pinta they see abranch of a tree, a stake and a smaller stake, which they draw in, andwhich appears to have been cut with iron, and a piece of cane. Besidesthese, there is a land shrub and a little bit of board. The crew of the Ninasaw other signs of land and a branch covered with thorns and flowers.

　　With these tokens every-one breathes again and is delighted. They sailtwenty-seven leagues on this course.

　　"The Admiral orders that they shall resume a westerly course at sunset.

　　They make twelve miles each hour; up till two hours after midnight theymade ninety miles.

　　"The Pinta, the best sailer of the three, was ahead. She makes signals,already agreed upon, that she has discovered land. A sailor named Rodrigode Triana was the first to see this land. For the Admiral being on the castleof the poop of the ship at ten at night really saw a light, but it was so shutin by darkness that he did not like to say that it was a sign of land. Still hecalled up Pedro Gutierrez, the king's chamberlain, and said to him thatthere seemed to be a light, and asked him to look. He did so and saw it. Hesaid the same to Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, who had been sent by theking and queen as inspector in the fleet, but he saw nothing, being indeedin a place where he could see nothing.

　　"After the Admiral spoke of it, the light was seen once or twice. It waslike a wax candle, raised and lowered, which would appear to few to be asign of land. But the Admiral was certain that it was a sign of land.

　　Therefore when they said the "Salve," which all the sailors are used to say and sing in their fashion, the Admiral ordered them to look out well fromthe forecastle, and he would give at once a silk jacket to the man who firstsaw land, besides the other rewards which the sovereigns had ordered,which were 10,000 maravedis, to be paid as an annuity forever to the manwho saw it first.

　　"At two hours after midnight land appeared, from which they wereabout two leagues off."This is the one account of the discovery written at the time. It is worthcopying and reading at full in its little details, for it contrasts curiouslywith the embellished accounts which appear in the next generation. Thusthe historian Oviedo says, in a dramatic way:

　　"One of the ship boys on the largest ship, a native of Lepe, cried 'Fire!'

　　'Land!' Immediately a servant of Columbus replied, 'The Admiral had saidthat already.' Soon after, Columbus said, 'I said so some time ago, and thatI saw that fire on the land.' " And so indeed it happened that Thursday, attwo hours after midnight, the Admiral called a gentleman namedEscobedos, officer of the wardrobe of the king, and told him that he sawfire. And at the break of day, at the time Columbus had predicted the daybefore, they saw from the largest ship the island which the Indians callGuanahani to the north of them.

　　"And the first man to see the land, when day came, was Rodrigo ofTriana, on the eleventh day of October, 1492." Nothing is more certainthan that this was really on the twelfth.

　　The reward for first seeing land was eventually awarded to Columbus,and it was regularly paid him through his life. It was the annual paymentof 10,000 maravedis. A maravedi was then a little less than six cents of ourcurrency. The annuity was, therefore, about six hundred dollars a year.

　　The worth of a maravedi varied, from time to time, so that thecalculations of the value of any number of maravedis are very confusing.

　　Before the coin went out of use it was worth only half a cent.