NAVAL INSTITUTE, ANNAPOLIS, MD.

APRIL, 1884.

THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. BY LIEUTENANT J. B. MURDOCK, U. S. N.

It devolved on me a year ago to review for the Naval Institute the monograph of the late Hon. G. V. Fox on the Landfall of Columbus. I became interested in the subject and gave it careful study; but, while appreciating the conscientious care shown in the preparation of the monograph, I could not agree with the conclusions reached. I was led to believe that different conclusions were better supported by the evidence, and therefore prepared a paper setting forth what seemed to me a more natural deduction.

Owing to the number of articles of immediate interest furnished to the Institute, this paper has not been published until now.

In no respect did Mr. Fox show more clearly the earnestness and conscientiousness of his search than in his examination into all possible records that might throw light on the cruise of Columbus. among the Bahamas in 1492. The principal authority is of course the log of Columbus himself; but the old Spanish annals afford information on many doubtful points, and the cartographers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have supplied abundant material for reference. Mr. Fox searched these diligently, and endeavored to extract truth from the mass of error incorporated in the old charts; but the task seems wellnigh hopeless. In all probability the Bahamas were but little known until long after the time of Columbus. The discovery of Cuba and the conquest of Mexico and Peru diverted the tide of travel to the southward of the Bahama group. In comparison with the rich and fertile West Indies, these islands were of little importance, and were but little visited. The data on which to make accurate charts were therefore insufficient, even if accurate methods of locating isolated islands had then been in vogue. It is only within the present century that good charts of the Bahamas have been produced, and a

comparison between these and the ancient ones discloses little resemblance. An inspection of such of the latter as were accessible induced me to believe that better results would be obtained by wholly ignoring the old charts (which differ so widely among themselves as to afford support to almost any theory that might be suggested), and by comparing Columbus' own statements of the islands he visited with the best modern charts procurable. Both these authorities seemed reliable, and my investigation has been based on a comparison between them.

Mr. Fox's monograph contains the original Spanish of Columbus' journal as transcribed by Las Casas, and a verbatim translation by Mr. Thomas of the United States State Department. Incorporated in this paper is a translation by the late Prof. Montaldo of the United States Naval Academy, which is a revision of that given by Mr. Thomas. The fact that Prof. Montaldo was instructor in Spanish at the Naval Academy nearly twenty years, during which time he gave special instruction in Spanish nautical phraseology and in the English equivalents of technical terms, renders him specially qualified to decide on many of the doubtful terms contained in Columbus' journal. I am greatly indebted to him for explanations of many obscure points, and have in all cases deferred to his authority. The responsibility of the track hereafter suggested as that of Columbus is, however, entirely mine.

It must be premised that the journal contains statements that appear to be absolutely irreconcilable with the present topography of the Bahamas. It is possible, but improbable, that since 1492 sufficiently great changes in the size and position of the islands have taken place to explain these statements. Attention is called to these as they occur. Five tracks have been suggested as followed by Columbus from San Salvador to Cuba, these tracks beginning at five different outlying islands. The diversity of these tracks may be seen from the following table:

The journal of Columbus being taken as final authority, the translation kindly furnished by Prof. Montaldo is as follows:

Wednesday, October 10.

He sailed west-southwest, at the rate of ten miles an hour and occasionally twelve, and at other times seven, running between day and night fifty-nine leagues; he told the men only forty-four. Here the crew could stand it no longer; they complained of the long voyage, but the Admiral encouraged them as best he could, giving them hopes of the profits that they might have. And he added that it was useless to murmur, because he had come to [in quest of?] the Indies, and was so going to continue until he found them, with God's help.

Thursday, October 11.

He sailed to the west-southwest; had a high sea, higher than hitherto. They saw pardelas, and, floating by the vessel, a green rush. The men of the Pinta saw a reed and a stick, and got a small stick apparently cut or worked with an iron instrument, and a piece of cane and some other grass which grows on the land, and a small board. Those of the caravel Niña also saw other indications of land and a little stick loaded with dog-roses. In view of such signs they breathed more freely and grew cheerful. They ran until sunset of that day twenty-seven leagues. After sunset he sailed on his first course to the west; they went about twelve miles an hour, and two hours after midnight they had run about ninety miles, that is, twenty-two and a half leagues. As the caravel Pinta was a better sailer and had the lead, she made land and showed the signals ordered by the Admiral. The land was first seen by a sailor called Rodrigo de Triana; although the Admiral at ten o'clock at night, standing on the castle of the poop, saw a light, but so indistinct that he did not dare to affirm that it was land; yet he called the attention of Pero Gutierrez, a keeper of the king's wardroom, to it, and told him that it seemed to be a light, asking him to look, and he did so and saw it; he did the same with Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovia, whom the king and queen had sent with the fleet as supervisor and purveyor, but he, not being in a good position for seeing it, saw nothing. After the Admiral said this, it was seen once or twice, and it was like a small wax candle that was being hoisted and raised, which would seem to few to be an indication of land. The Admiral however was quite convinced of the proximity of land. In consequence of that, when they said the Salve, which all the sailors used to say and sing in their way, and all being present, the Admiral requested and admonished them to keep a sharp lookout at the forecastle, and to look well for land, and said that he would give to him who first saw land a silk doublet, besides the other rewards that the king and queen had promised, namely, an annual pension of ten thousand maravedis to him who should see it first. Two hours after midnight the land appeared, about two leagues off. They lowered all the sails, leaving only a storm square sail, which is the mainsail without bonnets, and lay to until Friday, when they reached a small island of the Lucayos, called Guanahani in the Indian language. They soon saw people naked, and the Admiral went on shore in the armed boat, also Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vin

cente Anes, his brother, who was commander of the Niña. The Admiral took the Royal standard and the captains the two banners of the Green Cross, which the Admiral carried on all the ships as a distinguishing flag, having an F and a Y, each letter surmounted by its crown, one at one arm of the cross and the other at the other arm. As soon as they had landed they saw trees of a brilliant green, abundance of water, and fruits of various kinds. The Admiral called the two captains and the rest who had come on shore, and Rodrigo Descovedo, the notary of all the fleet, and Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovia, and he called them as witnesses to certify that he, in presence of them all, was taking, as he in fact took, possession of said island for the king and queen, his masters, making the declarations that were required, as they will be found more fully in the attestations then taken down in writing. Soon after, a large crowd of natives congregated there. What follows are the Admiral's own words in his book on the first voyage and discoveries of these Indies. "In order to win the friendship and affection of that people, and because I was convinced that their conversion to our Holy Faith would be better promoted through love than through force, I presented some of them with red caps and some strings of glass beads, which they placed around their necks, and with other trifles of insignificant worth that delighted them and by which we have got a wonderful hold on their affections. They afterwards came to the boats of the vessels, where we were, swimming, bringing us parrots, cotton thread in balls, and spears, and many other things, which they bartered for others we gave them, as glass beads and little bells. Finally, they received everything and gave whatever they had with good will. But I thought them to be a very poor people. All of them go about naked as when they came into the world, even the women, although I saw but one very young girl, all the rest being young men, none of them being over thirty years of age; their forms being very well proportioned, their bodies graceful and their features handsome; their hair is as coarse as the hair of a horse's tail and cut short; they wear their hair over their eyebrows, except a little behind, which they wear long and which they never cut; some of them paint themselves black, and they are of the color of the Canary islanders, neither black nor white, and some paint themselves white, and some red, and some with whatever they find, and some paint their faces, and some the whole body, and some their eyes only, and some their noses only. They do not carry arms and have no knowledge of them, for, when I showed them the swords, they took them by the edge, and through ignorance cut themselves. They have no iron; their spears consist of staffs without iron, some of them having a fish's tooth at the end, and others other things. As a body, they are of good size, good demeanor, and well formed. I saw some with scars on their bodies, and to my signs, asking them what these meant, they answered in the same manner, that people from the neighboring islands wanted to capture them, and they had defended themselves; and I did believe, and do believe, that they came there from the mainland to take them prisoners. They must be good servants and very intelligent, because I see that they repeat very quickly what I told them, and it is my conviction that they would easily become Christians, for they seem not to have any sect. If it please our Lord, I will take six of them from here to your

Highnesses on my departure, that they may learn to speak. I have seen here no beasts whatever, but parrots only." All these are the words of the Admiral.

Saturday, October 13.

"At dawn many of these men came down to the shore. All are, as already said, youths of good size and very handsome; their hair is not woolly, but loose and coarse like horse hair; they have broader heads and foreheads than I have ever seen in any other race of men, and the eyes very beautiful and not small. None of them are black, but of the complexion of the inhabitants of the Canaries, and it cannot be otherwise expected, for it is east and west with the island of Hierro in the Canaries in the same line. All without exception have very straight limbs, and not large but very well-formed bellies. They came to the ship in canoes, made out of trunks of trees, all in one piece, like a long boat, and wonderfully built according to the locality, and large, so that in some of them forty or forty-five men came; others were smaller, and in some but a single man came. They paddled with a peel like that of a baker, and made wonderful speed; and if it capsizes all begin to swim and set it right again, and bail out the water with calabashes which they carry. They brought balls of spun cotton, parrots, spears, and other little things which would be tedious to describe, and gave them away for anything that was given to them. I examined them closely and tried to ascertain if there was any gold, and noticed that some carried a small piece of it hanging from a little hole in their nose, and by signs I was able to understand that by going to the south or going around the island to the southward, there was a king who had large gold vessels and gold in abundance. I endeavored to persuade them to go there, and I afterwards saw that they had no wish to go. I determined to wait until to-morrow evening and then to sail for the southwest, for many of them told me by signs that there was land to the south and to the southwest and to the northwest, and that those from the northwest came frequently to fight with them, and also go to the southwest to get gold and precious stones. This island is very large and very level, and has very green trees and many streams of water, and a very large lagoon in the middle without any mountain, and all is covered with verdure most pleasing to the eye; the people are remarkably gentle, and in consequence of their desire to get some of our things, and thinking that nothing will be given to them unless they give something, and, having nothing, they take what they can and swim off to the ship; but all that they have they give for anything that is offered to them; so that they bought even pieces of crockery and pieces of broken glass, and I saw sixteen balls of cotton given for three ceotis of Portugal, which is equivalent to a blanca of Castile, and in them there must have been more than one arroba of spun cotton. I forbade this and allowed no one to take any unless I ordered it to be taken for your Highnesses, should it be found in abundance. It grows in the island, although on account of the shortness of time I could not assert it positively, and likewise the gold which they carry hanging in their noses is found here; but in order to lose no time I am now going to try if I can find the island of Cipango. At this moment it is dark and all went on shore in their canoes."