Columbus Voyage of Discovery Has Setbacks
Have you ever planned for a long trip or vacation? You try to anticipate the items needed to make your trip a seamless transition from home to destination. You pack water, snacks, and equipment for camping or biking, etc. It takes planning and logistics but the excitement is high.
You’re all set to drive off, despite your teenage son’s most recent protest about leaving his girlfriend. Everyone is buckled in. You turn the car key, but nothing happens. And you realize the battery is dead.
Christopher Columbus’ anticipated departure had some setbacks, too! The Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria set sail at high tide at 8:00am on August 3, 1492. Imagine sailing across the Atlantic Ocean in ships that were about 70 feet long (bumper to bumper, the length of an 18-wheeler and cab) with a draft of 8 feet. Together, they carried a crew of 86 men.
After two days, the ships had sailed only 120 miles before the rudder of the Pinta “slipped from its socket.”
Columbus records in his Log that he believed it was a deliberate act caused by Gomez Rascon and Cristobal Quintero – who didn’t want to make this Voyage of Discovery. “Even before we departed Palos, they had attempted to delay or prevent the enterprise… complaining and concocting excuses for not sailing.”
The rudder was temporarily repaired but mysteriously, broke again. Columbus ordered the Pinta to dock at the Grand Canary island for repairs while the Santa Maria and Nina continued to Gomera. The Pinta was to catch up in a few days when repairs were completed.
More delays with calm winds and seas. Columbus could see the island of Gomera but was unable to reach it for two days because of calm winds. Finally, on August 13th, he wrote in his Log, “Today – Praise be to God! – I arrived at Gomera and sent a boat ashore.” He was hoping to find a better ship to replace the Pinta.
While he waited for the Pinta to be repaired and catch up with him at Gomera, he wrote several comments in his Log about the future of the Voyage of Discovery.
August 18th: “I must accept those things that I cannot control.”
August 19th: “A special mass was said today for the safe return of Martin Alonso…My enterprise is in God’s hands.”
August 23rd: “The crew is uneasy, for tomorrow will make three weeks since departing Palos.”
Columbus waited another day before weighing anchor and sailing back to Grand Canary to find out why the Pinta’s rudder still had not been repaired.
Columbus ordered a new rudder for the Pinta, and new sails and rigging for the Nina.
August 30th: “The rudder is almost finished. Praise God!”
By this date, 21 days of shipboard supplies had been consumed and needed to be replenished. This took another few days.
Ships Log September 6th “The ships have been loaded, and all is ready for the voyage. Tonight I shall order a special service of thanksgiving; at sunrise I will lift anchors to begin the journey westward.”
It wouldn’t be until October 11, 1492, that land would be sighted. Columbus wrote in his Log: “I now believe that the light I saw earlier was a sign from God and that it was truly the first positive indication of land.”