The life and voyages of Christopher Columbus

Front matter

6^^^.

o ty^ :

^-^0^

Introduction

Whether in old times beyond the reach of history or tradition, and at some remote period when, as some imagine, the arts may have flourished to a degree unknown to those whom we term the ancients, there existed an intercourse between the opposite shores of the Atlantic; whether the Egyptian legend narrated by Plato, respecting the island of Atalantis, was indeed no fable, but the tradition of some country, engulphed by one of those mighty convulsions of our globe, which have left the traces of the ocean on the summits of lofty mountains ; must ever remain matters of vague and visionary

1*

6 INTRODUCTION.

speculation. As far as authenticated history extends, nothing was known of terra-firma, and the islands of the western hemisphere, until their discovery towards the close of the fifteenth century. A wandering bark may occasionally have lost sight of the landmarks of the old continents, and been driven by tempests across the wilderness of waters, long before the invention of the compass, but none ever returned to reveal the secrets of the ocean ; and though, from time to time, some document has floated to the old world, giving to its wondering inhabitants indications ofland far beyond their watery horizon, yet no one ventured to spread a sail, and seek that land, enveloped in mystery and peril. Or if the legends of the Scandinavian voyagers be correct, and their mysterious Vinland were the coast of Labrador or the shore of Newfoundland, they had but transient glimpses of the New World, leading to no permanent knowledge, and in a little time lost again to mankind. Certain it is, that at the beginning of the fifteenth century, when the most intelligent minds were seeking in every direction for the scattered lights of geographical knowledge, a profound ignorance prevailed among the learned as to the western regions of the Atlantic ; its vast waters were regarded with awe and wonder, seeming to bound the world as with a chaos, into which

INTRODUCTION. 7

conje-cture could not penetrate, and enterprise feared to adventure. We need no greater proof of this, than the description given of the Atlantic by Xerif al Edrisi, surnamed the Nubian, an eminent Arabian writer, whose countrymen possessed all that was known of geography in the middle ages.

"The ocean," he observes, "encircles the ultimate bounds of the inhabited earth, and all beyond it is unknown. No one has been able to verify any thing concerning it, on account of its difficult and perilous navigation, its great obscurity, its profound depth, and frequent tempests ; through fear of its mighty fishes, and its haughty winds ; yet there are many islands in it, some of which are peopled, and others uninhabited. There is no mariner who dares to enter into its deep waters ; or if any have done so, they have merely kept along its coasts, fearful of departing from them. The waves of this ocean, although they roll as high as mountains, yet maintain themselves without breaking ; for if they broke, it would be impossible for a ship to plough them."

It is the object of the following work, to relate the deeds and fortunes of the mariner, who first had the judgment to divine, and the intrepidity to brave, the mysteries of this perilous deep; and who, by his hardy

8 INTRODUCTION.

genius, his inflexible constancy, and hife heroic courage, brought the ends of the earth into communication with each other. The narrative of his troubled life is the link which connects the history of the old world with that of the new.

CHAPTER I. Birth, parentage, education, and early life of Columbus

Christopher Columbus, or Columbo, as the name is written in Italian, was born in the city of Genoa, about the year 1435, of poor but reputable and meritorious parentage. He was the son of Domenico Colombo, a wool comber, and Susanna Fontanarossa, his wife ; and his ancestors seem to have followed the same trade for several generations in Genoa. Attempts have been made to prove him of illustrious descent, and several noble houses have laid claim to him since his name has become so renowned as to confer rather than receive distinction. It is possible some of them may be in the right, for the feuds in Italy in those ages had broken down and scattered many of the noblest families, and while some branches remained in the lordly heritage of castles and domains, others were confounded with the humblest population of the cities. The fact, however, is not material to his fame ; and it is a higher proof of merit to be the object of contention among various noble families, than to be able to substantiate the most illustrious lineage. His son Fernando had a true feeling on the subject. " I am of opinion," says he, " that I should derive less dignity from any nobility of ancestry, than from being the son of such a father."

Columbus was the oldest of four children ; having two brothers, Bartholomew and Giacomo, or, as his name is translated into Spanish, Diego, and one sister, of whom nothing is known, excepting that she was married to a person in obscure life, called Giacomo Bavarello.

While very young, Columbus was taught reading, writing, grammar, and arithmetic, and made some proficiency in drawing. He soon evinced a strong passion for geographical knowledge, and an irresistible inclination for the sea ; and in after life, when he looked back upon his career with a solemn and superstitious feeling, he regarded this early determination of his mind as an impulse from the deity, guiding him to the studies, and inspiring him with the inclinations, proper to fit him for the high decrees he was destined to accomplish. His father, seeing the bent of his mind, endeavoured to give him an education suitable for maritime life. He sent him, therefore, to the university of Pavia, where he was instructed in geometry, geography, astronomy, and navigation ; he acquired also a familiar knowledge of the Latin tongue, which at that time was the medium of instruction, and the language of the schools. He remained but a short time at Pavia, barely sufficient to give him the rudiments of the necessary sciences ; the thorough acquaintance with them which he displayed in after life, must have been the result of diligent self-schooling, and of casual hours of study, amidst the cares and vicissitudes of a rugged and wandering life. He was one of those men of strong natural genius, who appear to form themselves ; who, from having' to contend at their very outset with privations and impediments, acquire an intrepidity in braving and a facility in vanquishing difficulties. Such men learn to effect great purposes with small means, supplying the deficiency of the latter by the resources of their own aneigy and invention. This is one of the remarkable features in the history of Columbus. In every undertaking, the scantiness and apparent insufficiency of his means enhance the grandeur of his achievements.

Shortly after leaving the university, he entered into nautical life, and, according to his own account, began to navigate at fourteen years of age. A complete obscurity rests upon this part of his history. It is supposed he made his first voyages with one Colombo, a hardy captain of the seas, who had risen to some distinction by his bravery, and who was a distant connexion of his family. This veteran is occasionally mentioned in old chronicles ; sometimes as commanding a squadron of his own, sometimes as being an admiral in the Genoese ser/ice. He appears to have been bold and adventurous, ready to fight in any cause, and to seek quarrel wherever it might lawfully be found.

The seafaring life in those days was peculiarly full of hazard and enterprise. Even a commercial expedition resembled a warlike cruise, and the maritime merchant had often to fight his way from port to port. Piracy was almost legalized. The frequent feuds between the Italian states ; the cruisings of the Catalonians ; the armadas fitted out by noblemen, who were petty sovereigns in their own domains ; the roving ships and squadrons of private adventurers ; and the holy wars waged with the Mahometan powers, rendered the narrow seas to which navigation was principally confined, scenes of the most hardy encounters and trying reverses. Such was the rugged school in which Columbus was reared, and such the rugged teacher that first broke him in to naval discipline.

The first voyage in which we hear any account of his being engaged, was in a naval expedition fitted out at Genoa in 1459, by John of Anjou, Duke of Calabria, to make a descent upon Naples, in the hope of recovering that kingdom for his father. King Reinier or Renato, otherwise called Rene, Count de Provence. In this enterprise the republic of Genoa aided with -ships and money, and many private adventurers fitted out ships and galleys, and engaged under the banners of Anjou. Among the number was the hardy veteran Colombo, who had command of a squadron, and with him sailed his youthful relation.

The struggle of John of Anjou for the crown of Naples lasted about four years, with varied fortune, and much hard service. The naval part of the expedition distinguished itself by various acts of intrepidity, and when the unfortunate duke was at length reduced to take refuge in the island of Ischia, a handful of galleys loyally adhered to him, guarded the island, and scoured and controlled the whole bay of Naples. It is presumed that Columbus served on board of this squadron. That he must have distinguished himself in the course of the expedition is evident, from his having been at one time appointed to a separate command, and sent on a daring enterprise to cut out a galley from the port of Tunis," in the course of which he exhibited great resolution and address.

There is an interval of several years, during which we have but one or two shadowy traces of Columbus, who is supposed to have been principally engaged in the Mediterranean, and up the Levant, sometimes in voyages of commerce, sometimes in warlike contests between the Italian states, sometimes in pious and predatory expedi-

OF COLUMBUS. IB

tions against the infidels, during which time he was often under the perilous command of his old fighting relation, the veteran Colombo.

The last, anecdote we have of this obscure part of his life is given by his son Fernando. He says that his father sailed for some time with Colombo the younger, a famous corsair, nephew to the old admiral just mentioned, and apparently heir of his warlike propensities and prowess, for Fernando affirms that he was so terrible for his deeds against the infidels, that the Moorish mothers used to frighten their unruly children with his name.

This bold rover waylaid four Venetian galleys, richly •laden, on their return voyage from Flanders, and attacked them with his squadron on the Portuguese coast between Lisbon and Cape St. Vincent. The battle lasted from morning until evening, with great carnage on both sides. The vessels grappled each other, and the crews fought hand to hand, and from ship to ship. The vessel commanded- by Columbus was engaged with a huge Venetian galley. They threw hand grenades and other fiery missiles, and the galley was wrapped in flames. The vessels being fastened together by chains and iron grapplings, could not be separated, and both became a mere; blazing mass, involved in one conflagration. The crewsthrew themselves into the sea ; Columbus seized an oar which was floating near him, and being an expert swimmer, attained the shore, though full two leagues distant. It pleased God, adds his son Fernando, to give him strength, that he might preserve him foT greater things. After recovering from his exhaustion, he repaired to Lisbon, where he found many of his Genoese countrymen, and was induced to take up his residence. 2

Such IS the account given by Fernando of his father's first arrival in Portugal ; and it has been currently adopted by modern historians "; but on examining various liistories of the times, the battle here described appears to have happened several years after the date of the arrival of Columbus in that country. That he was engaged in the contest is not improbable ; but he had previously resided for some time in Portugal. In fact, on referring to the history of that kingdom, we shall find, in the great maritime enterprises in which it was at tliat time engaged, ample attractions for a person of his inclinations and pursuits ; and we shall be led to conclude, that his first visit to Lisbon was not the fortuitous result of a desperate adventure, but was undertaken in a spirit of liberal curiosity, and in the pursuit of honourable fortune.

Chapter II

Progress of Discovery under Prince Henry of Portugal, Residence of Columbus in Lisbon. Ideas concerning Islands in the Ocean.

The career of modern discovery had commenced shortly before the time of Columbus, and, at the period of which we are treating, was prosecuted with great activity by Portugal. The re-discovery of the Canary Islands, in the fourteenth century, and the occasional voyages made to them, and to the opposite shores of Africa, had first turned the attention of mankind in that direction. The gr£)»nd impulse to discover), however, was given by

Prince Henry of Portugal, son of John the first, surnamed the Avenger, and PhiUppa of Lancaster, sister of Henry the fourth of England. Having accompanied his father into Africa, in an expedition against the Moors, he received much information at Ceuta concerning the coast of Guinea, and other regions entirely unknown to Europeans ; and conceived an idea that important discoveries were to be made, by navigating along the western coast of Africa. On returning to Portugal, he pursued the vein of inquiry thus accidentally opened. Abandoning the court, he retired to a country retreat in the Algarves, near to Sagres, in the neighbourhood of •Cape St. Vincent, and in full view of the Ocean. Here he drew round him men eminent in science, and gave himself up to those branches of study connected with the maritime arts. He made himself master of all the geographical knowledge of the ancients, and of the astronomical science of the Arabians of Spain. The result of his studies was a firm conviction that Africa was circumnavigable, and that it was possible, by keeping along its shores, to arrive at India.

For a long time past, the opulent trade of Asia had been monopolized by the Italians ; who had their commercial establishments at Constantinople, and in the Black Sea. Thither all the precious commodities of the east were conveyed by a circuitous and expensive internal route, to be thence distributed over Europe. The republics of Venice and Genoa had risen to power and opulence, in consequence of this monopoly ; their merchants emulated the magnificence of princes, and held Europe, in a manner, tributary to their commerce. It was the grand idea of Prince Henry, by circumnavigating Africa, to open an easier and less expensive route to the source of this commerce, to turn it suddenly into a new and simple channel, and to pour it out in a golden tide upon his country. He was before the age in thought, and had to struggle hard against the ignorance and prejudices of mankind in the prosecution of his design. Navigation was yet in its infancy ; mariners feared to venture far from the coast, or out of sight of its land marks ; and they looked with awe at the vast and unknown expanse of the Atlantic; they cherished the old belief that the earth at the equator was girdled by a torrid zone, separating the hemispheres by a region of impassive heat; and they had a superstitious belief, that whoever doubled Cape Bojador would never return.

Prince Henry called in the aid of science to dispel these errors. He established a naval college and observatory at Sagres, and invited thither the most eminent professors of the nautical faculties. . The effects of this establishment were soon apparent. A vast impr.ovement took place in maps and charts ; the compass was brought into more general use ; the Portuguese marine became signalized for its hardy enterprises ; Cape Bojador was doubled ; the region of the tropics penetrated and divested of its fancied terrors ; the greater part of the African coast, from Cape Blanco to Cape de Verde, explored, and the Cape de Verde and Azore islands discovered. To secure the full enjoyment of these territories, Henry obtained a papal bull, investing the crown of Portugal with sovereign authority over all the lands it might discover in th« Atlantic, to India inclusive. Henry died on the 13th of November, 1473, before he had accomplished the great object of his ambition ; but he had lived long enough to behold, through his means, his native country in a grand career of prosperity. He has been well described, as ".full of thoughts of lofty enterprise, and acts of generous spirit." He bore for his device the magnanimous motto, " the talent to do good," the only talent worthy the ambition of princes.

The fame of the Portuguese discoveries, drew the attention of the world ; and the learned, the curious, and the adventurous, resorted to Lisbon to engage in the enterprises continually fitting out. Among the rest, Columbus arrived there about the year 1470. He was at that time in the full vigour of manhood, and of an engaging presence; and here it may not be improper to draw his portrait, according to the minute descriptions given pf him by his contemporaries. He was tall, well formed, and muscular, and of an elevated and dignified demeanour. His visage was long, and neither full nor meagre ; his complexion fair and freckled, and inclined to ruddy ; bis nose aquiline, his cheek bones were rather high, his eyes light gray, and apt to enkindle ; his whole countenance had an air of authority. His hair, in his youthful days, was of a light colour, but care and trouble soon turned it gray, and at thirty years of age it was quite white. He was moderate and simple in diet and apparel, eloquent in discourse, engaging and affable with strangers, and of an amiableness and suavity in domestic life, that strongly attached his household to his person. His temper was naturally irritable ; but he subdued it by the magnanimity of his spirit, comporting himself with a courteous and gentle gravity, and never indulging in any intemperance of language. Throughout his life, he was noted for a strict attention to the offices of religion ; nor did his piety consist in mere forms, but partook of that lofty and solemn enthusiasm with which his whole character was strongly tinctured.

2*

While at Lisbon, he was accustomed to attend religious service at the chapel of the Convent of All Saints. Here he became acquainted with a lady of rank, named Dona Felipa, who resided in the convent. She was the daughter of Bartolomeo Monis de Palestrello, an Italian cavalier, lately deceased, who had been one of the most distinguished navigators under Prince Henry, and had colonized and governed the island of Porto Santo. The acquaintance soon ripened into attachment, and ended in marriage. It appears to have been a match of mere affection, as the lady had little or no fortune.

The newly married couple resided with the mother of the bride. The latter perceiving the interest which her son-in-law took in nautical affairs, used to relate to him all she knew of the voyages and expeditions 'of her late husband, and delivered to him all his charts, journals, and other manuscripts. By these means, Columbus became acquainted with the routes of the Portuguese, and their plans and ideas ; and, having by his marriage and residence become naturalized in Portugal, he sailed occasionally in the expeditions to the coast of Guinea. When at home, he supported his family by making maps and charts ; and though his means were scanty, he appropriated a part to the education of his yomiger brothers, and the succour of his aged father at Genoa. From Lisbon he removed for a time to the recently discovered island of Porto Santo, where his wife had inherited some property, and during his residence there she bore him a son, whom he named Diego. His wife's sister w^as married to Pedro Correo, a navigator of note, who had at one time been governor of Porto Santo. In the familiar intercourse of domestic life, their conversation frequently turned upon the discoveries of the Atlantic

OF COLTJMBrS. 19

islands, and the African coasts, upon the long sought for route to India, and upon the possibility of unknown lands existing in the west. It was a period of general excitement, with all who were connected with maritime life, or who resided in the vicinity of the ocean. The recent discoveries had inflamed their imaginations, and had filled them with ideas of other islands of greater wealth and beauty, yet to be discovered in the boundless wastes of the Atlantic. The opinions and fancies of the ancients were again put into circulation : the island of Antilla, and Plato's imaginary Atalantis, once more found firm believers; and a thousand rumours were spread of unknown islands casually seen in the ocean. Many of these were mere fables ; many of them had their origin in the self-deception of voyagers, wliose heated fancies beheld islands' in those summer clouds which lie along the horizon, and often beguile the sailor with the idea of distant land. The most singular instance of this kind of self-deception, or rather of optical delusion, is that recorded of the inhabitants of the Canaries. They imagined that from time to time they beheld a vast island to the westward, with lofty mountains and deep valleys. Nor was it seen in cloudy or dubious weather, but with all the distinctness with which distant objects may be discerned in the transparent atmosphere of a tropical climate. It is true, it was only seen transiently, and at long intervals ; while, at other times, and in the clearest weather, not a vestige of it was visible; but so persuaded were the people of the Canaries of its reality, that they obtained permission from the King of Portugal to fit out various expeditions in search of it. The island, however, was never to be found, though it still continued occasionally to cheat the eye ; many identified it with a legendary island, said to have been discovered in the sixth century, by a Scottish priest of the name of St, Brandan, and it was actually laid down in many maps of the times, by the name of St. Brandan, or St. Borondon. All these tales and rumours were noted down with curious care by Columbus, and may have had some influence over his imagination; but, though of a ^dsionary spirit, his penetrating genius sought in deeper sources for the aliment of its meditations. The voyages he had made to Guinea, and his frequent occupation in making maps and charts, had led him more and more to speculate on the great object of geographical enterprise ; but while others were slowly and painfully seeking a route to India, by following up the coast of Africa, his daring genius conceived the bold idea of turning his prow directly to the west, and seeking the desired land by a route across the Atlantic. Having once conceived this idea, it is interesting to notice from what a mass of acknowledged facts, rational hypotheses, fanciful narra tions, and popular rumours, his grand project of discovery was wrought out by the strong workings of his vigorous mind.

Chapter III

Grounds on which Columbus founded his belief of the ■ existence of undiscovered lands in the west.

"We have a record of the determination of Columbus to seek a western route to India, as early as the year 1474, in a correspondence which he held with Paulo Toscanelli, a learned cosmographer of Florence ; and he had doubtless meditated it for a long time previous. He was moved to this determination by a diligent study of all the geographical theories of the ancients, aided by his own experience, by the discoveries of the moderns, and the advancement of astronomical science. He set it down as a fundamental principle, that the earth was a terraqueous globe, which might be travelled round from east to west, and that men stood foot to foot when on opposite points. The circumference from east to west, at the equator, he divided, according to Ptolemy, into twenty-four hours, of fifteen degrees each, making three hundred and sixty degrees. Of these he imagined, comparing the globe of Ptolemy with the earlier map of Marinus of Tyre, that fifteen hours had been known to the ancients, extending from the Canary or Fortunate Islands, to the city of Thinae in Asia, the western and eastern extremities of the known world. The Portuguese had advanced the western frontier one hour more by the discovery of the Azore and Cape de Verde Islands : still about eight hours, or one third of the circumference of the earth,remained to be explored. This space he imagined to be occupied in a great measure by the eastern regions of Asia, which might extend so far as to approach the western shores of Europe and Africa. A navigator, therefore, by pursuing a direct course from east to west, must arrive at the extremity of Asia, or discover any intervening land. The great obstacle to be apprehended, was from the tract of ocean that might intervene ; but this could not be very wide, if the opinion of Alfraganus the Arabian were admitted, who, by diminishing the size of the degrees, gave to the earth a smaller circumference than was assigned to it by other cosmographers;

a theory to which Columbus seems, generally, to have, given much faith. He was fortified, also, by the opinion of Aristotle, Seneca, Pliny, and Strabo, who considered the ocean as but of moderate breadth, so that one might pass from Cadiz westward to the Indies in a few days.

Columbus derived great support to his theory, also, from a letter which he received in 1474 from Paulo Tos-. canelli, the learned Florentine already mentioned, who was considered one of the ablest cosmographers of the day. This letter was made up from the narrative of Marco Polo, a Venetian traveller, who, in the fourteenth century, had penetrated the remote parts of Asia, far beyond the regions laid down by Ptolemy. Toscanelli encouraged Columbus in an intention which he had communicated to him, of seeking India by a western course, assuring him that the distance could not be more than four thousand miles in a direct line from Lisbon to the province of Mangi, near Cathay, since ascertained to be the northern coast of China. Of this comitry a magnificent description was given according to Marco Polo, who extols the power and grandeur of its sovereign, the Great Khan, the splendour and magnitude of his capitals of Cambalu, and Quinsai, or Kinsay, and the wonders of the island of Cipango, or Ziparigi, supposed to be Japan. This island he places opposite Cathay, far in the ocean, and represents it as abounding in gold, precious stones, and spices, and that the palace of the king was covered with plates of gold, as edifices in other countries are covered with sheets of lead.

The work of Marco Polo is deserving of this particular mention, from being a key to many of the ideas and speculations of Columbus. The territories of the Grand Rhan, as described by the Venetian, were the objects of his diligent search in all his voyages ; and in his cruisings among the Antilles, he was continually flattering himself with the hopes of arriving at the opulent island of Cipango, and the shores of Mangi and Cathay. The letter of Paulo Toscanelli was accompanied by a map, projected partly according to Ptolemy, and partly according to the descriptions of Marco Polo. The eastern coast of Asia was depicted in front of the coasts of Africa and Europe, with a moderate space of ocean between them, in which were placed, at convenient distances, Cipango, Antilla, and the other islands. By this conjectural map Columbus governed himself in his first voyage.

Beside 'these learned authorities, Columbus was attentive to every gleam of information bearing upon his theory, that might be derived from veteran mariners, and the inhabitants of the lately discovered islands, who were placed, in a manner, on the frontier posts of geographical knowledge. One Antonio Leone, an inhabitant of Madeira, told him, that in sailing westward one hundred leagues, he had seen three islands at a distance. A mariner of Port St. Mary, also, asserted, that in the course of a voyage to Ireland, he had seen land to the west, which the ship's company took for some extreme part of Tartary. One Martin Vicenti, a pilot in the service of the king of Portugal, assured Columbus that, after sailing four hundred and fifty leagues to the west of Cape St. Vincent, he had taken from the water a piece of carved wood, evidently not laboured with an iron instrument. As the wind had drifted it from the west, it might have come from some unknown land in that direction.

Pedro Correo, brother-in-law of Columbus, also informed him, that he had seen a similar piece of wood.

on the island of Porto SAnto, which had drifted from the same quarter, and he had heard from the king of f*ortugal that reeds of an immense size had floated to those islands from the west, which Columbus supposed to be the kind of reeds of enormous magnitude described by Ptolemy as growing in India. Trunks of huge pine trees, of a kind that did not grow upon any of the islands, liad been wafted to the Azores by westerly winds. The inhabitants also informed him that the bodies of two dead men had been cast upon the island of Flores, whose features had caused great wonder and speculation, being different from those of any known race of people.