Delays and Disappointments

With wonderful endurance the three little vessels buffeted with the waves of the Atlantic. They encountered no heavy storms such as sometimes lash that sea into fury; nor did they observe any of the expected terrors of the trackless deep. Phenomena sometimes startled the mariners, and day after day they were agitated by alternate hopes and disappointments. The volcanic blaze of the peak of Teneriffe scared the sailors as it shop up behind them. When they were two hundred leagues or more westward of that peak, Columbus observed, for the first time in his life, a variation of the needle of his compass from a true line with the north star. It inclined five or six degrees to the northwest, and this variation increased as they sailed on with no sure guide but the stars. Very soon they encountered vast masses of sea-weeds, which retarded the vessels, and seemed like a green island hundreds of miles in extent floating on the bosom of the ocean. It was doubtless the mysterious Sargasso Sea, now so well known to mariners, and which probably gave rise to the legends concerning fertile islands in the Atlantic. Then they were cheered by the sight of a flying heron and tropical bird which were harbingers of land. The sailors, who had been mutinous at times, were quieted by these promises of nature; but when they seemed to be deceptive, the crews again became stormy and almost ungovernable. They reproached their sovereigns for trusting the ambitious Italian, who would sacrifice their lives "to make himself a great lord;" and they resolved to retrace their course and seek the shores of Spain. With kind words, tempting promises of reward, and threats against the more mutinous, Columbus quelled the rising insurrection for the time.

For eleven days after leaving the Canary Islands, the ships had sailed before the easterly trade winds; now gentle breezes came from the southwest, and often diminished into dead calms. At early twilight one evening, Martin Pinzon, standing on the high stem of the Pinta, and pointing toward the southwest, shouted to the admiral, "Land! land! senor; I claims my reward"-a pension promised by the sovereigns to the first man who should discover land. Believing the report to be true, Columbus knelt and returned thanks to God; and his own crew and that of the Pinta, sailing close by, joined with the commanders in repeating the Gloria in Excelsis. Alas! the apparition was only a cloud which vanished before the dawn.

Days passed on, and the sun each evening set in the waves. Martin Pinzon believed that a more southerly course would be wiser, and he was confirmed in his opinion by seeing a flock of parrots flying toward the southwest. He advised Columbus to follow them, but the admiral kept on his due west course. The crews again became discontented and mutinous. They had lost all hope, and in their desperation they defied Columbus. With great dignity and calmness, and with the coolness of true courage, he said: This expedition has been sent out by your sovereigns, and come what may I am determined, by the help of God, to accomplish the object of the voyage." "We will cast you into the sea and return to Spain," said the exasperated sailors; and just at sunset, on the evening of the 11th of October, they were about to carry their threat into execution, when a coast-fish was seen to glide by; dolphins played near the surface; a branch of thorn with berries on it floated near, and a staff, artificially carved, came upon the waters to testify of human habitations near. Such unmistakable signs of land close by hushed the voice of rebellion, and the tigers became as meek as lambs. After the vesper hymn to the Virgin had been sung at the close of twilight, as usual, Columbus addressed his crew in words of kindness and congratulation. Recounting the many blessings which they had received from God on the voyage, he assured them that a greater blessing was about to be bestowed upon them-that probably land would be seen in the morning. He enjoined them all to watch, and promised that to whosoever should first discover land should be given a doublet of velvet, in addition to the pension offered by the sovereigns.