Ocean Phenomena, Unknown to Columbus and His Crew, Increase the Fear of
the Latter
On the second day after leaving the Canary Islands they made but
eighteen miles, owing to light winds. As Columbus foresaw that nothing
would intimidate his ignorant crew so much as the length of the voyage,
he decided to play an innocent trick upon them by keeping one reckoning
of distance for himself and another for them. He told them therefore
that they had sailed only the first fifteen miles westward.
On the twelfth of September, six days after their departure, they had
sailed one hundred and fifty miles to the west of the Canary Island of
Ferro. On that day they observed the trunk of a great tree which
evidently had been drifting about a long time. The sailors took it for a
sign that land was not far distant and felt much encouraged, but the
encouragement did not last long, for after sailing about fifteen miles
farther a strange thing happened which astonished them all and even
excited the wondering Columbus—the compass needle, which had steadily
pointed to the pole star, changed a whole degree to the west from its
customary direction. The phenomenon was new to Columbus, as well as to
his sailors. The latter were greatly excited and declared the earth was
out of joint, for the needle no longer pointed right. The distance which
they had traversed already seemed to them endless although their leader
insisted that he was not a third of a mile out of his reckoning, but now
all seemed hopeless since the needle, their only guide, had abandoned
them. Columbus, whose ingenuity in discovering methods of reassuring his
weak companions was inexhaustible, invented a plausible reason for this
unexpected phenomenon which quieted them though it was far from being
satisfactory to himself. In an ingenious manner he altered the action of
the compass so that the needle pointed right again.
Hardly had the crew recovered from this shock before a new trouble
arose. They had come to the region of the trade-winds, which were
unknown at that time. They shuddered as they thought that if these winds
continued to blow they might never reach home again. One unfortunate
thing followed another. On the sixteenth of September their fear was
greatly increased. They suddenly observed that the ocean, as far as the
eye could reach, was covered so completely with a green weed that it
seemed as if they were sailing over a vast meadow.[14] In some places it
was so thick they could hardly make their way through it. The sailors
said to themselves, “We have come to the end of the navigable ocean.
Under this sea-weed there must be reefs and shallows which will wreck
our vessels. Why should we, wretched unfortunates, longer consent to
follow this foolhardy leader?” Columbus again quieted them and inspired
fresh hope. He said to them, “Why should you be troubled about a matter
which shows that we are now approaching the wished-for goal? Does not
vegetation grow by the sea? Is it not certain that we are not far from
the shores where this sea-weed grew?”
The crew was greatly encouraged by his words, especially as at the same
time various birds were seen flying to the west. Fear changed to hope
again and so they sailed on once more with glad anticipation of a
fortunate end to their undertaking.