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GALERÍA
HISPÁNICA:
Tales and Images From the
Spanish-Speaking World
Volume 11: Columbus, Spain, and
the Enterprise of the Indies
Part III
The First Voyage
Cristóbal Colón (Christopher
Columbus) set sail from Palos de
la Frontera, Spain on August 3,
1492 on the first leg of his
“enterprise of the Indies”. He
had put together a small
flotilla of three Spanish
carabelas. He gathered his
crews and shipmates from the
towns on the Mediterranean coast
near the city of Huelva. Today
the whole world knows the names
of his three carabelas: La Niña
(named after its owner, Juan
Niño), La Pinta (the smallest
and fastest), and La Santa
María, Colón’s flagship. One of
the well-known seafaring
families of the region was the
Pinzón. Martín Pinzón was in
command of La Pinta and Vicente
Yañez Pinzón, a brother of
Martín, was in command of La
Niña. Most of the sailors were
recruited by the Pinzón family
and by the monks of La Rábida
monastery where Colón had lived.
The records of the voyage don’t
provide an exact figure
regarding the total number of
sailors, but it is reported by
Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, a
Columbus biographer of the 16th
century, that the total reached
about 87 in all vessels combined.
Unlike subsequent voyages of the
Spaniards, the first voyage of
Colón lacked soldiers, settlers,
or priests. Those notable
omissions spoke to the singular
purpose of the enterprise:
exploration and discovery.
Colón had studied navigation
practices, ocean currents, and
the writings of earlier
navigators. He had made earlier
voyages to the Canary Islands
where he believed the route to
the Indies should logically
begin. He also had heard the
islanders there tell stories of
exotic pieces of wood and other
flotsom that had washed onto
shore via currents from the west.
So, after leaving Spain, Colón
sailed the first leg to the
Canary Islands and from there
his flotilla departed into
the unknown on the 8th
of September.
Colón and other sailors of his
time, navigated by dead
reckoning. Dead reckoning
navigation requires a known
point, or port from which to
start. That known point for
Colón was the Canary Islands.
This system of navigation is not
very complicated. On the map of
Colón, he measured the distance
and the course traveled each day
from a certain point, marked
that point, and then started
measuring again the following
day from where he ended on the
previous day. The course
reading was taken using a
magnetic compass and the
distance traveled was measured
by multiplying the speed of the
vessel by the time it took to
reach that distance. It seems
that there existed an oral
tradition among sailors
involving a “chant” to determine
the ship’s speed. For example:
on the sides of the ship were
two marks, one forward and one
aft. To measure the speed, an
expendable but floatable object
was thrown into the water at the
bow of the boat. As the object
floated past the first mark, the
“chanter” began to call out his
chant in a metered verse and
then he would stop chanting once
the object reached the aft mark.
He or someone else on the ship,
perhaps the captain or the pilot,
would make a written entry where
the chant stopped. There
existed some type of a formula
that they used to convert the
syllables chanted into nautical
miles per hour. Each ship
measured its speed and distance
traveled once every hour and
this was noted onto a peg board.
At the end of every day, the
course and distance traveled
during that entire day was then
plotted onto a parchment map.
These measurements were
eventually recorded into the
ship’s log of Colón. It is also
interesting to note that Colon’s
log shows that he stayed on a
straight westward magnetic
course for most of his voyage.
It is said that he changed
directions only three times:
one time to get better winds,
and twice more to explore some
false sightings of land.
The following is a summary
excerpt from the ship’s log of
Colón:
Thursday, 11 October:
“Steered west-southwest; and
encountered a heavier sea than
we had met in the whole voyage.
Saw pardelas and a green rush
near the vessel. The crew of
the Pinta saw a cane and a log;
they also picked up a stick
which appeared to have been
carved with an iron tool, a
piece of cane, a plant which
grows on land, and a board. The
crew of the Niña saw other signs
of land, and a stalk loaded with
rose berries. These signs
encouraged us and we grew
cheerful. Sailed this day till
sunset, twenty-seven leagues.
After sunset, steered original
course west and sailed twelve
miles an hour till two hours
after midnight, going ninety
miles, which are twenty-two
leagues and a half; and as the
Pinta was the swiftest, it kept
ahead of the Santa María. It
discovered land and made the
signals which had been ordered.
The land was first sighted by
Rodrigo de Triana, sailor. (I
find it interesting that Triana
is a district on the outer bank
of the Río Guadalquivir at
Sevilla, Spain. Triana today is
known for its gypsy population.
The Río Guadalquivir at Sevilla
is where the treasures of the
New World were unloaded by
subsequent voyages, including
those of Colón.) At two
o’clock in the morning of 12 of
October, land was discovered and
seen by all, at two leagues’
distance. Sails were taken in
to lie at square-sail until
daylight. At daylight on Friday,
a small island was seen.
Landing was made by small boat,
which was armed and in the
company of Martín Pinzón, and
Vicente Yañez, brother of
Martín, who was in command of
the Niña.”
The excerpt continues: “the
royal banner was carried by
Colón and the two captains each
carried a banner with a green
cross that contained the
initials of the names of
Fernando (F) and Isabel (Y) on
each side of the cross with a
crown over each letter. The
party arrives onto the shore of
the small island which was
called Guanahuani by the
“Indians” that greeted us on the
shore. Arriving onto the shore,
we saw very green trees, streams
of water and fruit.” Colón
“called upon the two captains,
and the rest of the crew who
landed, and also to Rodrigo de
Escovedo, notary of the fleet,
and Rodrigo Sanchez, of Segovia,
to bear witness that before all
others Captain Colón took
possession of that island for
the King and Queen, making the
requisite declarations, which
are set down here in writing.”
Image 28
 The royal
standard and the banner of the
Catholic Monarchs
Colón named the island onto
which they landed, San
Salvador. Today that island
is believed to be an island in
the Bahamas called Watlings
Island. By October 28, 1492,
Colón had sailed on toward Cuba
and by the 22nd of
November, he had left Cuba and
sailed northward. At that time
Martín Pinzón had left behind
the other two ships and sailed
away without permission. It is
widely believed that Pinzón had
deserted the other two ships in
search of islands said by
natives to have vast quantities
of gold. By December, Colón and
the Santa María and the crew of
the Niña had landed on what is
now the island of Hispaniola (the
Dominican Republic). Tragedy
struck the Enterprise of the
Indies on Christmas Eve, 1492.
The flagship, La Santa María ran
aground on a reef off the island
of Hispaniola and sank. Colón
was left with one smaller ship,
La Niña, and two crews all of
which would never fit in it.
One crew would be required to
remain stranded in the New
World. He salvaged the remains
of La Santa María and
constructed a fort on the shore
of the island of Hispaniola. He
named the fort, La
Navidad, or Christmas Fort.
The date marked the birthday of
Christ and the birth of a
European Christian settlement in
the New World. Colón had to
leave half of his two crews on
the island to await a return
voyage from Spain to rescue them.
He left the New World
approximately one week later for
the return voyage eastward back
to Spain.
Image 29
This is the landing site on
Guanahuani where Colón first
went ashore in the New World.
He claimed this island for the
Spanish sovereigns and named it,
“San Salvador”. Today it is
Watlings Island in the Bahamas.
Then on board La Niña, Colón
sailed eastward. At sea on
January 6, he discovered by
chance Martín Pinzóns ship, la
Pinta. The two ships sailed
together for about one month,
but by February the two ships
had once again separated due to
storms and each believed the
other had been lost forever. On
February 15, Colón recorded in
his log that he had sighted land.
It was the Portuguese Azores
Islands. On March 15, 1493,
Colón arrived finally at his
home port of Palos de la
Frontera just a few hours ahead
of Martín Pinzón and the Pinta.
Colón achieved immortality with
his enterprise of the Indies,
whereas Pinzón’s great sailing
feat would end up recorded in
history as only an exploit of a
mere mortal who tried to snatch
riches and glory away from
Colón. Perhaps it was poetic
justice then that Pinzón died a
few days after arriving home.
The Death of Colón
Colón organized a second voyage
to the Indies. He left on the
return voyage on October 13,
1493. This flotilla was huge in
its size and cargo. There were
17 ships and they were jammed
with over 1000 men and probably
most importantly, Colón was
bringing to the New World for
the first time a variety of
animals. He brought European
horses, cattle, and sheep. He
landed in the West Indies on
November 3 and by November 28 he
had returned to Hispaniola only
to find the fort, La Navidad,
destroyed and all Spanish souls
that had remained behind were
dead. The Spaniards left at La
Navidad had raided Indian
villages looking for gold and
women, and as a consequence, the
Indians had destroyed the fort
and killed the Spaniards.
By 1504, Cristóbal Colón had
made four voyages to the New
World. On May 20, 1506, Colón
died in Valladolid, Spain at the
age of 54. It was reported by
his son, Fernando, that Colón
died of gout. Today it is
universally believed that the
true cause of his death was a
terminal illness provoked by
Reiter’s Syndrome. Colón
contracted this tropical disease
somewhere in the New World. He
was relatively poor when he
died. He was buried in a
cemetery in Valladolid.
Today, the location of the
remains of Colón has caused
almost as much public interest
as all of his voyages of
discovery. Many family members
and supporters of Colón felt
that he had died poor due to the
ingratitude of the Spanish
monarchy that he had made rich
and famous. Colón’s body was
eventually removed from the
cemetery in Valladolid and
reburied in Sevilla. Diego, his
oldest son, died in 1526 and was
buried beside his father in
Sevilla.
The widow of Colón asked the
Court to transfer both bodies to
Santo Domingo on Hispaniola. It
is now very important to note
that church records from the
period indicate that his body
was buried on the right
side of the altar in the
cathedral of Santo Domingo. The
tomb remained there until 1795
when France captured Hispaniola
in a war with Spain. Even
though Colón was not fully
appreciated as the Admiral of
the Ocean Seas when he died, by
the end of the 18th
century, everybody wanted a
piece of Colón, especially
Spain. The Spanish government
quietly excavated the remains of
Colón and they did so using the
original church records of the
entombment. These remains were
taken to Havana, Cuba where they
stayed until the
Spanish-American war of 1898.
At that time, the remains of
Colón were transported back
across the Atlantic to Sevilla,
Spain in the cathedral. Many
scholars of Colón and historians
in general, believe that Sevilla
is the true final resting place
of Colón. His youngest son,
Fernando, is buried in the
cathedral of Sevilla, also.
Image 30
This image is of the tomb of
Colón inside the Cathedral of
Sevilla, Spain. Four personages,
representing the four ancient
kingdoms of Castilla, León,
Navarra, and Aragón that the
Catholic Monarchs united, are
holding up his coffin. On the
bottom side of the coffin is an
inscription verifying the
remains to be those of Colón.
There used to be a tiny poem
written on parchment that stood
beside the tomb’s pedestal that
read: “A Castilla y a
León, Nuevo Mundo Dio Colón”
(to Castille and to León, a New
World Gave Colón”).
This is the small chest that
contains the remains of Colón in
the Cathedral of Sevilla, Spain,
at the moment the urn was to be
opened and examined by a team of
anthropologists and experts
seeking a DNA sample for
analysis.
The Mystery of His Remains
The cathedral of Santo Domingo
underwent refurbishments in
1877. Some workers found a lead
box that contained human remains
under the altar and on the
left side of it. That box
with the following words:
Ilustre e Distinguido Varón, Don
Cristóbal Colón (Illustrious
and Distinguished Male,
Christopher Columbus, Esq.).
Lead was also considered to be
the coffin of choice in the 15th
and 16th centuries.
The original church record of
the entombment of Colón wrote
that he was buried on the
right side of the altar.
Depending on whether one faces
toward or away from the altar,
left then becomes right and vice
versa. Since then the
Dominicans have maintained that
Colón’s body was never moved and
the body that was actually moved
was that of Diego, his son, who
was buried on the other side of
the altar from his father.
Last year an analysis was
undertaken of the Columbus bones
in Sevilla. The DNA sample was
inconclusive due to the small
amount of fragments available
and the poor condition of them.
Another analysis has been
underway with the bones in Santo
Domingo. The results are not
yet known. DNA analysis of any
remains of Colón is possible due
to the fact that the direct
descendents of Colón are known
to this day. Living in Madrid
today is the 18th
direct descendent, Don Diego
Colón, the Duke of Veragua. A
hair sample from Don Diego is
all that is needed to exact a
comparison of any bone
fragments.
In 1990, the bones of Colón that
rested in the Santo Domingo
cathedral were transferred one
last time to the Faro a Colón
(Lighthouse to Colón), a
breathtakingly massive monument
to Colón. Based on the
inconclusive evidence of the DNA
test performed on the bones in
Sevilla, the claim to the real
remains of Colón by the
Dominican Republic may be the
most valid of all. The remains
of Colón are held in a bronze
urn and there is only one key to
unlock it. The Archbishop of
Santo Domingo is the only
guardian of that key.
Image 31
This is the Faro a Colón
monument in Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic.
Image 32
The leaden urn containing the
remains of Colón are here in
this crypt in Santo Domingo.
Image 33
This is an image of Don Diego
Colón, Duke of Veragua, the 18th
direct descendent of Colón and
who now resides in Madrid.
The real tragedy of the life and
death of Colón may be that the
New World he discovered bears
the name of Amerigo Vespucci and
not that of Cristóbal Colón.
For further insight into the
life and voyages of Colón, I
suggest reading La Historia
de Las Indias by Fray
Bartolomé de Las Casas, Las
Cartas de Colón (The Letters
of Columbus) to the Catholic
Monarchs, and his ship’s log
from the first voyage.
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