THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE.
[Æt. 57; 1493]
The wind, as usual, was dead ahead, and the _Niña_ made slow progress.
For two days she lay at anchor in a quiet bay, but the Admiral was so
anxious to reach Spain in advance of Pinzon that he would not wait any
longer for a change of wind. Before he had succeeded in getting out
of sight of land, the missing _Pinta_ was sighted, and, Columbus’s
anxiety being partially relieved, the two ships put back and anchored
at the mouth of a river. The interview between Pinzon and the Admiral
must have been interesting. It is evident from many things that, since
his great voyage had been successful, Columbus had ceased to be the
conversational bane of humanity, and had become a reasonably taciturn
man. On this occasion Pinzon found him painfully silent. That troubled
mariner attempted to account for his desertion by saying it was all an
accident, and that he had lain awake night after night bewailing the
cruel fate which had separated him from his beloved commander. He was
ready to swear all sorts of maritime oaths that he had never meant to
part company and cruise alone.
The Admiral gloomily remarked that, while no man should be held
accountable for an accident, he felt that it was his duty to mention
that hereafter any officer found guilty of the commission of a similar
accident would be court-martialled and hanged, after which Pinzon was
permitted to return to his ship.
In view of the fact that Pinzon commanded the larger ship and could
probably have beaten the _Niña_, in a fair fight, the Admiral was
wise in accepting his excuses and affecting to believe his story. He
afterward learned that Pinzon had really been at anchor on the eastern
side of the island, where it was reported that he had been seen, and
that he had secured a large quantity of gold; but it was judged
injudicious to ask him to surrender the gold to the Admiral. Thus
harmony between Columbus and Pinzon was thoroughly restored, and they
hated and distrusted each other with great vigor.
The meeting of the _Pinta_ and the _Niña_ was, we may presume,
celebrated in due form, for Columbus, although he was a very abstemious
man, asserts in his journal that at this time he saw several mermaids.
We do not know what Pinzon saw; but if the abstemious Admiral saw
mermaids, the less decorous Pinzon probably saw a sea-serpent and a
procession of green monkeys with spiked Prussian helmets on their heads.
On the 9th of January the ships again weighed anchor and sailed along
the coast, stopping from time to time to trade with the natives.
At Samana Bay the Spaniards found a tribe of fierce savages, with
whom they had a skirmish which resulted in wounding two of the
enemy. Nevertheless, the local cacique made peace the next day, and
told Columbus a very meritorious and picturesque lie concerning an
island inhabited by a tribe of Amazons. Recent events indicate that
in fighting and lying the present inhabitants of Samana Bay are no
unworthy representatives of those whom Columbus met.
When, on the 16th of January, Columbus made positively his last
departure for Spain, he intended to stop on the way and discover
Porto Rico, which lay a little southward of his true course. To this,
however, the sailors strongly objected. They had discovered as many
islands as, in their opinion, any reasonable man could desire, and they
pined for Palos and its rum-shops. They did not break out into mutiny,
but they expressed their feelings so plainly, by singing “Home Again”
and other depressing songs, that Columbus felt the wisdom of gratifying
them--especially in view of the probability that Pinzon would again
give him the slip at the first opportunity. The sailors were therefore
ordered to square away the yards, and the ships were put before the
fair west wind with their several bowsprits pointing straight toward
Palos. Joy filled the bosoms and heightened the ruddy tint of the noses
of the crew. That night they thought more highly of Columbus than ever
before, and remarked among themselves that they were glad to see that
the old man could restrain his unnatural thirst for islands when it
became clearly necessary for him to do so.
It was not long before the fleet--if two vessels can be regarded as a
fleet, except in the United States Navy--came into the region where
the trade-winds constantly blow from the east. Columbus may not have
recognized them as trade-winds, but he perfectly understood that
they were head-winds, and with a view of avoiding them steered in a
northerly direction. He succeeded in getting out of the region of
perpetual east winds, but he reached the latitude where storms-centres
moving rapidly to the east and south, together with areas of depression
in the region of the lakes and rain in the New England and Middle
States--in short, all the worst varieties of weather in the repertoire
of the Signal Service Bureau--prevail. The pilots soon lost all idea of
the course which the vessels had sailed, and as each one entertained a
different opinion about the matter, while Columbus differed from them
all and made it a practice to confuse their minds with opinions on
navigation of the most intricate character, there was a certain lack of
cordial and intelligent agreement among the navigators of the fleet.
About the middle of February a succession of tremendous tempests
overtook the vessels. For days they drove before a gale which carried
them in a north-easterly direction and threatened every moment to
sink them and hide all vestiges of the great transatlantic expedition
beneath the waves. Pinzon, owing to the injured condition of his mast,
had no control over his ship, and was soon carried out of sight of
Columbus. The latter felt that the time had come to employ all his
knowledge of seamanship. An ordinary prosaic ship-captain of the
present day, finding himself in a like situation, would have brought
his ship down to a close-reefed maintopsail, and, bringing the wind
on his starboard quarter, would have steered about east by south,
and so carried the ship out of the cyclone in two or three hours.
Columbus, however, was far too scientific a navigator to adopt any such
commonplace expedient. He mustered his crew, and ordered them to draw
lots to see who should vow to make pilgrimages in case they should
succeed in reaching land. He himself drew a lot which required him to
make one pilgrimage to Santa Clara de Moguer, and another to Santa
Maria de Guadalupe, and, in addition, to pay for a series of masses and
to present candles to the Blessed Virgin.
As this manœuvre, which was at that time regarded as one of the
most abstruse known to mariners, unaccountably failed to better the
condition of the ship, the entire crew vowed to march to the first
available church bare-footed and clad only in their shirts. The
frightful nature of the storm may be imagined from the fact that,
in spite of this splendid display of Spanish seamanship, the _Niña_
continued to exhibit a determined propensity to go to pieces or to
founder. Having thus done everything that a sailor could do, and all
without avail, Columbus yielded to the promptings of superstition,
and filling a quantity of empty casks with sea-water placed them in
the hold, where he hoped they would render the ship somewhat stiffer.
The _Niña_ at once became steadier and ceased to try to lie over on
her side, and it is quite possible that Columbus believed that his
superstitious use of casks had more to do with the salvation of the
ship than all the combined vows of the Admiral and his men.
While in imminent danger of drowning, Columbus had the cool forethought
to write a full account of his discoveries. He enclosed the manuscript
in a water-tight barrel, which he threw overboard after having attached
to it a written request that the finder would return it to Christopher
Columbus, or his representatives at Cadiz, Spain, where he would be
suitably rewarded. It has not yet been found, but it is the intention
of Dr. Schliemann, the discoverer of the personal jewelry of Helen
of Troy, to discover it whenever he can spare a few days from more
important discoveries.
On the 15th of February land was sighted. It was the island of St.
Mary’s, one of the Azores, but no one except Columbus had any idea that
the _Niña_ was farther north than the latitude of Lisbon. No sooner had
the land been sighted than the wind changed to the north-east, and it
was two days before the _Niña_ could reach the island and anchor under
its lee.
As for the _Pinta_, it was believed that in her crippled condition
she must have perished in the storm, and as a matter of course
Columbus felt extremely sorry that Pinzon could no longer display
his insubordinate and unprincipled want of respect for his superior
officer.
Of course everybody was anxious to go ashore at once. The sailors
anticipated that rum could be found on the island, it being inhabited
by civilized and Christian people, and Columbus, who, we may suppose,
was not very well satisfied that he had been selected by lot to make
two pilgrimages and spend a quantity of money in masses and candles,
was anxious to see the crew parade for attendance on divine worship
in their shirts. But the Azores belonged to Portugal, and though
the Portuguese king had refused to assist Columbus in his plans of
exploration, he was very indignant that any other monarch should have
helped the Italian adventurer, and felt that Columbus had treated him
disrespectfully by accepting Spanish help. Knowing all this, Columbus
remained on shipboard and sent a boat ashore to inquire if there was a
church near at hand.
The inhabitants of the island were greatly astonished to learn that
the weather-beaten ship lying at anchor was the remnant of the
exploring expedition which had sailed six months earlier from Palos.
The Governor of the island, Juan de Casteneda, had been ordered by the
Portuguese king to arrest Columbus, in case he should visit the Azores,
for the offence of discovering continents without a license from the
Portuguese. De Casteneda therefore was anxious to induce Columbus to
land, but by too great zeal he overreached himself.
As soon as it was ascertained that there was a shrine on the island,
Columbus ordered his men to fulfil their vow by marching in procession
to it in their untrammelled shirts. One half the crew were detailed
for this pious duty, and the Admiral intended to march with the other
half as soon as the first division should return. The hasty Governor
waited till the procession had entered the shrine, and then arrested
every one of its members, on the frivolous plea of dressing in a way
adapted to outrage the feelings of the public and to excite a breach
of the peace. When Columbus found his men did not return, he weighed
anchor and stood in toward the shore. He was met by a boat containing
the Governor, who declined to come on board the _Niña_, and conducted
himself generally in such a suspicious way that Columbus lost his
temper and called him unpleasant names. He held up his commission with
its enormous seal, and told the Governor to look at it and comprehend
that sealing-wax was not lavished in that way except upon officers
of distinguished merit. The Governor not only insulted Columbus, but
he spoke derisively of the sealing-wax, and then rowed back to land,
resolved to keep his shirt-clad prisoners until he could add Columbus
himself to the collection.
The usual gale soon after sprang up, and the _Niña_ was driven out to
sea and kept there in very unpleasant circumstances for several days.
When at length Columbus again returned to his anchorage, De Casteneda
sent two priests and a notary to inspect his papers. They found that
his commission was properly made out, that the ship had a clean bill
of health, and that her clearance from Guacanagari’s custom-house was
without a flaw. They then informed him that the Governor had been
compelled to exercise a little caution lest vessels arriving from the
West Indies should introduce yellow fever into the Azores, but that he
was now entirely satisfied and would be glad to have Columbus call on
him. The next morning he liberated the men whom he had made prisoners,
and let them return to their ship and their trousers, it being evident
that he could not hope to arrest Columbus, now that the latter was on
his guard.
Having regained possession of his men, Columbus set sail for home on
the 24th of the month. In about a week another storm, more violent than
any which had preceded it, struck the unhappy voyagers. Once more the
splendid seamanship of the commander was displayed by an order for all
hands to draw lots for pilgrimages. This time the loser was to walk
barefooted to the shrine of Santa Maria de la Cueva, and when Columbus
found that he had once more drawn the losing lot, he must have made a
private vow to play henceforth some other game in which he might have
some little chance to win something. It is impossible to repress the
suspicion that the vow afterward made by the crew to eat nothing but
bread and drink nothing but water for a week, was made in accordance
with the determination of the Admiral that he should not be the only
person to perform painful and difficult feats of practical seamanship.
During the worst of the storm, and in the middle of the night, land
was seen, and the ship had a narrow escape from being dashed upon it.
When daylight appeared, it was found that the mouth of the Tagus was
close at hand; and although it was obviously dangerous for Columbus
to venture into Portuguese waters, he sailed into the river and
anchored in a sheltered place near the rock of Cintra. He lost no
time in sending letters, by the District Telegraph messengers of the
period, to the Spanish and Portuguese monarchs, and asked of the latter
permission to sail up the river to Lisbon. This request was obviously a
hollow form. Lisbon was the last place to which the Admiral would have
been willing to take his ship, but he wanted to convince the Portuguese
king that he had the utmost confidence in him.