Celebrated Travels and Travellers Vol 1 First Part Chapter VII part 2a - Christopher Columbus – First voyage.

William Tomko (0:01)

Section 14 of Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Volume 1

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Recording by William Tomko Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Volume 1 Exploration of the World by Jules Verne First Part, Chapter 7, Part 2a.

Christopher Columbus During the first day's voyage, the Admiral, the title by which he is usually known in the various accounts of his exploits, bearing directly southwards, sailed forty-five miles before sunset, turning, then, to the southeast. He steered for the Canaries, in order to repair the pinta which had unshipped her rudder, an accident caused perhaps by the ill will of the steersman who dreaded the voyage. Ten days later, Columbus cast anchor before the great Canary Island, where the rudder of the caravel was repaired. Nineteen days afterwards, he arrived before Gomera, where the inhabitants assured him of the existence of an unknown land in the west of the archipelago.

He did not leave Gomera until the sixth of September. He had received warning that three Portuguese ships awaited him in the open sea, with the intention of barring his passage. However, without taking any heed of this news, he put to sea, cleverly avoided meeting his enemies, and steering directly westward, he lost all sight of land. During the voyage, the admiral took care to conceal from his companions the true distance traversed each day. He made it appear less than it really was in the daily abstracts of his observations, that he might not add to the fear already felt by the sailors by letting him know the real distance which separated them from Europe. Each day he watched the compasses with attention, and it is to him we owe the discovery of the magnetic variation of which he took account in his calculations. The pilots, however, were much disturbed on seeing the compasses all north-westers as he expressed it.

On the 14th of September the sailors saw a swallow and some tropic birds. The sight of these birds was an evidence of land being near, for they do not usually fly more than about 70 miles out to sea. The temperature was very mild. The weather magnificent. The wind blew from the east and wafted through caravels in the desired direction. But it was exactly this continuance of east winds which frightened the greater part of the sailors who saw in this persistence so favorable for the outward voyage the promise of a formidable obstacle to their return home. On the 16th of September, some tufts of seaweed, still fresh, were seen floating on the waves. But no land was to be seen, and this seaweed might possibly indicate the presence of submarine rocks and not of the shores of a continent. On the 17th, 35 days after the departure of the expedition, floating weeds were frequently seen, and upon one massive weed was found a live crayfish, a sure sign this of the proximity of land.

During the following days, a large number of birds such as gannets, sea swallows and tropic birds flew around the caravels. Columbus turned their presence to account as a means of reassuring his companions, who were beginning to be terribly frightened and not meeting with land after six weeks of sailing. His own confidence never abated, but putting firm trust in God, he often addressed energetic words of comfort to those around him, and made them each evening chant the Salve Regina or some other hymn to the Virgin. At the words of this heroic man, so noble, so sure of himself, so superior to all human weaknesses, the courage of the sailors revived, and they again went onwards. We can well imagine how anxiously both officers and men scanned the western horizon towards which they were steering. Each one had a pecuniary motive for wishing to be the first to describe the new continent, King Ferdinand, having promised a reward of 10,000 Mara Vedas, or 400 pounds sterling, to the first discoverer. The later days of the month of September were enlivened by the presence of numerous large birds, petrels, man-of-war birds, and daimiers, flying in couples, a sign that they were not far away from home. So Columbus retained his unshaken conviction that land could not be far off.

On the 1st of October, the Admiral announced to his companions that they had made 1,272 miles to the west since leaving Faroe. In reality, the distance traversed exceeded 2,100 miles, and of this Columbus was quite aware, but persisted in his policy of disguising the truth in this particular. On the 7th of October, the crews were excited by hearing discharges of musketry from the Niña, the commanders of which, the two brothers Pinzon, thought they had described the land. They soon found, however, that they had been mistaken.