THE VOYAGE.
[Æt. 56; 1492]
In those days everybody supposed that the needle always pointed due
north. Great was the astonishment of Columbus when, a few days after
leaving the Canaries, he noticed what is now called the variation
of the compass. Instead of pointing to the north, the needle began
to point somewhat to the west of north; and the farther the fleet
sailed to the west, the greater became the needle’s variation from
the hitherto uniform direction of all respectable needles. Of course
Columbus at first supposed that his compass was out of order, but
he soon found that every compass in the fleet was conducting itself
in the same disreputable way. The pilots also noticed the startling
phenomenon, and said it was just what they had expected. In seas so
remote from the jurisdiction of Spain, who could expect that the
laws of Nature would be observed? They did not like to grumble, but
still they must say that it was simply impious to sail in regions
where even the compass could not tell the truth. But Columbus was not
the man to be put to confusion by remarks of this kind. He calmly
told the pilots that the compass was all right; it was the North Star
that was wrong, and he never had felt much confidence in that star,
anyway. Then inviting the pilots to come down into his cabin and
take a little--well, lunch, he explained to them with such profound
unintelligibility the astronomical habits and customs of the North
Star, that they actually believed his explanation of the variation of
the compass. There are those who hold that Columbus really believed
the North Star was leaving its proper place; but the theory does gross
injustice to the splendid mendacity of the Admiral. The man who could
coolly assert that if his compass differed from the stars the latter
were at fault, deserves the wonder and admiration of even the most
skilful editor of a campaign edition of an American party organ.
The sailors would probably have grumbled a good deal about the conduct
of the compass had they noticed it; but it does not appear that they
had any suspicion that it had become untrustworthy. Besides, the fleet
was now fairly in the trade-wind, and very little labor was required
in the management of the vessels. The sailors, having little to do,
were in good spirits, and began to see signs of land. A large meteor
was seen to fall into the sea, and soon after a great quantity of
sea-weed was met, among which tunny-fish made their home. The Admiral
also caught a small crab. Crabs, tunny-fish, sea-weed, and meteors must
have been, in those days, exclusively products of the land; otherwise,
there was no reason why Columbus and his men should have regarded them
as proofs of the vicinity of land. They did, however, meet with a bird
of a variety--so the oldest mariners asserted--that never sleeps except
on a good substantial roosting-place. This really did give them some
reason to imagine that land was not very far off; but as the result
showed, the bird was painfully untrustworthy.
Day after day the so-called signs of land were seen. A large reward was
offered to the first person who should see the sought-for continent,
and consequently everybody was constantly pretending that a distant
cloud or fog-bank was land, and then finding fault with the Admiral
because he would not change his course. One day a pair of boobies--a
bird singularly misnamed, in view of the fact that it rarely flies out
of sight of land--rested in the rigging. Another day three birds of a
kind--which, every one knows, were even better than two pairs--came on
board one of the ships in the morning, and flew away again at night,
and it was the universal opinion that they sang altogether too sweetly
for sea-birds; the voices of the gull, the stormy petrel, and the
albatross being notoriously far from musical.
After a time these signs ceased to give the crews any comfort. As they
forcibly observed, “What is the use of all your signs of land, so
long as you don’t fetch on your land?” They became convinced that the
sea was gradually becoming choked up with sea-weed, and that the fact
that the surface of the water remained unruffled, although there was
a steady breeze from the east, was proof that something was seriously
wrong. We now know that the expedition was in the Sargasso Sea, a
region of sea-weed and calms, and that in point of fact Columbus was
lucky in not being becalmed for a year or two without any means of
bringing his vessels to a more breezy region. This, however, he did not
know, and he explained the quiet of the sea by asserting that the fleet
was already in the lee of the unseen land.
The men nevertheless continued to be discontented, and declined any
longer to believe that land was near. Even the sight of a whale--which,
as every one knows, is a land animal--failed to raise their spirits,
although Columbus told them that, now that he had seen a whale, he
knew they must be very near the shore. The sailors would not listen
to his argument, and openly insulted his whale. They said he had
brought them to a region where the wind either blew steadily from the
east or scarcely blew at all; in either case opposing an insuperable
obstacle to sailing back to Spain, for which reason, with the charming
consistency of sailors, they wanted to turn back immediately and steer
for Palos. Still, they did not break into open mutiny, but confined
themselves to discussing the propriety of seizing the vessels, throwing
Columbus overboard, and returning to Spain, where they could account
for the disappearance of the Admiral by asserting that he had been
pushed overboard by the cat, or had been waylaid, robbed, and murdered
by the James boys; or by inventing some other equally plausible story.
Happily, the wind finally sprang up again, and the sailors, becoming
more cheerful, postponed their mutiny.
The typical biographer always begs us to take notice that Columbus
must have been a very great man, for the reason that he prosecuted his
great voyage in spite of the frequent mutinies of the sailors; and
as we shall hereafter see, Columbus was troubled by mutinies during
other voyages than his first one. At the present day, however, the
ability of a sea-captain would not be estimated by the number of times
his crew had mutinied. If Columbus was really an able commander, how
did it happen that he ever allowed a mutiny to break out? Very likely
his flag-ship was short of belaying-pins and handspikes, but did not
the Admiral wear a sword and carry pistols? and was he not provided
with fists and the power to use them? Instead of going on deck at the
first sign of mutinous conduct on the part of any one of the crew,
and striking terror and discipline into the offender with the first
available weapon, he seems to have waited quietly in the cabin until
the sailors had thrown off all authority, and then to have gone on deck
and induced them to resume work by delivering a lecture on geography
and the pleasures of exploration. But we should remember that he was in
command of Spanish vessels, and that Spanish views of seamanship and
discipline are peculiar.
On the 25th of September, Martin Pinzon, whose vessel happened to be
within hailing distance of Columbus, suddenly shouted that he saw land
in the south-west, and wanted that reward. The alleged land rapidly
became clearly visible, and seemed to be a very satisfactory piece of
land, though it was too far off to show any distinctively Japanese,
Chinese, or East Indian features. Columbus immediately called his men
together, made a prayer, and ordered them to sing a psalm. The fleet
then steered toward the supposed land, which soon proved to be an
exasperating fog-bank, whereupon the sailors unanimously agreed that
Columbus had trifled with the holiest feelings of their nature, and
that they could not, with any self-respect, much longer postpone the
solemn duty of committing his body to the deep.
About this time a brilliant idea occurred to the Pinzons. It was that
the true direction in which to look for land was the south-west, and
that Columbus ought to give orders to steer in that direction. As
they had no conceivable reason for this belief, and could advance no
argument whatever in support of it, they naturally adhered to it with
great persistency. Columbus declined to adopt their views--partly
because they were the independent views of the Pinzons, and, as is well
known, no subordinate officer has any right to independent views, and
partly because they were entirely worthless. The Pinzons were therefore
compelled to console themselves by remarking that of course the Admiral
meant well, but they were sadly afraid he was a grossly incompetent
discoverer. On the 7th of October the spirits of the sailors were
temporarily raised by a signal from the _Niña_, which was a short
distance in advance, announcing that land was positively in sight. This
also proved to be a mistake, and doubts began to be entertained as to
whether, in case land should be discovered, it would wait for the fleet
to come up with it, or would melt away into invisibility.
Although Columbus would not change his course at the request of the
Pinzons, he now announced that he had seen several highly respectable
birds flying south-west, and that he had made up his mind to follow
them. This may have pleased the Pinzons, but it did not satisfy the
sailors. They came aft to the sacred precincts of the quarter-deck, and
informed Columbus that they were going home. Unhappy men! The Admiral
instantly began a speech of tremendous length, in which he informed
them that he should continue the voyage until land should be reached,
no matter how long it might last. The more the men clamored, the more
persistently Columbus continued his speech, and the result was that
they finally went back to their quarters, exhausted and quite unable to
carry out their intention of throwing him overboard.
The very next morning a branch of a thorn-bush; a board which had
evidently been subjected to the influences of some sort of saw-mill,
and a stick which bore the marks of a jack-knife, floated by. There
could be no doubt now that land was near at last, and the mutinous
sailors became cheerful once more.
It was certainly rather odd that those branches, boards, and sticks
happened to come in sight just at the moment when they were needed
to revive the spirits of the men, and that during the entire voyage,
whenever a bird, a whale, a meteor, or other sign of land was wanted,
it always promptly appeared. Columbus expresses in his journal the
opinion that this was providential, and evidently thought that, on
the whole, it was a handsome recognition of his transcendent merits.
Concerning this we are not required to give any decision.
The wind blew freshly from the east, and the fleet sailed rapidly
before it. In the evening Columbus fancied that he saw a light, which
he assumed to be a lantern in the hands of some one on land. He
called the attention of a sailor to it, who of course agreed with his
commander that the light was a shore light. At about two o’clock on the
following morning--the 12th of October--a sailor on board the _Pinta_,
named Rodrigo de Triana, positively saw land--this time without any
postponement.
Most of us have been taught to believe that the discovery of the New
World was signalized by the joyful cry of “Land ho! from the _Pinta_.”
A little reflection will show the gross impossibility that this
exclamation was ever made by anybody connected with the expedition. In
the first place, “Land ho! from the _Pinta_” is an English sentence,
and, so far as is known, neither Columbus nor any of his officers
or men knew a word of English. Then the expression would have been
meaningless. What was “Land ho! from the _Pinta_”? and why should the
sailors have referred to vague and unintelligible land of that nature,
when their thoughts were fixed on the land which lay on the near
horizon? Obviously this story is purely mythical, and should no longer
have a place in history.
As soon as it was certain that land was in sight, the fleet hove-to and
waited for daylight. The voyage was ended at last. Columbus was about
to set foot on transatlantic soil, and the sailors were full of hope
that the rum of the strange land would be cheap and palatable. Perhaps
the only unhappy man on board the fleet was Rodrigo de Triana, who
first saw the land but did not receive the promised reward; Columbus
appropriating it to himself, on the ground that, having fancied he saw
a hypothetical lantern early in the evening, he was really the first
to see land, and had honestly and fairly earned the reward. Let us hope
that he enjoyed it, and felt proud whenever he thought of his noble
achievement.