This letter was addressed by Columbus to Dona Juana de Torres, who had
been a nurse of the lately deceased royal prince John, the son of
Ferdinand and Isabella, and who was the sister of Antonio de Torres, who
had accompanied Columbus on his second voyage and was subsequently a
commander in other voyages to the New World. It was probably written on
shipboard when Columbus was sent back to Spain in irons in the autumn of
the year 1500. It is at once a cry of distress and an impassioned
self-defence, and is one of the most important of the Admiral's writings
for the student of his career and character.
In the letter to Santangel the discoverer announces his success in his
long projected undertaking; in the letter to the nurse he is at the
lowest point in the startling reverse of fortune that befell him because
of the troubles in Santo Domingo, and in the letter on the fourth voyage
he appears as one struggling against the most adverse circumstances to
vindicate his career, and to demonstrate the value of what he had
previously accomplished, and to crown those achievements by actually
attaining the coast of Asia. Columbus regarded his defence as set forth
in this letter as of such importance that he included it in the four
codices or collections of documents and papers prepared in duplicate
before his last voyage to authenticate his titles and honors and to
secure their inheritance by his son. The text of the letter from which
the present translation was made is that of the Paris Codex of the _Book
of Privileges_, as it is called. This is regarded by Harrisse as the
best. The translation is by George F. Barwick of the British Museum, and
was originally published in _Christopher Columbus, Facsimile of his Own
Book of Privileges_, 1502, edited by B.F. Stevens (London, 1903). The
letter remained unpublished until it was printed in Spotorno's _Codice
Diplomatico_ in 1822. In 1825 it appeared again in Navarrete's _Viages_,
in a slightly varying text. It was first published in English in the
translation of the _Codice Diplomatico_ issued in London in 1823 under
the title of _Memorials of Columbus_, etc.