Today, October 12, there was a bit of chill in the air.
It was way back on this very same day, in 1492 that Christopher Columbus and his crew of ninety Spanish fishermen, merchants, shipowners in three, small wooden vessels landed on a low-lying verdant Island called Guanahani in the eastern Bahamian islands less than 400 miles off the coast of present day Florida. That contact between east and, west was an earth shattering watershed global event that spawned unimaginable change in world economics, politics, agriculture, and had inconceivable impact on world populations and societies..
Columbus and his small fleet departed the Spanish port of Palos in southern Spain on August 3, 1492 (near modern day Huelva ) . The fleet headed southwest, well off the coast of present day Morocco toward the Canary Islands, Spain’s most westerly possessions. They came to harbor on Gomera a smaller though central island of this chain.
Columbus’ “shake down” cruise from Palos to Gomera confirmed his opinion regarding the advantages of smaller vessels capable of exploring coastal areas. In fact, his ships were not large. The Nina and Pinta were caravels respectively of about 50 feet and 70 feet long from bow to stern. The Santa Maria, the flagship, was a larger, beamier vessel with a deeper keel. Allied a “carrack” or “nap” it was a bulky cargo ship of perhaps 100 feet in length. But the ocean cruise to Gomera revealed a leak in the Pinta and also reenforced Columbus’ preference for “square” sails which were better suited for down wind sailing, conditioned that would be encountered on the crossing of the Atlantic. Columbus’ two caravels were rigged with triangular, “fore and aft” sails (similar in shape to those of a modern sloop). These were more suitable for coastal sailing and wind conditions more typical of the Mediterranean.
These triangular “lateen” sails were useful where the wind often came “over the beam” or over the starboard or port sides. Columbus’ many years of wind and weather observations during his long seafaring career Eich took him as far north as the British Hebrides and south to regions off the coast of Africa had given him unique insights concerning global wind patterns. He understood the wind conditions he would encounter on the Atlantic crossing wouldd be persistent “following winds”. They would require a point of sailing called “downwind sailing” or sailing “off the wind”.
Thus in Gomera while repairs were in process on the Pinta, the rigging of the two smaller ships were altered from the fore and aft triangular or lateen sails to square sails. Thus from “caravella lateena” rigged ships they were altered to “caravella redonda”. This latter rig would be more effective with winds that Columbus expected from the east and southeast on his outward passage and also on his return to Spain.
According to a summary of Columbus’ ship- log, the “shake down” voyage from Palos in Spain to Gomera in the Canary Islands, a distance of 800 nautical miles, took the fleet ten days. This leg of the trip was hindered by poor sail plan on the smaller vessels and a leaky rudder post on the Pinta. The fleet averaged about 80 nautical miles per day, or about 3.3 knots (nautical miles per hour). This author calculated the the average speed of about 3.9 knots made by the fleet on the Atlantic crossing (Gomera to San Salvador) versus only 3.3 knots on the first leg. The fleet ad a significant indicate a significant increase in speed of (0.6 knots /3.3 =0.18 or) 18% a increase in speed of nearly 20%. . Thu# the re.riggin of his fleet to squaecsails may have been the margin that made the difference between success and failure of the first voyage ( see below)
Arriving at Gomera on August 12, 1492, the fleet languished in port for twenty-five days waiting for repairs to the Pinta, re-rigging the sail plan of the two smaller vessels, and arrival and storing of needed food, water and supplies.
When all was completed, the small fleet finally left Gomera on September 6, 1492. But the fleet, was becalmed off-shore, within sight of Hierra, the the most westerly island in the archipelago, until September 8. On that night strong northwesterly winds arose and allowed the fleet finally to depart Las Canarias
That night Columbus set his course west-southwest across the Atlantic. The voyage would take 33 days days . Columbus’ route took the fleet southwest from the Canary Islands and then west across the Atlantic for about 3,067 nautical miles. The wooden sailing ships averaged about 92 nautical miles per day or a speed of 3.9 knots (almost 4 nautical miles per hour) a good speed, considering the broad, beamy shape of the ship’s hulls and of the likely growth of seaweed and barnacle on the wetted surfaces of the hulls over the long period of time they were at sea.
By October 10, after more than a month of sailing, the men were restive. (Columbus, using outdated and erroneous estimates of the length of a degree of longitude and the circumference of the earth, had estimated they would encounter the outer islands of “Chipangu” or “the Indies” in only a month of sailing).
By early Octoberafter a month of sailing the crew was understandably fearful of running out of water and food, and also began to have doubts about the success of the voyage. They demanded Columbus return home. In an attempt to to allay their fears and perhaps prevent a mutiny, he struck a deal with his men for a few more days of westward sailing, and sweetened it with the promise a silk doublet and an annuity to anyone who first sighted land.
On October 10 and 11 the there were sightings of land birds and observations of a green tree branch as well as a bough of “dog rose” (Rosa cantina?). On the morning of October 12, a sailor on the Pinta, Rodrigo de Traina, saw land first. Columbus himself also had spotted a light the night before—perhaps that from a campfire—dead ahead over the bow.. At dawn with all hands at the rail straining to see the first land of a new world they finally came close enough to make out the form of a low lying island ( later identified as Guanahani ) one of the most easterly islands of the Bahamian archipelago.
They soon made landfall on this “salvation island” which was inhabited with friendly natives, covered in verdant vegetation and many “fruit trees”. Columbus called this place San Salvador—after Christ the Savior —or the island of their salvation! After landing and taking possession of the island for Spain, they would go on from here to explore the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola for the next months before changing weather conditions and some disappointment (at not finding the expected great cities of the Great Kahn of the east) drove them to return to Spain.
That was what happened on October 12, 1492…..a long time ago. Our lives toaday are very very different, our ideas, our sensibilities our technology too. So let us not fall into the trap of attempting to evaluate the actions the motivations and the lives of other humans who lived under very different circumstances so long ago —with our own very modern ideas and concepts. Ours too some day will be looked back upon wth scorn. We too have much to answer for. Let us try to see their lives and achievements as they may have been received in their own day.
Columbus’ achievement of sailing southwest, instead of due west to cross the great “Ocean Sea”, his understanding and use of the global wind circulation patterns, which set the model for all other future sailors, as well as his three subsequent voyages of discovery would be acts of exceptional perseverance, courage, and expertise in any age. He was an outstanding navigator, leader, visionary, and explorer. If only for these achievements, he should remembered and celebrated with his special day.
Some would claim that the “new world” was already known to native Americans who had crossed the Bering land bridge tens of thousands of years before. Others would point to the voyages of the Vikings in the far north of the new world. Perhaps in that age, the “age of discovery” some might add that someone else would have attempted a westward passage to reach the east, had Columbus not been successful. In fact only 27 years later, in 1519 the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan would lead a fleet that would actually circumnavigate the globe.
But none of these earlier explorers or immigrants had the impact on the western world of the Colombian discoveries. Columbus (unknowingly) discovered a whole new world. On his return to Spain the news of a “new world” would have the same impact today, if one of our “touring commercial space ships” would return with reports of an encounter with a new planet with unique life forms and environments completely unknown to us in our world Imagine that, to get a sense of the Colombian discovery.
So on this chill October date let us put history and its actual significance into meaningful perspective and remember the extraordinary achievements of one extraordinary explorer.: Christopher Columbus.
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