Read Ebook: Notable Voyagers From Columbus to Nordenskiold by Frith Henry Kingston William Henry Giles

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Secondly: He was to be viceroy and governor-general over them.

Thirdly: He was to be entitled to receive for himself one-tenth of all pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and all other articles and merchandise obtained within this admiralty.

Fourthly: He or his lieutenant was to be the sole judge in all cases and disputes arising out of traffic between those countries and Spain.

Fifthly: He might then, and at all after times, contribute an eighth part of the expense in fitting out vessels to sail on this enterprise, and receive one-eighth part of the profit.

The latter engagement he fulfilled through the assistance of the Pinzons of Palos, and added a third vessel to the armament.

Thus, one-eighth of the expense attendant on this grand expedition, undertaken by a powerful nation, was actually borne by the individual who conceived it, and who likewise risked his life on its success.

The capitulations were afterwards signed by Ferdinand and Isabella on the 17th of April, 1492, when, in addition to the above articles, Columbus and his heirs were authorised to prefix the title of Don to their names.

It was arranged that the armament should be fitted out at the port of Palos, Columbus calculating on the co-operation of his friends Martin Alonzo Pinzon and the Prior of the convent.

Both Isabella and Columbus were influenced by a pious zeal for effecting the great work of salvation among the potentates and peoples of the lands to be discovered. He expected to arrive at the extremity of the ocean, and to open up direct communication with the vast and magnificent empire of the Grand Khan of Tartary. His deep and cherished design was the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, which he meditated during the remainder of his life, and solemnly provided for in his will.

Let those who are disposed to faint under difficulties in the prosecution of any great and worthy undertaking, remember that eighteen years elapsed after the time that Columbus conceived his enterprise, before he was able to carry it into effect; that the greater part of that time was passed in almost hopeless solicitation, amidst poverty, neglect, and taunting ridicule; that the prime of his life had wasted away in the struggle; and that when his perseverance was finally crowned with success, he had reached his fifty-sixth year.

FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS--A.D. 1492.

Columbus hastened to Palos, where he was received as the guest of Fray Juan Perez, the worthy Prior of the convent of Rabida. The whole squadron with which the two sovereigns proposed to carry out their grand undertaking was to consist only of three small vessels. Two of these, by a royal decree, were to be furnished by Palos, the other by Columbus himself or his friends.

The morning after his arrival, Columbus, accompanied by the Prior, proceeded to the church of Saint George in Palos, where the authorities and principal inhabitants had been ordered to attend. Here the royal order was read by a notary public, commanding them to have two caravels ready for sea in ten days, they and their crews to be placed at the disposal of Columbus. He himself was empowered to procure and fit out a third vessel.

Orders were likewise read, addressed to the public authorities, and the people of all ranks and conditions in the maritime borders of Andalusia, commanding them to furnish supplies and assistance of all kinds for fitting out the caravels.

When, however, the nature of the service was explained, the owners of vessels refused to furnish them, and the seamen shrank from sailing into the wilderness of the ocean.

Several weeks elapsed, and not a vessel had been procured. The sovereigns therefore issued further orders, directing the magistrates to press into the service any caravel they might select, and to compel the masters and crews to sail with Columbus in whatever direction he should be sent.

Notwithstanding this nothing was done, until at length Martin Alonzo Pinzon, with his brother, Vincente Yanez Pinzon--both navigators of great courage and ability, and owners of vessels--undertook to sail on the expedition, and furnish one of the caravels required. Two others were pressed by the magistrates under the arbitrary mandate of the sovereigns.

The example of the Pinzons at length overcame all opposition, and the three vessels, two of them known as caravels, not superior to the coasting craft of more modern days, were got ready by the beginning of August.

Roderigo Sanches was inspector-general of the armament, and Diego de Arana chief alguazil. Roderigo de Escobar went as royal notary. In all, one hundred and twenty persons.

Columbus and his followers, having solemnly taken the communion, went on board their ships. Believing that their friends were going to certain death, the inhabitants of Paios looked on with gloomy apprehensions, which greatly affected the minds of the crew.

The little squadron set sail from Palos half an hour before sunrise on the 3rd of August, 1492, and steered a course for the Canary Islands. Columbus had prepared a chart by which to sail. On this he drew the coasts of Europe and Africa, from the south of Ireland to the end of Guinea, and opposite to them, on the other side of the Atlantic, the extremity of Asia, or rather India, as it was then called. Between them he placed the island of Cipango or Japan, which, according to Marco Polo, lay one thousand five hundred miles from the Atlantic coast. This island Columbus placed where Florida really exists. Though he saw his hopes of commencing the expedition realised, he had good reason to fear that his crews might at any moment insist on returning.

He now issued orders to the commanders of the other vessels that, in the event of separation, they should continue directly westward; but that, after sailing seven hundred leagues, they should lay by from midnight to daylight, as about that distance he confidently expected to find land.

As he foresaw the farther they sailed the more their vague terrors would increase, to deceive them, he kept two logs; one correct, retained for his own government, and the other open to general inspection, from which a certain number of leagues were daily subtracted from the sailing of the ships.

The crews, though no faint-hearted fellows, had not as yet learned to place confidence in him. The slightest thing alarmed them. When about one hundred and fifty leagues west of Ferro, they picked up part of the mast of a large vessel, and the crews fancied that she must have been wrecked drifting ominously to the entrance of those unknown seas.

About nightfall, on the 13th of September, he for the first time noticed the variation of the needle, which, instead of pointing to the north star, varied about half a point. He remarked that this variation of the needle increased as he advanced. He quieted the alarm of his pilots, when they observed this, by assuring them that the variation was not caused by any fallacy in the compass, but by the movement of the north star itself, which, like the other heavenly bodies, described a circle round the pole.

The explanation appeared so highly plausible and ingenious that it was readily received. On the 14th of September they believed that they were near land, from seeing a heron and a tropical bird, neither of which were supposed to venture far out to sea.

The following night the mariners were awestruck by beholding a meteor of great brilliancy--a common phenomenon in those latitudes. With a favourable breeze, day after day, the squadron was wafted on, so that it was unnecessary to shift a single sail.

They now began to observe patches of weeds drifting from the west, which increased in size as they advanced. These, together with a white tropical bird which never sleeps on the water, made Columbus hope that he was approaching some island; for, as he had come but three hundred and sixty leagues since leaving the Canary Islands, he supposed the mainland still to be far off.

The breeze was soft and steady, the water smooth. The crews were in high spirits, and every seaman was on the look-out, for a pension of ten thousand maravedis had been promised to him who should first discover land.

Notwithstanding, even the favourable breeze began to frighten the seamen, who imagined that the wind in those regions might always blow from the east, and if so, would prevent their return to Spain.

Not long after the wind shifted to the south-west, and restored their courage, proving to them that the wind did not always prevail from the east. Several small birds also visited the ships, singing as they perched on the rigging, thus showing that they were not exhausted by their flight. Again the squadron passed among numerous patches of seaweed, and the crews, ever ready to take alarm, having heard that ships were sometimes frozen in by ice, fancied that they might be fixed in the same manner, until they were caught by the nipping hand of winter.

Then they took it into their heads that the water was growing shoaler, and expressed their fears that they might run on some sand-banks and be lost. Then a whale was seen, which creature Columbus assured them never went far from land. Notwithstanding, they became uneasy at the calmness of the weather, declaring that as the prevailing winds were from the east, and had not power to disturb the torpid stillness of the ocean, there was the risk of perishing amidst stagnant and shoreless waters, and being prevented by contrary winds from ever returning to Spain.

Next a swell got up, which showed that their terrors caused by the calm were imaginary. Notwithstanding this, and the favourable signs which increased his confidence, he feared that after all, breaking into mutiny, they would compel him to return.

The sailors fancied that their ships were too weak for so long a voyage, and held secret consultations, exciting each other's discontent. They had gone farther than any one before had done. Who could blame them, should they, consulting their safety, turn back?

Columbus, though aware of the mutinous disposition of his crew, maintained a serene and steady countenance, using gentle words with some, stimulating the pride and avarice of others, and threatening the refractory.

On the 25th of September the wind again became favourable, and the squadron resumed its westerly course. Pinzon now, on examining the chart, supposed that they must be approaching Cipango. Columbus desired to have it returned, and it was thrown on board at the end of a line.

There was indeed an appearance of land to the south-west. Columbus and the other officers threw themselves on their knees, and returned thanks to God. The seamen, mounting the rigging, strained their eyes in the direction pointed out, but the morning light put an end to their hopes.

Again with dejected hearts they proceeded, the sea, as before, tranquil, the breeze propitious, and the weather mild and delightful. In a day or two more weeds were seen floating from east to west, but no birds were visible. The people again expressed their fears that they had passed between two islands; but after the lapse of another day the ships were visited by numberless birds, and various indications of land became more numerous. Full of hope, the seamen ascended the rigging, and were continually crying out that they saw land.

Columbus put a stop to these false alarms, declaring that should any one assert that they saw land, and it was not discovered within three days, he should forfeit all claim to the reward.

The captain and his crew were mistaken notwithstanding. The clouds which had deceived them melted away. The crews again became dejected. But once more flocks of field birds were seen flying through the air to the south-west, and Columbus, having already run the distance at the termination of which he had expected to find the island of Cipango, fancied he might have missed it. He therefore altered his course to the south-west.

As the ships advanced the signs of land increased: a heron, a pelican, and a duck were seen bound in the same direction. Branches of trees, and grass, fresh and green, were observed. The crews, however, believing these to be mere delusions for leading them on to destruction, insisted on abandoning the voyage.

Columbus sternly resisted their importunities, and the following day a branch of thorn, with berries on it, and a staff artificially carved, with other articles, were picked up, showing that land must be close at hand.

All gloom and mutiny now gave way to sanguine expectations, and Columbus promised a doublet of velvet, in addition to the pension to be given by the sovereign, to whosoever should first see the longed-for shore.

As he walked the high poop of his ship at night, his eye continually ranging along the horizon, he thought he saw a light glimmering at a great distance. Fearing that his hopes might deceive him, he successively called up two of his officers. They both saw it, apparently proceeding from a torch in the bark of a fisherman, or held in the hand of some person on shore, borne up as he walked.

Who can picture the thoughts and feelings of Columbus, as he walked the deck, impatiently waiting for dawn, which was to show him clearly the long-sought-for land, with, as he hoped, its spicy groves, its glittering temples, its gilded cities, and all the splendour of Oriental civilisation!

As the dawn of the 12th of October, 1492, increased, Columbus first observed one of the outlying islands of the New World. It was several leagues in extent, level, and covered with trees, and populated, for the naked inhabitants were seen running from all parts to the shore, and gazing with astonishment at the ships. The anchors being dropped, the boats manned, he, richly attired in scarlet and holding the royal standard, accompanied by the Pinzons in their own boats, approached the shore.

On landing he threw himself on his knees, and kissing the earth, returned thanks to God, the rest following his example. He then, drawing his sword, took possession of the island, which he named San Salvador, in the names of the sovereigns of Castile. The crews now thronged round the Admiral, some embracing him, others kissing his hands, expressing their joy; the most mutinous becoming the most enthusiastic and devoted.

The natives, who had at first fled, supposing the ships monsters which had risen from the deep, recovering their fears, now timidly advanced, lost in admiration at the shining armour and splendid dresses of the Spaniards, and their complexions and beards, at once recognising the Admiral as the commander of the strangers.

Columbus, pleased with their gentleness, suffered them to scrutinise him, and won them by his benignity. The natives were equally objects of curiosity to the Spaniards. They were naked, painted all over with a variety of colours and designs. Their complexion was tawny, and they were destitute of beards; their hair not crisp, like that of negroes, but straight and coarse; their features were agreeable; their stature moderate and well shaped; their foreheads lofty, and their eyes remarkably fine.

As Columbus supposed that he had landed on an island at the extremity of India, he called the natives Indians, as the inhabitants of the New World have ever since been denominated. Their only arms were lances pointed with the teeth or bones of fishes. There was no iron seen, and so ignorant were the natives of its properties, that one of them took a drawn sword by the edge, not aware that it would cut.

Columbus, to win their confidence, distributed among them coloured caps, hawks' bells, and glass beads, with which they were highly pleased, allowing the Spaniards unmolested to walk about the groves examining the beautiful trees, the shrubs, fruits, and flowers, all so strange to them.

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