The state of the West India Islands when discovered—Wreck of one
of the vessels of the expedition—A colony established—Columbus
sets sail for Spain, 4th January, 1493—Arrives at St. Mary’s,
18th February, and in the Tagus a few days afterwards—Re-enters,
with his ship, the harbour of Palos, 15th March—Great
rejoicings—He proceeds to Seville and Barcelona—Orders for a fresh
expedition—Its extent, and departure, 25th Sept., 1493—Reaches
Dominica, 2nd Nov., 1493, and Santa Cruz, 14th Nov.—Arrives
at Hayti, 22nd Nov.—Founds a fresh colony at Hispaniola or
Hayti—Sufferings of the colonists, and disappointment of
Columbus—His sanguine expectations for the future—Threatened
mutiny among the colonists—Columbus proceeds on further
explorations—Discovery of the island of Jamaica—Surveys Cuba, and
returns to Isabella—Arrival of Bartholomew Columbus—Intrigues
at home—Commission of inquiry despatched to Hayti—Columbus
sets sail for Europe, 10th March, 1496—Arrives at Cadiz, 11th
June, 1496—Re-visits the West, May, 1498—Reaches Trinidad, 31st
July—Discovers Tobago, Granada, and other islands, reaching
Hispaniola, 19th August—Finds everything in disorder—Makes a
tour of inspection, but is arrested, and sent a prisoner to
Spain—Arrives at Cadiz, Nov. 1500, and is restored to the royal
favour—A fleet sails for the colony with Ovando, Feb. 1502, and
two months afterwards (9th May) Columbus follows, and reaches
St. Domingo, 29th June—Discovers the island of Guanaga 30th
July—Trading canoe—Her cargo—Prosecutes his researches to the
South—Reaches Cape Honduras—Discovers and explores the Mosquito
coast—Puerto Bello—Forms a settlement on the river Belem, 6th
Feb., 1503—Anchors at Jamaica, June 1503, and Dominica, 13th
August of that year—Sails for Spain, 12th September, which he
reaches 7th Nov., 1504—His sufferings and death, 20th May, 1506.
[Sidenote: The state of the West India Islands when discovered.]
Philosophers and philanthropists may ask with some show of reason when
they read the history of the West Indies during the last three hundred
years, and compare the state of its inhabitants with that in which
Columbus found them, if civilization has in all cases increased the
happiness of the human race. “Their habitations,” remarks Washington
Irving, referring to the aborigines, “were very simple, being in the
form of a pavilion, or high circular tent, constructed of branches of
trees, of reeds, and palm. They were kept very clean and neat, and
sheltered under beautiful and spreading trees. For beds they had nets
of cotton extended from two parts, which they called _hamacs_, a name
since adopted into universal use among seamen.”[754] Their groves were
more beautiful than ever Columbus had anywhere else beheld; and the
whole country, according to his description of it, was as fresh and
green as the richest and most verdant valleys of Andalusia during the
month of May, when the peninsula is adorned in its gayest colours.
Amply supplied with springs and streams of cool and sweet water,
and fruits of the richest description; with abundance of herbs of
various kind; with animal food reared on the land where they lived,
and abundant fish in the seas with which they were surrounded, what
more could the original inhabitants of the West India Islands desire?
“Here,” says Columbus in his journal, “are large lakes, with groves
about them marvellous in beauty and in richness. The singing of the
birds is such, that it seems as if one would never desire to depart
hence. There are flocks of parrots which obscure the sun, and other
birds large and small, of so many kinds, and so different from ours,
that it is wonderful; and besides, there are trees of a thousand
species, each having its particular fruit, and all of marvellous
flavour.” These pictures may have been in some respects over-coloured
by Columbus and his crew, after their arduous and weary voyage: but
contemporary writers confirm the original beauty of the West India
Islands; nor are there to this day many islands which look more
beautiful from the sea than those which were first made known to the
world by Christopher Columbus.[755] But even if the descriptions of the
happiness of the natives is in some respects overdrawn, their position,
under the patriarchal rule of their native _caciques_, with few wants
and little of fear or care, compares favourably with the state of these
islands at any period since they came under the rule of the highly
civilized nations of Europe. Nor were these poor people, though living
in a state of nature, without some of the consolations of religion.
“They confess,” remarks Peter Martyr, “the soul to be immortal, and
having put off the bodily clothing, they imagine it goeth forth to the
woods and the mountains, and that it liveth there perpetually in caves.”
Throughout the whole time Columbus was engaged in discovering and
surveying these islands, he was under the conviction—a conviction which
he carried to his grave—that they formed part of Asia, or rather of
India, the name by which the greater part of that continent was then
known, and that they were the islands spoken of by Marco Polo, as
lying opposite Cathay in the Chinese Sea. Indeed, the great navigator
construed everything he saw in harmony with the accounts of those
opulent regions. When the natives spoke of enemies to the north-west,
he concluded these to be people from the mainland of Asia, the subjects
of the great Khan of Tatary, who, the Venetian traveller stated, were
wont to make war on the islands and to enslave their inhabitants. When
they described the country to the south as abounding in gold, he felt
convinced that this must refer to the famous island of Zipango, of
the magnificent capital of which Marco Polo had given such a glowing
description. The fine gold trinkets the natives possessed confirmed
their reports and his own impressions, whetted the avarice of the
Spaniards, and made a search for the great Khan and his golden islands
the chief results of his expedition.
Indeed the main purpose of Columbus, like that of Vasco de Gama—though
the former was a man of far loftier character than the latter—was to
find an opulent and civilized country in the East, with whom he might
establish commercial relations, carrying home gold, spices, drugs, and
Oriental merchandise. He hoped, too, that he would thus have the means
of establishing the Christian religion in heathen lands, and from the
profits of the undertaking to rescue the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem
from the power of the Infidels. Such an enterprise had been the dream
of his early manhood; nor indeed was it forgotten when his own earthly
pilgrimage came to a close, for by his will he directs his son to
appropriate certain sums of money to that sacred cause.
[Sidenote: Wreck of one of the vessels of the expedition.]
While cruising among the islands, Columbus had the misfortune to lose
one of the three vessels of his expedition. She was swept during a
calm by the strong current and through the carelessness of the crew on
a sandbank, where she became a total wreck. Fortunately the weather
continued calm, so that the lives of the crew, as well as everything
on board, were saved. All the stores, with the assistance of the
natives, were carefully stowed away in huts on shore. Nor was there the
slightest disposition on their part to take the smallest advantage of
the strangers who had come among them. Not one article was pilfered;
not a “hawk’s bell,” nor a bead—to them objects of envy and delight—was
taken away; nor were the most trifling articles appropriated while
removing them in their canoes from the wreck to the shore. “So loving,
so tractable, so peaceable are these people,” says Columbus in his
journal, “that I swear to your Majesties, there is not in the world
a better nation, nor a better land. They love their neighbours as
themselves.”[756] What an example the uncivilized savage here presents
to the civilization of our own age, of which we so often make such
vaunted boasts!
[Sidenote: A colony established.]
As most of the shipwrecked crew, besides some other persons belonging
to the expedition, expressed a desire to be left behind, and as the
two vessels would have been overcrowded with the three crews, their
wishes suggested to Columbus the idea of constituting them the germ of
a future colony. The wreck of the caravel provided abundant material
for the fortress he had resolved to build. Her guns and ammunition were
ready for its protection; and with his crews so reduced in number, he
could spare provisions for the year, by the end of which he hoped to
return. Having completed his arrangements, Columbus and the remaining
caravels set sail for home on the 4th of January, 1493.
[Sidenote: Columbus sets sail for Spain 4th Jan., 1493.]
[Sidenote: Arrives at St. Mary’s 18th Feb., and in the Tagus a few days
afterwards.]
After suffering severely from a storm, and a long and wearisome
struggle with the trade-winds, the nature and character of which was
then unknown, Columbus reached the island of St. Mary’s on the 18th of
February following, where he was detained for two or three days,[757]
and was afterwards obliged, through stress of weather and scarcity of
provisions, to put into the Tagus.
When the tidings reached Lisbon that a Spanish barque lay anchored
in the Tagus, freighted with the people and productions of a newly
discovered world, the effect was electrical. For nearly a century
that city had derived its chief glory from its maritime discoveries;
but here was an achievement which eclipsed them all. The ship of a
neighbouring and friendly, though rival, nation had, by sailing to
the West, discovered the fabled land of Cathay, and had come from
Zipango (Japan), and the extremity of India, laden with its treasures.
Curiosity and envy combined could hardly have been more excited and
aroused had Columbus brought with him the produce of another planet.
For several days the once active but now lifeless though still
beautiful Tagus was covered with boats and barges of every kind, all
winding their way to the caravel. Visitors of every kind, from officers
of the crown and cavaliers of high distinction down to the humblest
of the people, thronged around the ship, eager to go on board and to
see the strange human beings, plants, and animals from the new-found
world, and to learn from the crew, if not from Columbus himself, the
events of this remarkable voyage. Messengers came from King John with
professions of congratulation on the great discovery, and an invitation
to the palace, which Columbus accepted with reluctance, and only
because the weather continued so stormy that he was unable to leave
with his vessel for Spain. The king and the principal cavaliers of his
household received him with much courtesy and pomp, though with jealous
envy of his success and with many expressions of distrust and doubt.
[Sidenote: Columbus re-enters, with his ship, the harbour of Palos 15th
March.]
Having satisfied the curiosity of the Portuguese court and people,
Columbus set sail from the Tagus on the 13th of March, and two days
afterwards entered the small harbour of Palos, having been seven months
and a half absent on the most important maritime expedition recorded in
history. Palos that day was the scene of extraordinary excitement and
rejoicings, not unmingled, however, with doubts. Almost every family
in the place had some relative or friend among the navigators. Great
anxiety prevailed as to the safety of the crew of the wrecked caravel,
who had remained to form the settlement at Hispaniola; and of the
Pinta, which had been separated from Columbus in a storm the expedition
had encountered before it reached St. Mary’s. But the fears for the
safety of the Pinta were soon removed. In the afternoon of the same day
on which Columbus arrived, and while the church and convent bells were
still pealing forth a welcome to the great discoverer, Martin Alonzo
Pinzon entered the river with his ship.
[Sidenote: Great rejoicings.]
Slavish, indeed, was the welcome offered by the people to the great
navigator, whose plans they had so recently rejected as mischievous and
idle dreams. The whole population joined him at their principal church
in offering thanks to God for a discovery, in the way of which they had
themselves thrown innumerable difficulties. Wherever Columbus passed,
the streets resounded with acclamations; and in that same place where
he first came, a poor wanderer, craving water and bread at the gate of
their convent for his famishing child, and where afterwards he had been
hooted and despised, he was welcomed with honours rarely rendered to
even monarchy itself.
[Sidenote: He proceeds to Seville and Barcelona.]
Columbus, having despatched a letter to the king and queen, then at
Barcelona, proceeded to Seville to await their orders, taking with him
six of the natives whom he had brought to Spain. The letter announcing
his discovery had produced an extraordinary sensation, not merely
at the Spanish court, but in every part of Europe whither the news
had spread. To Spain, then approaching the plenitude of her power,
this discovery, following so closely on the conquest of Granada, was
considered to be a special mark of Divine favour to the nation which
had subdued the Moors and extended the Christian faith. Throughout the
whole country it was hailed with the most enthusiastic delight, and
the journey of Columbus from Seville to Barcelona was one continued
triumph. Every preparation had been made at the latter city to give
him a solemn and magnificent reception. Surrounded by a brilliant
cavalcade of courtiers and Spanish chivalry, and followed by a long
retinue, of which the Indians formed a part, Columbus marched in
procession through streets crowded with people, and lined by houses
gaily decorated, to the chief square of the city, where the sovereigns,
under a rich canopy, awaited his arrival. The principal nobility of
Castile, Valentia, Catalonia, and Aragon, were there with Ferdinand
and Isabella, impatient to behold and welcome the great discoverer,
whose majestic and venerable appearance enhanced their admiration and
enthusiasm. When he approached, the sovereigns rose as if receiving
a person of the highest rank. Briefly delivering an account of his
voyage, Columbus displayed the strange Indians, animals, and plants,
with a few specimens of native gold, and some barbaric ornaments he had
brought from the new found country; and prayers were then offered by
the whole of that brilliant assembly, in which the king and queen on
their knees solemnly joined.
[Sidenote: Orders for a fresh expedition.]
A discovery so great and astounding soon spread far and wide, and
embassies and travelling merchants diffused the tidings in every land.
Sebastian Cabot describes the first receipt of the news in London,
and the talk and admiration created in the court of Henry VII., as
if it was “a thing more divine than human.”[758] Indeed, the whole
civilized world, filled with wonder and delight, rejoiced in an event
which opened out a new and unbounded field for inquiry and enterprise,
although no one had an idea of the real importance of the discovery,
nor that it was an entirely new and distinct portion of the globe
which had been discovered. Nor, indeed, was any time lost in securing
to the crown of Spain these valuable acquisitions. Arrangements
were at once made to fit out a fleet on an extensive scale, and the
royal injunctions, though highly arbitrary, were now obeyed with
the utmost alacrity. A fleet of seventeen vessels, large and small,
were soon ready. The best pilots were chosen for the service, while
skilled husbandmen, miners, and other mechanics, were engaged for the
colonies it was intended to found. Horses for military purposes and
for stocking the country, together with cattle and domestic animals
of various kinds, were likewise provided, as well as seeds of almost
every description, and plants, including vines and sugar canes; nor
was there wanting an abundant supply of trinkets, beads, hawks’-bells,
looking-glasses, and other showy trifles, to induce traffic among the
natives. The most exaggerated accounts spread of the fabulous wealth of
the territories, and adventurers of every kind, from the highest to the
very lowest, were equally eager to join in the expedition. Some were
doubtless inflamed with the mere hope and lust of wealth, while others
less selfish in their motives pictured to themselves a wide field for
the display of their military genius and skill, in what did not seem
impossible to them, the actual conquest of the grand Khan and the
capture of the fabled land of Cathay.
[Sidenote: Its extent, and departure, 25th Sept., 1493.]
The number of persons permitted to embark in the expedition had
been originally limited to one thousand, but the applications from
volunteers were so numerous that fifteen hundred persons were
eventually enrolled; and early on the morning of the 25th of September,
1493, they sailed from the bay of Cadiz in three large vessels and
fourteen caravels. No accounts of the size of any of these vessels
have been transmitted to posterity except the brief statement made in
a note by Washington Irving,[759] from the writings of Peter Martyr,
who says that they “were carracks (a large species of merchant vessel,
principally used in the coasting trade), of 100 tons.” But the carracks
of the commercial marine of the Venetians and Genoese of those days
were of very considerable dimensions, in some few instances from 1500
to 2000 tons, and were employed on the most distant voyages then known.
Of one of these, Charnock,[760] as we have seen, has given a drawing;
she is a full-rigged ship, well equipped, and evidently not less than
1500 tons register, taken from a painting at Genoa, dated 1542, so that
it may be fairly presumed that in his second voyage the largest of the
vessels of Columbus was far beyond 100 tons. Considering that he had
with him fifteen hundred persons, some of them members of the best
families of Spain, with large quantities of stores and merchandise, it
may be safely assumed that the “three large vessels” were carracks of
from 400 to 600 tons; while the fourteen caravels may have been craft
ranging from 250 down to 70 tons, as Columbus on more than one occasion
had urged the necessity of having small vessels, of light draft of
water, adapted for the survey of the coasts, or for river navigation.
[Sidenote: Reaches Dominica, 2nd Nov., 1493, and Santa Cruz, 14th Nov.]
The incidents of this voyage have been pleasantly related by one Dr.
Chanca, who was physician to the fleet, in a letter addressed by him
to the chapter of Seville.[761] Starting with a fair wind and fine
weather, Columbus, in six days, reached the great Canary Island, where
he anchored, and remained for a day to repair a leaky vessel of his
flotilla, after which they set sail for Gomera, which they were “four
or five days” in reaching, and thence, after another day’s rest, during
which they took in a fresh supply of wood, beef, and other provisions
and replenished their stock of water, they reached in twenty days the
island of Ferro; thence with a fair wind, and fine weather, they were
another twenty days in sighting land, which “should have been done in
fourteen or fifteen days, if the ship _Capitana_ had been as good a
sailer as the other vessels.” This land, which they made on the evening
of Saturday, the 2nd of November, proved to be a lofty island, to which
Columbus gave the name of Dominica, and “offered fervent prayers to
heaven” for their prosperous voyage. The island appeared to be wholly
uninhabited.
Proceeding to the island of Guadeloupe, they visited a village near the
shore; but the inhabitants at their approach fled in great trepidation,
leaving some of their children, around whose necks and arms the
Spaniards placed hawks’-bells, and other trinkets, soothing them at the
same time with their caresses, as the most sure means of winning the
confidence of their parents. Here provisions were found in abundance,
besides parrots of the most variegated plumage, as large as household
fowls, and many geese domesticated like those of Europe.
[Sidenote: Arrives at Hayti, 22nd Nov.]
After cruising among the other islands of the group of the Antilles,
the expedition anchored on the 14th of November off an island, to which
Columbus gave the name of Santa Cruz, which, like all the others, was
inhabited by Caribs. Thence pursuing his voyage, he shortly afterwards
came in sight of a cluster of small islands of various shapes and
appearances, some of them covered with forests, but the greater portion
naked and sterile, and all apparently uninhabited. To the largest of
these he gave the name of Sta. Ursula. Proceeding onwards he soon
arrived in sight of the large island, now known as Porto Rico, covered
with beautiful forests, and indented with fine havens, the inhabitants
of which, who appear to have been peaceful and populous, were much
troubled by the ravages of their implacable enemies, the Caribs. Having
remained here for two days, Columbus set sail for Hispaniola, where the
fleet anchored on the 22nd of November, and having coasted round to La
Navidad, where he had formed the settlement on the first voyage, he
was greatly grieved to learn the disasters which in the short interval
of a year had befallen the Spaniards whom he had left behind. Several
of them had died of sickness; others had fallen in a quarrel which had
occurred among themselves, and the remainder, it was said, had removed
to other parts of the island, where they had taken to themselves native
wives. Such was the end of the first European colonists in the New
World.
[Sidenote: Founds a fresh colony at Hispaniola, or Hayti.]
Arrangements were, however, made for the establishment of another
colony, though not on the same spot, the land in the vicinity being
low, moist, and unhealthy, and destitute of stone suitable for the
erection of a fortress and of other necessary buildings. After a
thorough search around the coast and up various rivers for a suitable
site, Columbus decided to settle upon the shores of an excellent
and capacious harbour, about ten leagues east of Monte Christo, and
disembarking his troops, labourers, and artificers, commenced erecting
a city on a well-devised plan, with streets, squares, church, public
storehouse, and residence for the admiral built of stone. To this, the
first permanent city in the Western world, Columbus gave the name of
Isabella, in honour of that enlightened sovereign, without whose aid
these islands would probably not have been discovered till many years
afterwards.
[Sidenote: Sufferings of the colonists, and disappointment of Columbus.]
But the new colony had a severe ordeal to pass through before it was
successfully established. Maladies of various kinds broke out among
the settlers. Many who had suffered severely from the sea voyage,
and from the salt provisions to which they had been reduced, soon
fell a prey to the exhalations of the hot climate, and to the humid
vapours from the rivers and undrained land; while others, accustomed
to highly-cultivated countries with the comforts of a superior home,
suffered severely from the stagnant air of the dense forests around
them. Most, too, of the settlers were grievously disappointed, that
they had not yet discovered the golden regions of Cathay and Zipango,
nor even a region of Indian luxury, or wide fields for chivalrous
enterprises. Gold, they soon found, could only be obtained in small
quantities, chiefly through the medium of barter with the natives:
even Columbus was disappointed. When the ships had discharged their
cargoes, and it was necessary to send the greater part of them back
to Spain, there was neither “gold nor precious merchandise” ready for
shipment, which he expected the Spaniards, whom he had left behind
on his previous voyage, would have collected. All these hopes had
been rudely dispelled. The most extravagant expectations having been
entertained in Spain, Columbus pictured to himself the disappointment
of his sovereigns and of the nation when his fleet returned empty, and
conveyed to an expectant and excited people the intelligence of the
disasters which had befallen the first colonists in a country of such
fabled wealth and unbounded resources.
However, in the twelve ships which were despatched to Spain, the
remaining five having been retained for his own purposes and for those
of the newly-established colony, Columbus sent home some specimens of
gold, and such fruits or plants as appeared to be either curious or
valuable, expressing his own confident and sanguine anticipations of
soon being able to make valuable shipments of precious metals, drugs,
and spices. “Without penetrating into the interior of the country,”
he remarks,[762] “we have found spots showing so many indications of
various spices, as naturally to suggest the hope of the best results
for the future. The same holds good with respect to the gold mines;
for two parties only who were sent out in different directions to
discover them, and who, because they had few people with them, remained
out but a short time, found, nevertheless, a great number of rivers,
whose sands contained this precious metal in such quantity, that each
man took up a sample of it in his hand; so that our two messengers
returned so joyous, and boasted so much of the abundance of gold, that
I feel a hesitation in speaking and writing of it to their highnesses.”
[Sidenote: His sanguine expectations for the future.]
So sanguine, indeed, was Columbus that gold would be found in great
abundance that, in the same memorial,[763] he adds, “I will undertake
to go in search of these rivers; either proceeding hence by land and
looking out for the best expedients that may offer, or else by sea,
rounding the island, until we come to the place which is described as
being only six or seven leagues from where these rivers that I speak of
are situated; so that we may collect the gold in safety, and put it in
security against all attacks in some stronghold or tower, which may be
quickly built for that purpose; and thus, when the two caravels shall
return thither, the gold may be taken away, and finally sent home in
safety at the first favourable season for making the voyage.”
[Sidenote: Threatened mutiny among the colonists.]
Few, however, of the thousand colonists who had settled at Isabella
were disposed to wait patiently for the happy time Columbus had
shadowed forth. Disappointed in their expectations of immediate wealth,
disgusted with the labours imposed upon them by which alone they were
enabled to erect their houses, and to obtain the necessary means of
existence, and appalled by the maladies prevalent throughout the
community, they began to look with horror on their situation: and when
the last sail disappeared which was destined for Spain, they felt as if
severed for ever from their homes, and that the strange land where they
had settled seemed destined to be their grave. To return to Spain soon
became their ruling idea. Discontent daily increased; and at last the
most daring spirits among them proposed that they should seize upon one
or all of the five ships then in harbour, and return home. The mutiny
was, however, checked for a time by the condign punishment of the
ringleaders.
When order had been somewhat restored Columbus made an expedition
into the interior, and on his return, on the 29th of March, 1494, he
was gratified to find that many of his expectations, in regard to the
future prosperity of the colony, were likely to be speedily realised.
The plants and fruits of the Old World gave promise of rapid increase;
the seeds had produced young plants; the sugar-cane had prospered
beyond his most sanguine anticipations; ears of corn made their
appearance from seed only sown in January; while cuttings from European
vines already began to form their clusters. Amid all his anxieties and
troubles, it was gratifying to find that the rich plains of Andalusia
were not to be compared to the virgin soil of the new-found world,
which, moistened by the rivers, and stimulated by an ardent sun,
possessed principles of fecundity unknown in any part of Europe. The
town of Isabella, however, proved to have been built on an unhealthy
situation, and in after years fell to ruins.
[Sidenote: Columbus proceeds on further explorations.]
Having left his brother, Don Diego, in charge of the colony, Columbus
set forth again, on the 24th of April, on a further voyage of
discovery, and steering to the westward, resolved to revisit the
coast of Cuba, at the point he had left it on his first voyage, and
thence to explore it on the southern side, under the conviction that
he must eventually arrive at Cathay. Though charmed beyond measure
with everything he saw, nothing indicated the lands Marco Polo had
described. A verdant soil, and coasts adorned by stately trees, watered
by navigable rivers, and indented by commodious harbours, spoke of
riches to come; while a fertile and populous country lay before him,
with peaceful and industrious inhabitants, who brought him food, and
fruits, and fish, in great abundance. There were however no mines
of gold, or palaces covered with that precious metal; but there was
everything that might encourage habits of industry, with little or
nothing to satisfy the cupidity of the settlers, or to lead them to
suppose they had discovered a land where man could live otherwise than
by the sweat of his brow.
[Sidenote: Discovery of the island of Jamaica.]
[Sidenote: Surveys Cuba, and returns to Isabella.]
At Santiago de Cuba Columbus was overwhelmed by the simple hospitality
of the natives; but as he approached the island of Jamaica he was met
by seventy or eighty canoes, filled with savages, gaily painted, and
decorated with feathers, advancing in warlike array, uttering loud
yells, and brandishing lances of pointed wood. An explanation, however,
from the interpreter, and a few presents to the crew of one of the
canoes who had ventured nearer than the rest, soothed the caciques
of the other canoes, some of which measured upwards of ninety feet
in length, and eight feet in breadth, and were hollowed out of one
magnificent tree. From Jamaica, Columbus proceeded to Cuba, and having
devoted many months to the survey of the whole of that portion of its
coast which he could reach, he set sail for Isabella, where he arrived
suffering in health, and with his ships greatly in need of repair, on
the 4th of September, 1494.
[Sidenote: Arrival of Bartholomew Columbus.]
Here he was greatly rejoiced to meet his brother Bartholomew, whom
he had not seen since he had commissioned him to lay his project of
discovery before Henry VII.; and who, on his return to Spain, with the
consent from that monarch, had learned that Christopher had made his
great voyage of discovery to the new world. The sight of his brother
was an inexpressible relief to Columbus, who, alone among strangers,
greatly needed the assistance of a man whose prompt action and fearless
spirit soon reduced the discontented colonists to a sense of their
duty. Anxious to relieve himself from the pressure of public business,
Columbus immediately invested his brother Bartholomew with the title
and authority of lieutenant-governor, in place of Diego, whose mild
and peaceable disposition rendered him little capable of managing the
concerns of a factious colony.
By his powerful assistance, and the timely receipt of fresh supplies of
stores from Spain, the reign of disorder which had so long prevailed,
especially during the absence of Columbus, was brought, in a great
measure, to an end; but the conduct of the Europeans had been such that
the native tribes turned against them, and for a time threatened the
entire annihilation of the colony.
[Sidenote: Intrigues at home.]
While however the restoration of order and the future security of
the colonists occupied the attention of Columbus and of his brother
Bartholomew, his enemies were undermining him at home. Reports were
circulated that the whole colony was in a state of anarchy, and that
Columbus was abusing his power, and neglecting its interests. Loud and
long were the complaints against him; and at last they were carried to
such an extent, that Ferdinand fitted out a fleet of caravels, which he
placed under charge of Diego Carillo, a commander of a military order,
giving him instructions that should Columbus be absent, he was to take
upon himself the government of the island and inquire into the alleged
evils and abuses, at the same time vesting him with power to remedy
such as should appear to him really in existence. A proclamation was
also issued, granting permission for any native-born Spanish subject
to settle in the island of Hispaniola and to undertake private voyages
of trade and discovery in the New World. Those who embarked at their
own expense were to have caravels assigned to them, and to be provided
with a supply of provisions sufficient for the first year, with a right
to hold certain lands and any houses they might erect upon them. They
likewise were to be allowed to retain one-third of whatever gold they
might collect, but the remaining two-thirds were to be handed over to
the crown of Spain, which was also to receive one-tenth of all the
other produce of the island; while one-tenth of the tonnage capacity of
any ship engaged in the trade of the New World was to be at the service
of the crown, free of charge.
[Sidenote: Commission of inquiry despatched to Hayti.]
But a few days before the departure of this expedition, the ships which
had carried out fresh supplies to Isabella returned to Spain, with
intelligence of the safe arrival of Columbus in Hispaniola, from his
long voyage along the southern coasts of Cuba, and bringing with them
specimens of the gold and of various animal and vegetable curiosities
he had collected. These news so far restored the great navigator to
the confidence of his sovereigns, that Juan Aguado, who had some time
before returned to Spain, highly recommended by the admiral, was
appointed to the command of the fleet about to sail, instead of Diego
Carillo, who was known to be personally hostile to Columbus.
When Aguado, with the four caravels under his command, well freighted
with supplies of every kind, arrived at Port Isabella in the month of
October, Columbus was absent in the interior, being at the time fully
occupied in re-establishing the tranquillity of the colony. Finding
Bartholomew in command, and conceiving that his commission authorized
him to supersede everyone except the admiral, he paid no respect to his
brother and ordered various persons to be arrested. Weak in himself and
puffed up with a little temporary power, Aguado lost sight alike of the
respect and gratitude due to Columbus, and of the nature and extent
of his own commission. The more discontented among the colonists at
once spread the report that the downfall of Columbus and of his family
was at hand, and that an ambassador had arrived from the sovereigns
of Spain empowered to hear and redress their grievances. Culprits and
offenders of every sort held high revel and were loud in their clamours
against the oppression of the admiral, ascribing every misfortune to
his mal-administration. To these clamours a weak and vain man, like
Aguado, lent but too ready an ear and daily became more arrogant.
When the news of his arrival and insolent conduct reached Columbus,
he hastened to Isabella, and received Aguado with the most grave and
punctilious courtesy, assuring him of his readiness to acquiesce in
whatever might be the pleasure of his sovereigns; but resolving in his
own mind to return as soon as practicable to Spain, and to ascertain
for himself the reason why this commission of inquiry had been
appointed.
[Sidenote: Columbus sets sail for Europe, 10th Mar. 1496.]
[Sidenote: Arrives at Cadiz, 11th June, 1496.]
Columbus was, however, detained longer than he wished. When his
arrangements were made for returning, a violent hurricane[764]
destroyed not merely the four caravels Aguado had brought out with him,
but all his own vessels, except the _Nina_, and she was left to him in
a very shattered condition. But she was soon repaired, and from the
wreck of the others he built a second vessel, which he named the _Santa
Cruz_, and set sail for Cadiz on the 10th of March, 1496, he embarking
in one of the vessels, and Aguado in the other, leaving his brother
Bartholomew in command of Hispaniola. Both caravels were loaded with
two hundred and fifty of the most discontented and profligate of the
colonists, as also with the sick and others who desired to return to
Spain. The voyage proved extremely tedious and toilsome, and it was not
until the 11th of June that they anchored in the Bay of Cadiz.
The enemies of Columbus had been only too successful in undermining
his popularity. The first excitement of a newly discovered world had
died away. Western India had not yielded the gold and spices and
wealth anticipated; and the means it really afforded for producing far
greater wealth than the fabled lands of Ophir or of the mines of Peru
have ever produced were then neither appreciated nor understood. The
richness which lay in its soil required time and industry to develop;
and the adventurous and enthusiastic Spaniards, who had interested
themselves in the New World, had neither studied the art of patience,
nor accustomed themselves to toil. But the sovereigns of Spain still
received Columbus with favour; and, the mission of the ungrateful and
arrogant Aguado not having accomplished at court all the injury he had
feared, Ferdinand and Isabella were still ready to meet the wishes of
the discoverer, and grant him ships for a third expedition.
It was not, however, until the spring of 1497, that any further
attention was given to the wishes of Columbus, and the affairs of
the New World. Although attractive and flattering to the pride of
Spain, the previous expeditions to the West had unquestionably fallen
far short of meeting the heavy expenses incurred upon them. No large
and immediate profits could at once be realized, such as those the
Portuguese reaped a few years afterwards from the discoveries of
Vasco de Gama. Hence there was great delay in fitting out this fresh
expedition, while the changes to be made in the future management of
the Indies of the West tended to increase the delay. At length, on the
30th of May, 1498, Columbus set sail from the port of San Lucar de
Barrameda, with a squadron of six vessels.
[Sidenote: Re-visits the West, May 1489.]
[Sidenote: Reaches Trinidad, 31st July;]
On this voyage he resolved to shape a course more to the southward
than he had done on either of the two previous ones. After taking
his departure from the Cape Verde Islands, he purposed sailing to
the south-west until he reached the equinoctial line, and then
steering directly west, until he arrived at land or in the longitude
of Hispaniola. Having taken his departure from the Cape Verde on the
5th of July, he by pursuing this course found himself, on the 13th
of that month, according to his observations, in the fifth degree of
north latitude, in the midst of calms, and under a bright and burning
sun. Continuing to steer to the west for some days, until he supposed
himself to be in the longitude of the Caribbee Islands, he shaped a
course for them to the northwards, intending to touch among them for
refreshments and repairs; but, being somewhat out of his reckoning, he
for the first time beheld, on the 31st of July, a large and fruitful
island, which he named La Trinidad.
Columbus had expected, from the heat of the sun, to find the land,
as he approached, parched and sterile; but Trinidad presented a very
different appearance. Stately groves of palm-trees and luxuriant
forests lined the shores, while the softness and purity of the climate,
and the balmy breeze from the land, reminded him of early spring in
the beautiful province of Valentia. While coasting along the island
in search of suitable anchorage, he descried land to the south, which
proved to be that low tract of coast intersected by the numerous
branches of the great River Orinoco, though he little suspected that
it was the vast continent of America. Remaining at the island, where
he found the natives peaceably disposed, and as usual, extravagantly
delighted with hawks’-bells and other trifling trinkets, Columbus
shaped his course for the coast of Paria, presuming it to be an
island, but, though delighted with the beauty of the country, which
was cultivated in many places, highly populous, and adorned with
magnificent vegetation, he was greatly astonished to find the water
fresh, and that it grew more and more so the further he proceeded. He
had reached the broad Gulf of Paria at the season of the year when
the rivers which empty themselves into it are swollen by rains, and
pour forth such quantities of fresh water as to conquer the saltness
of the ocean. Here the natives were of a superior class to any he had
hitherto seen. Their canoes were large and light, with a cabin in the
centre for the accommodation of the owner and his family. Many of the
men wore collars and burnished plates about their necks, of an inferior
description of gold, while some of the women had strings of pearls
round their arms, which they intimated, by signs, were procured on the
northern side of their sea-coast. Here, again, Columbus was treated
with profound reverence, as if he and his crews were beings descended
from heaven. The honour of a banquet of bread and of various fruits of
excellent flavour, together with different kinds of beverage, prepared
for him in the house of the cacique, was greatly enhanced by the
intelligent demeanour and martial frankness of the people, who seemed
every way worthy of the beautiful country they inhabited.
Imagining the coast of Paria to be an island, he resolved to
circumnavigate it, and, with that object, left the place where he
had received so much kindness, on the 10th of August, and continued
coasting westward within the gulf, in the vain search of an outlet to
the north. But, as his own vessel was too large for the purpose of
navigating these narrow waters, and as the stores of all his ships were
nearly exhausted, many of them having been entirely destroyed in the
tropics, whilst his own health was in a very precarious state, he felt
compelled to shorten his voyage, and hasten for Hispaniola.
[Sidenote: Discovers Tobago, Granada, and other islands, reaching
Hispaniola 19th Aug.]
[Sidenote: Finds everything in disorder.]
Discovering on his way the islands of Tobago and Granada, as also the
islands of Margarita and Cubagna, afterwards famous for their pearl
fisheries, he made the island of Hispaniola on the 19th August, about
fifty leagues to the westward of the river Osema, the place of his
destination; and having, on the following morning, anchored under the
little island of Beata, he sent a boat on shore to procure an Indian
messenger, to take a letter to his brother Bartholomew, who, during
his absence, had formed a new settlement at Dominica. On his arrival
he found that between fresh wars with the natives, and seditions among
the colonists combined with their own indolence, everything had again
been thrown into a state of confusion and poverty, saved only from
utter annihilation by the tact and ability of Bartholomew. Too idle
to labour, and destitute of those resources prevalent at home as a
means of killing time, the colonists had quarrelled among themselves,
mutinied against their rulers, wasted their time in alternate riot
and despondency, while their evil passions, which had inflicted
great calamities on the once pure and innocent natives, had likewise
ensured a merited return of suffering to themselves. Confirming, by
proclamation, the measures of his brother, and denouncing the leaders
of the conspiracies which had been the cause of so much misery and
ruin during his absence, Columbus hoped to restore confidence and
order. But the ringleaders continued to be a source of trouble to
him, and, unfortunately, their hands were too frequently strengthened
by the arrival of numerous adventurers, who, taking advantage of
the encouragement which the government of Spain had afforded to any
persons who desired to emigrate to the New World, flocked there in
thousands. The insolence of the rebels against his brother’s authority
during his absence, though for a time subdued by his presence, had
so greatly increased by the accession of numbers of well-armed and
desperate confederates, that Columbus felt he required powers greater
than he possessed to ensure the fidelity of the well-disposed against
the intrigues of the discontented and lawless. He therefore made
arrangements for returning to Spain.
Aware that many of the most worthless settlers desired to return home,
he issued, on the 12th of September, a proclamation, offering free
passage and provisions for the voyage to all who wished to return to
Spain, hoping thus to relieve the colony of the idle and disaffected,
and to weaken the power of the leaders of revolt, until he could carry
into effect the necessary measures for their entire discomfiture and
subjection. A large portion of the more lawless of the early colonists
accepted the offer; and having sent full advices to his sovereigns,
by the vessels in which they sailed on the 18th October, of what was
going on in the island, Columbus entered into arrangements which he
hoped would tend to restore order before he himself returned to Spain.
Having been enabled to settle matters somewhat to his own satisfaction
at Dominica, he left his brother, Don Diego, in temporary command of
that place, and joined Bartholomew on a tour to visit the various
stations, and to restore, if possible, order throughout the whole of
the island.
[Sidenote: Makes a tour of inspection]
The tour of inspection and restoration required much more time than
Columbus had anticipated. Everything had fallen into confusion during
the late troubles. Farms lay neglected, mines were abandoned, the
flocks and herds were scattered or destroyed, the caciques had ceased
to pay their tribute, and the natives no longer cultivated their
allotted tracts of land. In the midst of these perplexities, and while
making herculean exertions to restore order, Columbus received a reply
from Spain to his communication, which, though furnishing him with
increased power, coldly stated that another investigation would shortly
be made into the state of affairs. He was greatly troubled in mind by
its tone, naturally feeling that his complaints had little weight with
the government, and that the misrepresentations of his enemies were
prejudicing him with his sovereigns; nevertheless, his zeal for their
cause never flagged, and his labour to restore order was incessant.
At length he triumphed; faction was subdued; the Spaniards renewed
their labour on the land; the fields which had lain waste were again
cultivated; and the natives, like their employers, seeing the folly of
resistance, and the loss they themselves sustained by it, submitted
patiently to the terms which Columbus had laid down and eventually
enforced.
[Sidenote: but is arrested, and sent a prisoner to Spain.]
But all these reforms had been brought about by a course which had
greatly increased the number of his enemies. Every worthless fellow
whom he had sent home or punished became his implacable foe and
intrigued for his downfall; and too many of them had influence at
court, which, in the absence of Columbus, produced its effect. At last
he was superseded; and, to the disgrace of Ferdinand and Isabella, who
lent too ready an ear to the calumnious reports spread against him,
this great and good man was arrested, and he and his two brothers sent
in chains back to the country to which he had given a new and a now
mighty world.
[Sidenote: Arrives at Cadiz, Nov. 1500.]
Thus humiliated, Christopher Columbus landed at Cadiz towards the
close of the year 1500. The fact of the ignominy to which he had been
subjected spoke with the voice of thunder to the feelings of the
people. They neither cared for nor inquired into the cause of his great
humiliation. It was sufficient for them to know that this noble-minded
man had been brought home in chains from the world he had discovered,
and the sensation thus produced was almost as great as the reception
which had awaited him on his triumphant return from the first discovery
of America, in March 1493.
His own feelings of the wrongs he had sustained at the hands of his
worthless enemies are nowhere so well described as in the letter he
addressed, immediately on his return to Spain, to a lady who was in
immediate attendance on the queen, and stood high in her favour.[765]
“I have now reached that point,” he remarks, “that there is no man so
vile but thinks it his right to insult me. The day will come when the
world will reckon it a virtue to him who has not given his consent to
their abuse. If I had plundered the Indies, even to the country where
is the fabled altar of St. Peter’s, and had given them all to the
Moors, they could not have shown towards me more bitter enmity than
they have done in Spain. Who would believe such things of a country
where there has always been so much nobility? I should much like to
clear myself of this affair, if only it were consistent with etiquette
to do so, face to face with my queen.... The slanders of worthless
men,” he continues, “have done me more injury than all my services have
profited me.... I have had so strange a character given to me that if
I were to build hospitals and churches, they would call them caves for
robbers.”
[Sidenote: And is restored to the royal favour.]
This letter, combined with other representations of the real facts of
the case, and with the unmistakeable expression of public opinion, made
a great impression on the mind of Isabella, and had at once the effect
of relieving Columbus and his brothers from their ignoble imprisonment.
He was invited to the court, then at Grenada, where he appeared on the
17th of December, not in a prison dress, and in the degraded position
in which he had landed at Cadiz, but in rich attire, and attended by
an honourable retinue. When the Queen saw the venerable navigator
approach, she was moved to tears at sufferings to which she and
Ferdinand had been the unwilling or unknowing parties—in so far that
they had superseded him and given to his successor power to inflict
grievous wrong on one of the noblest of men. When the brave old seaman
saw how his queen was affected, his spirit, which had endured with
lofty scorn the injuries and insults of ignoble men, gave way; he threw
himself upon his knees, and wept like a child. His sovereigns had found
that he was still as worthy as ever of their confidence, and _that_
thought was a sufficient solace for all he had suffered. Columbus was
soon reinstated in all his privileges and dignities, and those who had
injured him were degraded and disgraced. Everything was done which it
was in the power of Isabella to do, to vindicate herself to the world
from the charge of ingratitude towards the great navigator.
A considerable time, however, elapsed before any steps were taken to
fit out another expedition in which Columbus could return to Dominica
and there resume in triumph the viceroyalty of the colony. Many events
prevented the immediate despatch of another fleet, some of which were
in a measure beyond the control of the sovereigns of Spain. The delay
was, however, a grievous disappointment to Columbus. Though Bobadilla,
by whom he had been superseded and insulted, was dismissed, Ferdinand,
whose professions of friendship were far from being as sincere as
those of the queen, deemed it desirable to refill his place for two
years by some prudent and able officer, who could put a stop to all
remaining faction in the colony, and thus prepare the way for Columbus
to enjoy the rights and dignities of his government, both peacefully
and beneficially to the crown. But there were other reasons which
induced Ferdinand to appoint one Nicholas de Ovando as governor, for a
time, to the new found colony. Listening too readily to the calumnies
of the many enemies at court of Columbus, he had imbibed some vague
idea that the great navigator might set up an independent sovereignty,
or deliver his discoveries into the hands of the Genoese, or of some
other European power: he may also have felt that Columbus was no longer
indispensable to him, as the throne was daily besieged by applicants to
be allowed to fit out expeditions at their own expense, and to share
with the crown the profits upon them.
[Sidenote: A fleet sails for the colony with Ovando, Feb. 1502, and two
months afterwards (9th May) Columbus follows, and reaches Dominica,
29th June.]
Hence it was that the interests of Columbus were for a time overlooked.
Ovando, however, received orders to examine all his accounts; to
ascertain the damages he had sustained by his imprisonment, by the
interruption of his privileges, and by the confiscation of his effects.
His property, which Bobadilla had seized, was to be restored, and to
be made good if it had been sold. Equal care was also to be taken to
indemnify his brothers for their arrest and for the losses they had
sustained. The arrears of the revenue due to Columbus were to be paid
to him, and their punctual payment secured for the future. Such were
among the instructions given to Ovando, who, on the 13th of February,
1502, sailed in the largest fleet which had previously left for the new
colony.
Washington Irving, quoting from Las Casas, who, however, he states,
gives the figures from memory,[766] says “that this fleet consisted of
thirty sail, five of them from ninety to one hundred and fifty tons
burden; twenty-four caravels, from thirty to ninety, and one bark of
twenty-five tons. The number of souls,” he continues, “embarked in this
fleet, was about twenty-five hundred, many of them persons of rank and
distinction, with their families.” But as the smaller craft were not
adapted for a voyage across the Atlantic, and as the number of persons
embarked would give eighty-three, on an average, to each vessel, which
is a greater number than even the largest vessels could conveniently
carry with their luggage, and the requisite stores of provisions and
water for such a voyage, there is no doubt some error in the figures of
Las Casas. It is more likely, especially as the vessels conveyed many
persons of rank and distinction, that the smallest was one hundred, and
the largest somewhere about three hundred tons burthen. This fleet,
it would appear, did not arrive at Dominica until the 15th of April;
and in a violent storm, which it encountered soon after leaving Spain,
lost, according to the same authority, one of its number, with “one
hundred and twenty persons” on board.
[Sidenote: Discovers the island of Guanaga, 30th July.]
[Sidenote: Trading canoe.]
Age and care were rapidly reducing the otherwise strong frame of
Columbus, when, on the 9th of May, 1502, he set sail from Cadiz in
four small caravels on his fourth and last voyage of discovery. He
was then about sixty-six years of age; but from the hardships he
had encountered, and the mental sufferings he had undergone, his
constitution was so much impaired, that he was more infirm than many
men who were ten years his senior. In his brother, Don Bartholomew, and
in his younger son, Fernando, he however found wise counsellors and
able assistants, combined with sincere and affectionate sympathisers.
Arriving at the Grand Canary, on the 20th of May, he took in a fresh
supply of wood and water, and five days afterwards sailed for the
Caribbee Islands, which he reached without shifting sail on the 15th of
June, having had a fair wind and beautiful weather the whole way. On
the 29th of that month he arrived at Dominica, where matters were still
in so unsettled a state that he did not land, but proceeded to Port
Hermoso, to the west of that island, to effect some necessary repairs
to his vessels. Thence he sailed on his voyage of research, calling at
Port Brazil for shelter from a gale, and leaving that port on the 14th
of July, discovering, sixteen days afterwards, a small island within a
few leagues of the coast of Honduras, still known by the Indian name
of Guanaga or Bonacca. Here Columbus was struck with the contents of
a large trading canoe which lay in the harbour, supposed to have come
from the province of Yucatan, about forty leagues distant. This canoe,
“eight feet wide, and as long as a galley, formed from the trunk of a
single tree,” was filled with multifarious articles, the manufacture
and natural production of the adjacent countries. She was rowed by
twenty-five Indians; and under an awning, or cabin of palm leaves, in
form resembling that of the gondolas of Venice, sat a cacique, with his
wives and children, who, displaying no fear whatever of the Spaniards,
seemed to indicate that their ancestors had held intercourse with the
people of civilized nations; while the articles of commerce which the
canoe contained tended to confirm this impression. Washington Irving
adds, that, besides various Indian products Columbus had met with
before, this canoe had also in her, hatchets of copper, wooden swords
with sharp flints inserted, and made fast by lines of fish intestines,
several copper bells and a rude kind of crucible—with various utensils
in clay, marble, and hard wood. It also contained quantities of cacao,
a substance not then known to the Spaniards, and which the Indians
used both for food and as a species of currency. The Indians made use
of a beverage resembling beer, and made from maize; and their women
wore mantles, like those of the Moorish women at Granada. From some
intelligent natives who were on board this vessel Columbus learned that
they came from a rich and luxuriant country in the West, towards which
they strongly advised the admiral to steer; and had he acted on this
advice, he must have reached Yucatan in a day or two, and added to his
previous discoveries that also of Mexico.
[Sidenote: Prosecutes his researches to the South.]
[Sidenote: Reaches Cape Honduras.]
The discovery of the other opulent countries of New Spain would have
necessarily followed; while the disclosure of the Southern Ocean
would have revealed to him the true form of that interesting portion
of the world, and, affording a succession of splendid discoveries,
would have shed fresh renown on his declining years. But Columbus was
intent on discovering the imaginary strait which would lead him to the
land of Cathay, and the spice islands of India, which Marco Polo had
so glowingly described.[767] Consequently on leaving the island of
Guanaga, he stood southerly till he discovered the land now known as
Cape Honduras, where he again encountered heavy storms, by which his
vessel suffered much damage. “I have seen many storms,” said Columbus,
“but none so violent or of such long duration.” Against these he
struggled for forty days, having advanced in that time only about
seventy leagues, to another headland, to which he gave the name of
Gracias a Dios (Thanks to God): here the coast turned directly south,
and he obtained for his further course a fair wind for his leaky and
tempest-tost caravels.
[Sidenote: Discovers and explores the Mosquito coast.]
[Sidenote: Puerto Bello.]
Steering along the shore now known as the Mosquito coast, Columbus
passed a cluster of twelve small islands, which he named the Limanares,
and continuing south for about sixty-two leagues, reached, on the
16th of September, a copious river, where one of his boats, during an
expedition to obtain a supply of wood and fresh water, was totally
lost with her crew. Thence he proceeded to Cariavi, which he left, on
the 5th of October, for a cruise along the coast of Costa Rica until
he reached a large bay, called by the natives Carabaro, where he
anchored. Here the Spaniards met with specimens of pure gold, and many
indications of a higher state of cultivation if not of civilization
than they had hitherto seen; signs in the opinion of Columbus of his
approach to the territory of the Grand Khan. Pursuing his course, the
squadron, on the 2nd of November, anchored in a spacious and commodious
harbour, to which he gave the name of Puerto Bello, by which the town
and harbour are still known. Here they were detained for seven days by
heavy rain and stormy weather. Sailing hence on the 9th of November,
the squadron proceeded eight leagues to the eastward, to the point
since known as Nombre de Dios, where after visiting other places on
the coast, he determined to relinquish the further prosecution of the
voyage to the eastward, and return to the coast of Veragua. But the
wind suddenly veered to the west, directly adverse to the new course
he had adopted, accompanied by a succession of heavy gales, in which
he and his crew endured great sufferings. It was not until the 6th of
February, 1503, that Columbus reached the river Belem, where he formed
a settlement, under the impression that he had at last discovered one
of the richest parts of the Asiatic continent where gold abounded, and
(strange hallucination!) the part from whence King Solomon had drawn
most of his unbounded wealth.
[Sidenote: Forms a settlement on the River Belem, 6th Feb., 1503.]
[Sidenote: Anchors at Jamaica, June 1503.]
At this favoured spot his brother Bartholomew arranged to remain with
eighty men, while Columbus himself returned to Spain. No sooner,
however, had they commenced to erect houses, and form the colony, than
they were attacked by the Indians. Numerous encounters ensued, with
much loss of life and suffering. Unable to maintain their position, the
settlement was soon abandoned, and the squadron in a disabled state
made the best of its way to Hispaniola. On the 10th of May Columbus
sighted the north-west coast of that island, but again encountering
boisterous weather and adverse winds, he was unable to reach the port
of Dominica, and therefore steered for Jamaica, where he anchored. From
thence he despatched a message by canoe to Ovando, the governor of
Dominica, requesting that a vessel might be sent to his relief, his own
being unseaworthy.
[Sidenote: And Dominica, 13th August of that year.]
[Sidenote: Sails for Spain 12th Sept., which he reaches 7th Nov., 1504.]
More than eight months elapsed before Columbus received an answer of
any kind from Ovando; and when a boat at last came with a messenger,
it was only to leave a few trifling presents, and say that the
necessary vessels would be provided as soon as possible. These at
length arrived, and enabled him on the 28th of June, 1504, to leave his
unseaworthy vessels behind him, and to set sail for Dominica which he
reached on the 13th of August after a very stormy passage. Ovando and
the leading inhabitants gave him a show of welcome, and their conduct
was courteous towards him; but there were too deep causes of jealousy
and distrust for their intercourse to be cordial; nor was his sojourn
at Dominica calculated to restore confidence. The state of things in
the colony were far from satisfactory, and his own immediate concerns
in great confusion. His rents and dues were either uncollected, or he
could not obtain a satisfactory account of them; and the little he did
collect was entirely consumed in fitting out the two vessels which were
to convey himself and his crews to Spain. On the 12th of September
he set sail, and having experienced tempestuous weather throughout
the passage, did not arrive in the harbour of St. Lucar until the 7th
of November, whence he had himself conveyed, broken down in health
and spirits, to Seville, where he hoped to enjoy rest after the many
hardships and anxieties he had encountered.
[Sidenote: His sufferings, and death, 20th May, A.D. 1506.]
But there was no rest for the great navigator. Care and sorrow were
destined in his latter days to follow him by sea and land. All his
affairs were in confusion. Exhausted and infirm he was unable to seek
an audience of his sovereigns; the letters he addressed to them,
pleading for his rights, and asking simple justice at their hands,
remained unanswered; and the discoverer of a New World, who had adorned
the crown of Spain with by far its brightest jewels, broken down by
infirmities, lay despised and impoverished in the city of Seville.
This extraordinary conduct on the part of the sovereigns of Spain is,
however, in some measure accounted for by the fact that Isabella lay
dangerously ill, of an illness from which she never recovered; while
the cold-hearted Ferdinand, instigated no doubt by the enemies of
Columbus, treated all his applications, if he ever read them, with
indifference.
During the remainder of the winter, and a part of the spring, Columbus
was detained by painful illness at Seville, and when in May, 1505, he
was able to be removed to Segovia, where the court then sat, Ferdinand
had lost sight of all his past services, in what appeared to him the
inconvenience of his present demands, though receiving the once courted
navigator with many professions of kindness. Months were however spent
in unavailing attendance upon the court. In the meantime his cares
and sorrows were fast drawing to a close. He had for some time felt
that he was dying, and having arranged as best he could his worldly
affairs, he resigned himself into the hands of that great God whom he
had worshipped with the same sincerity in his hours of triumph as he
had done in the time of his deep adversity. On the day of Ascension,
the 20th of May, 1506, being about seventy years of age, Christopher
Columbus, who had done so much without reward, and suffered so much
without upbraiding, passed silently away to, I doubt not, a better and
a happier world.
FOOTNOTES:
[754] Voyages of Columbus, vol. i. p. 258.
[755] See “Letters from the Tropics,” by the Rev. C. Kingsley in “Good
Words” for 1870.
[756] W. Irving, p. 92.
[757] Select Letters of Columbus. Introd. p. lxiv.
[758] Hakluyt, “Col. Voyages,” p. 7.
[759] Voyages of Columbus, vol. ii. p. 1.
[760] Vol. ii. p. 7.
[761] Select Letters of Columbus, p. 19, _et seq._
[762] Memorial addressed by Columbus to Antonio de Torres, for
Ferdinand and Isabella, from the city of Isabella, dated Jan. 30th,
1494, in “Select Letters of Columbus,” p. 73, _et seq._
[763] Memorial, p. 79.
[764] This word is said to be derived from the Indian name for this
tempest, Urican.—W. Irving, p. 201.
[765] Letter of Columbus to Doña Juana de la Torres, in “Select Letters
of Columbus,” pp. 153 and 158.
[766] Voyages of Columbus, vol. iii. p. 164.
[767] Letter of Columbus from Jamaica, “Select Letters,” p. 20.
MERCHANT SHIPPING
VOL. I.
APPENDIX.
CONTENTS OF APPENDIX.
PAGE
1. Note by Rev. J. O. W. Haweis on the Rowing of Ancient Galleys 625
2. Ordinances of Richard I. for his sailors, A.D. 1190 628
3. Mandate for the “Cogge of Norway” 629
4. Charter of Edward I. to Cinque Ports, A.D. 1272-1307 629
5. Wages of Sailors, temp. Edward I. 632
6. Roll of the Ships of Edward III. before Calais 634
7. Cost of the Repairs of Edward III.’s Ships 636
8. Extracts from Sir T. Duffus Hardy’s Syllabus of Rymer’s
“Fœdera” 642
9. Form of “Safe Conduct” 650
10. Form of the “Arrest of Ships” 652
11. Form of the “Arrest of Mariners” 653
12. Extracts from “Register of Grants” 653
13. Ancient form of Procedure for the Restitution of Goods
unlawfully seized 654
APPENDICES.
APPENDIX No. 1.
_Note by Rev. J. O. W. Haweis on the rowing of ancient Galleys._
On a fine summer evening, when the author was seated beneath the tall
elm-trees which overshadow his residence at Shepperton, on the banks of
the Thames, he had the pleasure of a visit, accompanied by the Rector
of the parish, from the Rev. J. O. W. Haweis, of Colwood, Crawley, in
the county of Sussex. The author at the moment was in the midst of
various calculations, endeavouring to solve the vexed problem of how
the galleys of the ancients were rowed. As Mr. Haweis took an interest
in scientific pursuits, he handed to him for consideration the notes
he had made on the subject of rowing galleys, calling his attention to
the fact that all ancient authors had spoken of the operation as being
accompanied by the sound of music. Curious to know how a gentleman of
his turn of mind would deal with the question, the author requested to
be favoured with Mr. Haweis’s views on the subject under consideration.
The following notes and illustrations are the result. Though he does
not think they solve the problem, or would be applicable to the
various descriptions of ancient galleys of which accounts have been
preserved, they are sufficiently novel and ingenious as to be worthy of
preservation.
“I merely propose,” remarks Mr. Haweis, “a possible quinquereme, which
I imagine might be practically navigated. I am well aware that there is
no reason to suppose it the actual plan of any ancient galley. The two
sketches will explain themselves.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
“I assume the interior breadth as from 27 to 30 feet at the largest
part.
“The highest rowlock as 9 feet, the lowest 3 feet from water-line.
“The interior fittings waterproof to the height of 6 feet.
“The lower and second rowlocks, closeable at will by the rower drawing
a plug from without, as the rising sea makes them useless.
“The disposition of rowlocks would thus be, for a set:—
[Illustration]
I cannot find any other way in which to avoid collisions.
“The oars are 9 feet, 13 feet, 18 feet, 24 feet 6 inches, and 35 feet.
The long oars have handles thus:—
[Illustration]
and feather in reverse, by the pusher dropping his hands, and so
helping to recover the puller.
“Any two of these oars might be pulled in time with that next above
or below it without much inconvenience, but the loss of power in thus
working 1 and 5 would be enormous.
“Let 5 and 4 pull together to beat of drum; four strokes and returns to
eight beats—
[Illustration]
“Let 3 pull two strokes and returns—
[Illustration]
“Let 2 keep time with 3, the men advancing and retreating two steps.
“Let 1 take four steps forward in the two bars, and return in the same
time.
“Thus all commence the stroke together; 2 and 3 renew the impulse at
the bar; 4 and 5 do the same at half-bar.
“The beat of drum would be accented thus:—
[Illustration]
“Thus all would work together, and each man have the beginning of his
stroke marked.
“There might be also a deck or gangway on each side for the protection
of the men from sun and rain.
“Very large sweeps were exhibited as in actual use in the Exhibition of
1851, if I remember right.
“From some rude experiments with fir poles, I think 35-feet oars could
be efficiently handled.
“The lower tiers would ship first, and the hands assist the upper.
“These are mere notions; but if they should be new to you, I shall be
glad I entertained them.”
APPENDIX No. 2.
_Ordinances made by King Richard to be observed among seafaring men,
A.D. 1190, in the second year of his reign._
[Sidenote: Sleigers of men.]
“Firste, that if any man chanced to slea another on the Shipbord he
should be bound to the deed body and soe throwen into the sea.
“Secondly, if he killed him on land he should yett be bound to him as
before, and soe buryed quicke, together.
[Sidenote: Brauling.]
“Thirdly, if any man should be convicted by lawfull witnesse that he
drewe any weapon to strike any other, or chanced, by striking of any
man, to drawe blood of him that was smitten, he should loose his hand.
[Sidenote: The punishment for blood drawing.]
“Fourthly, if he give but a blowe with his fist, without
bloodsheddinge, he should be plunged three severall tymes over head and
eares in water.
[Sidenote: Revilers.]
“Fiftly, if any man reviled another he should for every tyme soe
missusinge himselfe forfeit an ounce of silver.
[Sidenote: Thefte and Pickerry.]
“Sixtely, if any man were taken with thefte or pickerye, and thereof
konuicted, he should have his head poolled and hot pitche powred upon
his pate and upon that the feathers of some pillowe or cushione shaken
aloft, that he might thereby be knowne for a theefe, and at the next
arrivall of the shipps to any land, be put forth of the Company to
seeke his adventure without all hope to retourne to his fellowes.”[768]
APPENDIX No. 3.
_A Mandate for the King of Norway, in favour of his ship the Cogge._
“Anno Domini 1229, 13th year of Henry III.
“Wee will and command all bailliffes of Portes att the which the Cogge
of Norway (wherein certain of the King of Norway, his souldiers, and
certayne Marchants of Saxonie, are cominge for England) shall touche,
that when the forsaid Cogge shall chance to arrive att any of there
hauens, they doe permitt the said Cogge safely to remayne in ther said
hauens, soe long as need shall require, and without impedimente alsoe
freely to deperte thence whensoever the governair of the said Shipp
shall thinke it expediente.
“Witnesse the Kinge.”[769]
APPENDIX No. 4.
_New Charter of the Liberties of the Cinque Ports, confirmed in
the time of King Edward, son of King Henry_ (EDWARD I., A.D.
1272-1307).
“EDWARD, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, and
Duke of Aquitaine, to the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Earls,
Barons, Justiciaries, Sheriffs, Provosts, Officers, and all Bailiffs
and his lieges health, Know ye that we, for the faithful service
which our Barons of the Cinque Ports have rendered heretofore to our
predecessors Kings of England and to us lately in our army of Wales,
and for the service to us and our heirs Kings of England faithfully to
be continued for the future, have granted and by this our Charter have
confirmed for us and our heirs to the same our Barons and their heirs
all their liberties and quittances, so that they may be quit of all
duty [thelonium] and from all custom, viz.: from all lastage, tallage,
passage, cayage, rivage, sponsage, and from all wrekke, and from all
their selling, buying, and redeeming [rechato] through all our land and
dominion with soc and sac and thol and theam; and that they may have
infangenethef; and that they may be Wrekfri and Wytefri and lastagefri
and lovetopfri; and that they may have Den and stronde at Gernemuthe,
according as it is contained in an ordinance by us made to that end,
and to be observed perpetually; and moreover that they may be quit from
shires and hundreds, so that if any shall wish to plead against them,
they may not answer nor plead otherwise than they were wont to plead in
the time of the Lord Henry the King, our great-grandsire; and that they
may have their findings in sea and on land; and that they may be quit
of all their property and of all their markets like as our free men;
and that they may have their honours in our court and their liberties
through all our land whithersoever they shall have come; and that for
all their lands which they possessed in the time of the Lord Henry the
King, our father, namely, in the year of his reign the forty-fourth,
they may be quit for ever of common summonses before our Justiciaries
for whatever pleas itinerant in whatever counties of this land they may
be; so that the same may not be bound to come before the Justiciaries
aforesaid unless any of the same Barons should implead any one or be
impleaded by any one; and that they may not plead elsewhere except
where they ought and where they were wont, namely, at Shypwey; and that
they may have the liberties and quittances aforesaid for the future as
they themselves and their predecessors have ever held them better more
fully and more honourably in the times of the Kings of England—Edward,
William the First, and Second, King Henry, our great-grandsire, and
in the times of King Richard and King John, our grandsire, and of the
Lord Henry the King, our father, by Charters of the same, like as those
Charters, which the same our Barons have to that effect, and which we
have inspected, reasonably testify. And we prohibit that any should
unjustly disturb them or their market on pain of forfeiture of ten
pounds; so however that when the same Barons shall have failed in doing
and receiving justice, our Warden, and the Warden of our heirs of the
Cinque ports for the time being, may enter their ports and liberties in
their default for the purpose of doing full justice therein; so also
that the said Barons and their heirs do to us and our heirs, Kings of
England, by the year their full service of fifty and seven ships at
their own cost for fifteen days at the summons of us and our heirs.
We have granted moreover to the same of our special grace that they
may have outfangenethef in their lands within the ports aforesaid in
the same manner as the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Earls, and Barons
have in their manors in the county of Kent; and that they be not put in
assizes of juries or in any recognitions by reason of their forinsec
tenure against their will; and that concerning their own wines, in
which they traffic, they may be quit of our right prise [_recta
prisa_], viz., one cask of wine before the mast and another behind the
mast. We have granted moreover to the same our Barons for ourselves
and our heirs that they may have for ever this liberty, namely, that
neither we nor our heirs shall have wardship or marriages of their
heirs by reason of their lands which they hold within the liberties
and ports aforesaid, for which they do their service aforesaid, and of
which neither we nor our predecessors have had wardship or marriages
in times past. The aforesaid our confirmation however of liberties and
quittances aforesaid, and other our grants following, we have caused
to be made to them anew of our special grace, saving always in all
things our Royal dignity, and saving to us and our heirs the pleas of
our crown of life and limbs. Wherefore we will and firmly command for
ourselves and our heirs that the aforesaid Barons and their heirs have
for ever all the liberties and quittances aforesaid, as the Charters
aforesaid reasonably testify; and that of our special grace they have
utfangenethef in their lands within the ports aforesaid in the same
manner as the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Earls, and Barons have in
their manors in the county of Kent; and that they be not put in assizes
of juries or in any recognitions by reason of their forinsec tenure
against their will; and that concerning their own wines, in which they
traffic, they may be quit of our right prise, viz., one cask of wine
before the mast and another behind the mast; and that in like manner
they have for ever the liberty aforesaid, viz., that neither we nor
our heirs have wardship or marriage of their heirs by reason of their
lands which they hold within the liberties and ports aforesaid, for
which they do their service aforesaid, and of which neither we nor
our predecessors have had wardship or marriages in times past. The
aforesaid our confirmation however of the liberties and quittances
aforesaid and other our grants following we have caused to be made to
them anew of our special grace saving always in all things our Royal
dignity, and saving to us and our heirs the pleas of the crown of
life and limbs, as is aforesaid. These being Witnesses, the Venerable
Father Robert [Kilwarby], Bishop of Porto, Cardinal of the Holy Roman
Church, William de Valentia [Valence], our uncle, brother William de
Southampton, Prior provincial of Friars Preachers in England, Roger de
Mortuomari [Mortimer], Roger de Clifford, Master Walter Scamel, Dean
of Sarum, Master Robert de Scardeburg, Archdeacon of the East Riding,
Bartholomew de Suthleye, Thomas de Weylond, Walter de Hopton, Thomas de
Normanville, Stephen de Penecestre, Francis de Bouene, John de Louetot,
John de Metyngham, and others. Given by our hand at Westminster the
seventeenth day of June in the sixth year of our reign [1278].”[770]
APPENDIX No. 5.
_Account of the Freights and of the Wages of the Sailors of the
ships of Edward I. in divers fleets at divers ports, assembled
as well for the passage of the King to Flanders as also for the
Duchess of Brabant, &c._
£ _s._ _d._
[Sidenote: Ships carrying wheat to Gascony.]
To Ralph de Aldeburgh, Master of the ship called “The
Rose,” of Lenna (Lynn ?), loading in
the same ship of his own for Gascony for
the assistance of the king’s army there,
viz., as far as Burgh-on-the-sea, 428½ quarters of
wheat from the port of Herewich, and for the
freight of the same ship by way of expenses for it
and the crew of the same ship, going and returning,
paid into his own hands at Herewich, 30th
December 15 0 0
To William Helmyn, Master of “La Mariola,” of
Lenna, freighted in the same manner, from Herewich
to Burgh-on-the-sea with 428½ quarters, &c. 15 0 0
[Sidenote: Ipswich.]
To William Brum, Master of the “Virly,” of Ipswich,
one constable, 48 crew, for wages from
Jan. 12 to Feb. 2, 22 days inclusive 14 6 0
[Sidenote: The galley of Lenna.]
To Walter de Fordham, Master of the Galley of
Lenna, two constables, and 87 crew,
for wages from Dec. 30, when they
set sail from Lenna for Herewich
[Harwich], to Feb. 2, 25 days inclusive; the
Master and each constable 6_d._, each sailor 3_d._ per
_diem_ 40 13 9
To the same Walter for the payment of a Lodman
[pilot], hired to conduct the same galley to
Brabant 13 4
The principal places of embarcation are Gernemuth (Yarmouth),
Bautreseie, Gippewicus (Ipswich), Haveford (Haverfordwest), Herewicus
(Harwich), Schottele, Everwarton, Colneseie, Brithlingesei, Meresei
(Mersey), Lim (Lyme?), Loo in Cornwall, Portesmuth, Sandwich, La
Stroude, Saltcote, London, Hardeburgh.
_f._ 89 _b._ A lantern bought. To Robert Le Horner
for one large Lantern bought of the same, to hang
in the ship assigned to the Duchess of Brabant for
her passage to Brabant by precept of the king, that
the other ships may be able to follow her in the
sea at night 10_s._ 0_d._
[Sidenote: Pilot for the
King’s body.]
To John Jolif of Sandwich, Pilot (Lodman),
leading the ship called “The Coga of
St. Edward,” in which the body of the
king passed over from Winchelsey to
La Swyne, in his fleet for Flanders, paid into his
own hands at Bruges on the 3rd of September 26_s._ 8_d._
Then follows a long list of the ships carrying victuals to Gascony and
Flanders, with their names, quantities carried, masters and crews’
names, &c.; as for example:
To John de Barewe, Master of the “Alice,” carrying
12 barrels flour, 209½ quarters of oats, 23 carcases
of beef, wages for himself and six men for 14 days 28_s._
The names of the ships are interesting as:—La Messagere, La Plente,
La Mariole, La Godyer, La Seefare, La Stoule, La Blithe, Le Lionu,
La Grace Dieu, La Fankonu of Carmarthen, La Sauueye, La Johanette,
Coga St. Thomas, La Mariote, La Furmente, La Viryly, the Hulks of
the Blessed Mary, La Constance; many names of Sts., Andrew, Peter,
Catherine, Mary, the Trinity, St. Cross, &c., &c.
_f._ 96. A long account of the passage of the ships at Plymouth for
Gascony, arranged under the following ports:—Warham, Weymuth, Exemuth,
Tegnemuth, Dertemuth, Loo, Fowy, Briggewater, Bristoll’, Houue,
Seford, Shorham, Portesmuth, Southhampton and Hamele, Lemyngton,
Yaremuth, Pole, Warham, Weymuth, Lym (Lyme Regis), Sidemuth, Exemuth,
Tenemuth, Dertemuth, Plymuth, Loo, Fowy, Kermerdyn, (Carmarthen),
Briggewater, Chepstowe, Hertelpol, Ireland, Scardeburgh, Lenne,
Blakeneye, Scotesmuth, Holan, Thornham, Jernemuth, Donewycus (Dunwich),
Oreford, Goseford, Gippewycus (Ipswich), Herewycus (Harwich), Orewell,
Colecestre, Sandwycus, Dovorria, Faversham, Folkstan, Heth’, Romenale,
Rye, Winchelsey, Hastinges, Pevenese, Seford, Baiona (Bayonne),
Weymuth, Tegnemuth, Dertemuth.
_f._ 103. Wages of the sailors at Sandwich in the same year for the
fleet of ships for the passage of Robert Fitz-Payn, and his countess to
Flanders, arranged under ports with similar names to the above. These
additional ones also occur: Gravelinges, Karnarvan (Carnarvon).
Sum total of the wages of the Sailors, £5586 19_s._ 3_d._
APPENDIX No. 6.
_Ships of Edward III. at Calais._
MS. Harl. 246, f. 12_b_. | MS. Harl. 3968, f. 130.
|
The number of Shippes and maryners | The rolle of the huge ffleete of E. 3
that served Kinge Edw. 3 in these | before Callice to be seene in the
warres. | Kinges great Gardrobe in London,
| whereby appeareth the wonderfull
| strengthe of England by sea in those
| dayes.
|
THE SOWTHE FLEETE. | THE SOUTHE FLEET.
|
Shippes. Maryners. | Shippes. Marryners.
The Kinge 25 419 | The King’s 25 419
London 25 662 | London 25 662
Ayleforde 2 24 | Ailford 2 24
Hoo 2 24 | Hoo _alias_ Morne 2 24
Maydestone 2 51 | Maidston 2 51
Hope 2 59 | Sandwich 22 504
Margate 15 160 | Dover 16 336
Nonehethe 5 49 | Wighte 13 220
Montormont 2 23 | Winchelsey 21 596
Feversham 2 53 | Waymouth 15 263
Sandwiche 22 504 | Lyme 4 62
Dover 16 334 | Seton 2 25
Wighte 13 220 | Sidmouth 3 62
Wynchelsey 21 396 | Hope 2 59
Waymouthe 15 263 | Newhith 5 49
Lyme 4 62 | Margat 15 160
Seton 2 25 | Morne vel } 2 22
Sydmowthe 3 62 | Morne }
Exmowthe 10 193 | Feversham 2 25
Tegmouthe 7 120 | Exmouth 10 293
Dertmowthe 32 756 | Tegmouth 7 120
Portesmowthe 5 96 | Dartmouth 31 757
Plymowthe 26 603 | Plymouth 26 603
Loo 20 315 | Loo 20 315
Yalme 2 47 | Yalme 2 47
Fowey 47 770 | Fowey 47 770
Brystoll 22 608 | Bristoll 22 608
Tenmowthe 2 25 | Tenmouth 2 25
Haltinge 5 96 | Hastinge 5 96
Romner 4 65 | Romney 4 65
|
MS. Harl. 246, f. 13. | MS. Harl. 3968, f. 130_b_.
|
Rye 9 156 | Rye 9 156
Hythe 6 122 | Hithe 6 122
Shoram 20 329 | Shoreham 20 39
Soforde 5 80 | Soforde _alias_ Seforde 5 80
Newmowthe 2 18 | Newmouthe 2 18
Hannilhoke 7 117 | Hamowlhook 7 117
Hoke 11 208 | Hoke 11 208
Sowthampton 21 576 | Southampton 21 576
Leymingeton 9 159 | Lemyngton 9 159
Poole 4 94 | Poole 4 94
Warham 3 59 | Warham 3 59
Swansey 1 29 | Swanzey 1 29
Ilfrecombe 6 79 | Ilfrecoombe 6 79
Poterikstowe 2 27 | Padstowe _alias_ } 2 27
| Patrickstowe }
Polerwan 1 60 | Polerwan 1 60
Wadworthe 1 14 | Wadworth 1 14
Kerdiffe 1 51 | Kardiffe 1 51
Bridgewater 1 15 | Bridgwater 1 15
Carmarthen 1 16 | Caermarthen 1 16
Colechesworth 1 12 | Cailchworth 1 12
Mulbroke 1 12 | Mulbrook 1 12
|
| _Shippes_:
_Some of the Sowthe Fleete_: | The totall of the }
Shippes 473 | Shippes of the South } 467
Maryners 9307 | Fleet are }
|
| _Maryners_:
| The totall of the }
| Maryners of the } 9205
| same South Fleet are }
|
MS. Harl. 246, f. 13_b_. | MS. Harl. 3968, f. 131.
|
THE NORTHE FLEET. | THE NORTH FLEET.
|
Bamburghe 1 9 | Bamburgh 1 9
Newcaster 27 314 | Walerich 1 12
Wolriche 1 12 | Hartilpoole 5 145
Hertilpoole 5 145 | Hull 16 466
Hulle 16 466 | Ravenser 1 27
Yorke 1 9 | Yorke 1 9
Ravenser 1 27 | Woodhouse 1 22
Wodhowse 1 12 | Stockhith 1 10
Storkehithe 1 10 | Barton 3 30
Barton 3 30 | Swyneflete 1 11
Swynfleete 1 11 | Saltfleete 2 49
Saltfleete 2 49 | Grymesby 11 171
Grymsbye 11 171 | Waynfleet 2 49
Portsmouth 5 96 | Waynefleete 2 49
| Wrangle 1 8
Lemyce 19 382 | Newcastle 17 314
Blackney 2 38 | Yermouth 43 { 1075 _or_
| { 1950
Scarborowghe 1 19 | Donwiche 6 102
Yarmowthe 43 1950 | Orford 3 62
Dornewiche 6 102 | Goford 13 303
Orforde 13 303 | Herwich 14 383
Ipswiche 3 62 | Ipswich 12 239
Merrye 13 303 | Mersey 1 6
Brightelensey 14 283 | Brightlingsey 5 61
Colchester 12 239 | Colchester 5 90
Whibanes 1 6 | Whitbanes 1 17
Derwen 5 90 | Malden 2 32
Boston 17 361 | Derwen 1 15
Swynhomber 2 32 | Wrangle 1 8
Malden 2 32 | Lynne 16 382
Barton 5 61 | Blackney 2 38
| Scarborough 1 19
| Boston 17 361
| Swynhumber 1 32
| Barton 5 91
|
_Somma totalis of the_ | The whole totall } { 4383 _or_
_Northe Fleete_: | of the Shippes of } 215 { 5258
| the North Fleete } {
Shippes 234 |
Maryners 5624 |
|
_Somma totalis of all the_ | _The somme totall of all the_
| _Englishe Fleete_: | _Englishe Ffleete_:
|
Shippes 707 | Shipps 682
Maryners 14931 | Maryners { 13588 _or_
| { 14463
|
_Shippes and Maryners of Forrayne_ | MS. Harl. 3968, f. 131_b_.
_Countreyes_: | _The Shippes and Maryners of_
| _Strangers in this Ayde_:
|
Bayon 15 439 | Bayon 15 439
Spayne 7 184 | Spayne 7 184
Irelande 1 184 | Irland 1 25
Flaunders 14 133 | Flanders 14 133
Gelderlande 1 24 | Gelderland 1 24
|
_Somma totalis of all the_ |_The full nomber of the said Strangers_
_Strangers_: |_Shippes and Maryners_:[771]
|
Shippes 38 | Shipps 38
Maryners 964 | Maryners 805
APPENDIX No. 7.
_Abstract of some of the more remarkable items in the repairs of the
galleys and spinaces of King Edward III. at Bayonne._
_Tuesday_, 25 Feb.—To Dominic of St. Domyngo £ _s._ _d._ _f._
for xxj. lbs. of _Thomenk’_ [? tow] at ij. _d._
halfpenny a pound iiij. iiij. _ob._
To John de Speruent for one pound of
oil, bought for the use of the _calefetores_
[? caulkers]
To the same for j. quintal xxxvj.
lbs. of _gemma_ [? tar], bought
for the work of caulking the
great galley, at per quintal xv. vij.
To Peter Arñ for carriage of the
said _gemma_ from the house of the
said John to the bridge _ob._ iij.
To Peter Arñ Daufereyn for j. skin
of a sheep for caulking the said
galley vj.
To Riudo Berñ for vj. faggots of
brushwood bought for the
caulking, and for their carriage
to the bridge iiij. _ob. qr._
To Peter de Mouhay and his three
fellows drawing water from the
great galley, for one day iiij. vj.
To Dominic of St. Domyngo, caulker,
and his fellow; to the said
Dominic xvj. _d._ per diem, to the
other xij. _d._ ij. iiij.
Total of the day xxviij. _s._ vj.
_d._ qr. ma.
_Wednesday, 26 Feb._—To John de Ville
for v. boards bought for the
repair of the galleys, price of
each board, ij. _s._
To Joan de Tyrons for l. nails
bought for the work of the
galleys, price
To William Faber for j. gymbelette
bought for the work of the galleys
To Forcius de Lesgo and his fellow,
carpenters, to the said Forcius
xv. _d._ wages per diem, to the
other xx. _d._ ij. xi.
To Dominic of St. Domyngo, caulker,
and a certain servant; to the said
Dominic xvj. _d._ wages per diem,
to the other ix. _d._ ij. j.
To the same Dominic for xvj. lbs. of
Thomenk’, price per lb. ij. _d._
_ob._ iij. iiij.
To Pelegrinus de Lesgo for j. jar,
iij. saucers, in which the oil was
placed, and for scrapers
To Gerard Darbent for ij.
_corbatons_ at vj. _d._ each.
Total of the day xx. _s._ j. _d._ _ob. ma._
_27 Feb._—To John de Tyrons for c.
nails of _rym_ iiij.
_28 Feb._—To John de Tyrons for xij.
nails of _cauym_ v.
To Peter Johannis for xij. faggots
of wood for heating the _gemma_,
and for the carriage of the same ix. _ob._
_3 Mar._—To John de Speruent for one
lb. of oil for mixing with the
_gemma_
_4 Mar._—To Peter Johannis for one ell
of _tela_ [? woven stuff] for the
work of the caulkers xij.
_7 Mar._—To Joan de Tyrons for c. nails of
_Tylat_ xj.
_13 Mar._—To Dominic the caulker for
his expenses from Bourdeaux to
Bayonne iiij. vj.
_15 Mar._—To Thomas of Sandwich, for
carriage of the Serpent and
Bygord’ from the bridge to the
house of the painter ij.
To William Mustard for bread and
drink during three days given to
the workmen iiij. _ob._
_16 Mar._—To John de Tyrons for xij.
nails of _cauym_ v.
To John de Castete and his companion
for scraping the old painting of
the great galley, each per diem xv. ij. vj.
To the same John for a _calyp[~p]_,
hired for this work i. _ob._
To Forcius de Lesgo, and his four
companions, carpenters, working
upon the masts and yards, each
per diem xvj. _d._ vj. viij.
_18 Mar._—To John de Castete for hire
of a _calyp[~p]_; and for carrying
sea-sand for the galleys i. _ob._
To Adam of Northampton and his two
companions, for carrying the said
sand and drawing water for the
small and the large galley ij. ij.
To the same Adam for three _tribul’_
for throwing the sand from the
_calip[~p]_ to the galley i. _ob._
_20 Mar._—To John de Seyntmartre for
two anchors bought of him for the
great galley ix. x.
To William Martini for carriage of
the same from the house of the
said John to the smith’s, and
from the smith’s house to the
bridge xvij.
To Arn. Johannis de Lesgo for
_issues_ and ij. _plomas_ of the
said anchors ij. vj.
_22 Mar._—To William Rudi de Mamysan
for the repair of two anchors xij.
To John de Lussy for iiij. _gemell’_
of the masts x.
To William Rudi de Mamysan for
liiij. great nails made for the
_gemell’_ ix.
_28 Mar._—To Forcius de Lesgo and his
two companions for repairing the
seats of the galleys, each per
diem xvj. _d._ iiij.
To Joan de Tyrons for cccc. nails of
Tylat at xj. _d._ per hundred iij. viij.
To the same for ccc. nails of
Solira, at vj. _d._ per hundred xviij.
To the same for xlviij. nails of
Cauym at v. _d._ per dozen xx.
_29 Mar._—To John de Lussye for
_furtanes_ which were wanting in
the said galleys x.
To William Mustard ... for bread and
_pomadr’_ for all the workmen for
iiij. days iij. vj.
_ult. Mar._—To Joan de Tyrons for
xxiiij. nails of Cauym for the
repair of the hinder part of the
great galley x.
To Forcius de Lesgo for ij.
_corbatons_ for the work on the
great galley, price xij.
To the same Forcius for v. ells of
board bought for repairing the
_Bygorus_ xxij.
To Arn. Gerardi for ij. _ligna_
(_timbers_) for _loffis_ and
_bousprete_ ij. vj. _ob._
To William Rudi de Mamysau for j.
anchor purchased of him for the
great galley iiij. x.
&c. &c. &c.
_f. 5 b._ _Friday, 14 March._—Ryndo
de la Fyte for xxij. lbs. “folii
albi de extinctu” for the work of
painting the galleys, at xviij.
_d._ per lb. xxxiij.
To the same for vj. lbs. of Orpiment
at xvj. _d._ viij.
” ” ij. lbs. of Ind. at
ix. _s._ xviij.
” ” viij. lbs. of blankett
at viij. _d._ v. iiij.
” ” viij. lbs. of Certown
at viij. _d._ v. iiij.
” ” ix. lbs. of vernyz
at xx _d._ xv.
” ” iiij. lbs. of oil for
mixing with the colours, at ix.
_d._ per lb. iij.
” ” iij. lbs. “picturæ
deauratæ” (? gold paint) at
ij. _s._ vj.
To Petronilla la Mercadere for xij.
lbs. of vermylon at ij. _s._ xxiiij.
To John de London for xxxv. lbs.
and a half of “Cole” at v. _d._ xiij. ix. _ob._
” ” for ij. lbs. of “Sedes
de por[=c]” at iiij. _s._ viij.
To Master John de Troia for waters
for mixing with the colours xij.
” ” for a quintal of
“Craye” (chalk?) iij.
” ” for 1 lb. of wax ii. vj.
” ” for eggs for
mixing with the colours iii.
To Master John the painter,
commencing the painting of the
great galley, _per diem_ iij.
” ” for Thomas
the painter xx.
To Mark the painter and his
companion, each _per diem_
xij. _d._ ij.
_2 April._—To Master John de Troia
for verdeter xviij.
Expenses of the galley of W. Baydn de Furno.
To Benedicto de Pynak’ for 1 timber
called the Braunc’ bought for the
galiot vj.
To John de Gys for two timbers
called Tymon (rudder?) iij.
To Saubatus de Laste for iiij.
timbers called Juillate xii.
To Garsia Arñ de Castere for xviij.
tostes iij.
And many similar entries, mentioning ij. band’. ij. latons xxviiij.
lattes (laths). Estaunzons (staunchions). xviij. boards of Byerñ for
scanull nails of Tylate, Rym, and tasse. a _virga_ (or yard). Cavill’
and Coynz. Tymon (rudder?). breo albo. x. pipes for _cisera_ at iij.
_s._ ix. _d._ each, nails of Solira, and of Tilat iiij. Corbatouns.
Chastereux of the yard. repairing a broken anchor.
£ _s._ _d._
To John Garsia de Baeryz (Biarritz)
for his spinace hired of him for
seeking and carrying the victuals
for the mariners of the two
galleys of our lord the King, and
of one galeot, and for other
necessary carriages by sea from
Capebretoñ to England whenever
necessary xlv. vj.
Wages of the mariners conducting the
galley “St. George” from Bayonne
to England xxxv. xviij. iij.
_sterling_.
Wages &c. “St. Edward” xxij. x. viij.
_sterling._
Wages &c. the galiot xvij. iij. ix.
Sum total of all the expenses incurred ccc. iii-xx. j. _l._
xviij. _s._ viij. _d._ money equivalent to c.j. _l._ xvj. _s._
viij. _d._ _sterling_ ij. _d._ money.[772]
APPENDIX No. 8.
The following condensed syllabus from Rymer’s “Fœdera,” to which
great work repeated reference has been made in the foregoing pages,
will serve to indicate the course of commerce between England and
various states of the Continent between A.D. 1190 and A.D. 1460, and
to exhibit, by the number of safe-conducts demanded and granted,
the degrees in which it was interrupted by the disputes between
the different monarchs of the period, or by acts of piracy. Ample
illustration is also therein given of the custom of the day of pressing
into the king’s service any vessel or vessels he might want for any
purpose.
The names of all the states with which England was at war or at peace
have been preserved, and a few incidental notices with reference to the
course of trade, or of manners and customs. It will be observed that,
during the reign of Edward the Third, the impressment of ships for the
king’s war service descended as low as vessels of twenty tons; and that
in one instance, at least, the defence of the sea was specially laid as
a duty on the mercantile community. Special forms of safe-conduct, and
for the arrest of ships and mariners, are added in illustration from
MSS. in the British Museum.
_Extracts relating to Maritime affairs from Sir T. Duffus Hardy’s
“Syllabus of the Documents ... contained in Rymer’s ‘Fœdera.’”_
RICH. I. _1190._—Ordinances by the king for the punishment of
crimes committed on shipboard during the voyage to Jerusalem.
_1191, 27 March._—The king confirms to the men of Rye and
Winchelsea their privileges as under Henry II., they finding
two ships to complete the twenty ships of Hastings.
JOHN. _1208, 8 April._—The king requests his mariners and
merchants to aid the barons of the Cinque Ports in arresting all
ships found on the seas, and conveying them to England.
_1213, 3 March._—The king orders the whole shipping from
every port in England to be at Portsmouth by mid-Lent.
_1216, 2 June._—The king requests the jurats of Bayonne to
employ their galleys in annoying his enemies.
HEN. III. _1217, 10 Oct._—The king to the king of Norway; will
gladly promote commercial intercourse with that realm.
_1236, 26 May._—Proclamation respecting the goods of persons
escaping from shipwreck on the coasts of England, Poitou,
Gascony, and Oleron.
_1242, 8 June._—The king to the barons of the Cinque Ports
and the men of Dunwich, to fit out shipping to ravage the
coasts of France.
_1242, 7 July._—The king directs that the galleys of Bristol
and all the galleys of Ireland shall harass the coasts of
France.
_1243, 12 July._—Men of the Cinque Ports to make reprisals
upon John, duke of Brittany.
_1259, July._—The king permits Henry of Castile to engage
ships at Bordeaux and Bayonne for his expedition into Africa.
EDW. I. _1275, 23 Sept._—The king instructs Stephen de Penecastre,
constable of Dover, relative to the contentions between the
merchants of London and Seland (Zealand).
_1280, 17 July._—Writ of protection for the merchants of
Seiland trading with England.
_1285, 15 May._—Regulations by the king and his council as to
the compulsory unloading of ships in the Cinque Ports in time
of danger.
_1298, 14 Feb._—The king orders shipping (100 vessels) to be
provided at Sluys for his return into England from Flanders.
_1301, 14 Feb._—The king orders the bailiffs of Yarmouth and
forty-one other ports in England and Wales and six in Ireland
to supply him with shipping for the expedition against
Scotland.
_1301, 4 Oct._—Proclamation to be made cautioning masters of
ships and other sailors to be on their guard in their voyage
towards Gascony and other ports of France.
_1302, 7 Nov._—The king informs the warden of the Cinque
Ports that instead of fifty-seven ships (which the barons of
those ports are bound to furnish) he will be satisfied with
twenty-five for the Scottish war.
EDW. II. _1307, 26 Sept._—The king to Dionysius, king of Portugal,
respecting the restitution of an English ship recovered by the
Portuguese from some pirates.
_1307, 25 Nov._—The king orders the mayor and sheriffs of
London to provide a ship for the conveyance of his tents
[into France].
_1308, 20 March._—The king orders Robert de Kendale, warden
of the Cinque Ports, to take care that the merchants of
France have liberty to trade in England.
_1309, 12 May._—The king complains to Robert, count of
Flanders, that an English ship had been plundered off
Portsmouth by Flemish pirates.
_1312, 28 July._—The king orders the keepers of the passages
of the port of Dover to permit the abbots of seventeen houses
of the Cistercian order to cross on their way to Citeaux.
_1313, 15 Feb._—The king asks Robert, count of Flanders, to
prevent the export of victuals, arms, &c., from Flanders into
Scotland.
_1313, 22 May._—The king asks the pope to send to him certain
Florentine merchants arrested at his suit in the papal court
for having defrauded the English revenue.
_1314, 1 April._—The king orders the barons of the Cinque
Ports to send to him for the Scottish war the service of
ships which they are bound to provide.
_1314, 26 July._—Robert, count of Flanders, asks the king to
permit his subjects to trade with Flanders, and to consent to
the establishment of a staple at Bruges.
_1315, 13 April._—Robert, count of Flanders, complains to the
king of the pillage of a Flemish ship in the port of Orwelle.
_1315, 18 Sept._—The king orders the captains of his fleet to
do all possible injury to the Flemish shipping.
_1316, 18 June._—The king complains to the city of Genoa that
the Genoese furnish the Scotch with ships and arms.
_1316, 28 July._—Haco, king of Norway, informs the king of
England that he will meet any complaint brought against his
subjects respecting the arrest of a ship in the port of Selay.
_1316, 9 Aug._—Haco, king of Norway, narrates to the king
of England the facts of the complaints of the merchants of
Berwick.
_1318, 28 Jan._—Philip, king of France, complains to the king
of England of the illegal detention in London of the goods of
some French merchants.