Christopher Columbus, “Journal of the First Voyage of Columbus,” in Journal of Christopher Columbus (during his first voyage, 1492- 93), and Documents Relating to the Voyages of John Cabot and Gaspar Corte Real, edited and translated by Clements R. Markham (London: Hakluyt Society, 1893), 15-193. JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. This is the first voyage and the routes and direction taken by the Admiral Don Cristobal Colon when he discovered the Indies, sum­ marized; except the prologue made for the Sovereigns, which is given word for word and commences in this manner. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ECAUSE,O most Christian, and very high, very excellent, and puissant Princes, King and Queen of the Spains and of the islands of the Sea, our Lords, in this present year of 1492, after your Highnesses had given an end to the war with the Moors who reigned in Europe, and had finished it in the very great city of Granada, where in this present 'year, on the second day of the month of January, by force of arms, I saw the royal banners of your Highnesses placed on the towers of Alfambra, which is the fortress of that city, and I saw the Moorish King come forth from the gates of the city and kiss the royal hands of your. Highnesses, and of the Prince my Lord, and presently in , 16 JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 'flt~ JoURNAL OF' COttJMBUS. 17 that same month, acting on the information that I had your Highnesses gave orders to me that with a sufficient fleet given to your Highnesses touching the lands of India, and I should go to the said parts of India, ·and for this they respecting a Prince who is called Gran Can, which means made great concessions to me, and ennobled me, so that in our language King of Kings, how he and his ancestors henceforward I should be called Don, and should be Chief had sent to Rome many times to ask for learned men of Admiral of the Ocean Sea, perpetual Viceroy and Governor our holy faith to teach him, and how the Holy Father had of all the islands and continents that I should discover and never complied, insomuch that many people believing in gain, and that I might hereafter discover and gain in the idolatries were lost by receiving doctrine of perdition: Ocean Sea, and that my eldest son should succeed, and so YOUR HIGHNESSES, as Catholic Christians and frinces who on from generation to generation for ever. love the holy Christian faith, and the propagation of it, I left the city of Granada on the 12th day of May, in the and who are enemies to the sect of Mahoma and to all same year of 1492, being Saturday, and came to the town idolatries and heresies, resolved to send me, Cristobal of Palos, which is a seaport; where I equipped three Colon, to the said parts of India to see the said princes, vessels1 weIl suited for such service; and departed from and the cities and lands, and their disposition, with a view that port, weIl supplied with provisions and with many that they might be converted to our holy faith; and sailors, on the 3d day of August of the same year, being ordered that I should not go by land to the eastward, as Friday, half an hour before sunrise, taking the route to the had been customary, but that I should go by way of the . islands of Canaria, belonging to your Highnesses, which west, whither up to this day, we do not know for certain are in the said Ocean Sea, that I might thence take my that anyone has gone. departure for navigating until I should arrive at the Indies, Thus, after having turned out all the Jews from all your and give the letters of your Highnesses to those princes, so kingdoms and 10rdships,1 in the same month of January, as to comply with my orders. As part of my duty I thought it weIl to write an account of all the voyage very 1 The decree for the expulsion of the Jews was really dated March punctuaIly, noting from day to day all that I should do and 20th,1492. Dr. Don Fernando Belmonte, an officer employed in the see, and that should happen, as will · be seen further on. archives of Seville, recently discovered a document which refers to the Also, Lords Princes, I resolved to describe each night what expulsion of the Jews from Palos while Columbus was equipping his passed in the day, and to note each day how I navigated expedition. I t is a process taken before the Corregidor of Moguer in January 1552, and one Juan de Arag'ln, a native of Moguer, then aged 70, gave evidence. He said that 55 years before, more or less, he was a boy on board a vessel at Palos, and saw Cristobal de Colon 1 Columbus never mentions the name of the ship in which he sailed. ready to sail for the Indies with three ships. This was in August or It was owned by Juan de la Cosa of Santona. Oviedo calls it the September. He further deposed that, having returned from his Gallega,· Herrera, the Santa il1"aria. It was the largest, about 100 voyage, after having left the Jews in the parts beyond, and in another tons. The others were two caravels of Palos, called the Pinta and year, coming by. sea, he met the ship of Martin Alonso Pinzon return­ Nina. The Pinta was commanded by Martin Alonso Pinzon, and ing from the discovery (AseMio, i, 264). This boy was, therefore, in owned by two sailors who served on board. The Nina, named after its the ship which conveyed some of the banished Jews from Palos to owners, the Nino family, was commanded oy Vicente Yanez Pinzon, Africa, at the very time that Columbus was fitting out his expedition. with three Ninos on board, one as pilot, another as master, and a January, in the text, is a misprint. third as one of the seamen. C 18 DEPARTURE FROM THE BAR OF SALT~S. TH~ RUDD~R OF THE C4 PINTA". 19 at night. I propose to construct a new chart for navigat­ th ing, on which I shall delineate all the sea and lands of the Sunday, 5 of August. Ocean in their proper positions under their bearings; and They continued their course day and night more than 40 further, I propose to prepare a book, and to put down all as leagues. it were in a picture, by latitude from the equator, and Monday, 6th of August. western longitude. Above all, I shall have accomplished The rudder of the caravel Pinta became unshipped, and much, for I shall forget sleep, and shall work at the busi­ Martin Alonso Pinzon, who was in command, believed or ness of navigation, that so the service may be performed; suspected that it was by contrivance of Gomes Rascon and all which will entail great labour. Cristobal Quintero, to whom the caravel belonged, for they dreaded to go on that voyage. The Admiral says that, Fnilay, 3d of Augtlst. before they sailed, these men had been displaying a certain We departed on Friday, the 3d of August, in the year backwardness, so to speak. The Admiral was much dis­ 1492, from the bar of Saltes,l at 8 o'clock, and proceeded turbed at not being able to help the said caravel without with a strong sea breeze until sunset, towards the south, danger, and he says that he was eased of some anxiety for 60 miles, equal to [5 leagues!; afterwards S.W. and when he reflected that Martin Alonso Pinzon was a man of W.S.W., which was the course for the Canaries. energy and ingenuity. They made, during the day and night, 29 leagues. Saturday, 4th of August. Tuesday, 7th of August. They steered S.W. t S. The rudder of the Pinta was shipped and secured, and they proceeded on a course for the island of Lanzarote, one 1 Saltes is an island fonned by two anns of the river Odiel, in front of the Canaries. They made, during the day and night, 25 of the town of Huelva. It was inhabited certainly until the twelfth leagues. century, and as late as 1267 King Alonso the Wise fixed the boundary between the towns of Saltes and Huelva. It is unknown when it Wednesday, 8th of August. ceased to be inhabited, but even in the Suma de Geograjia of Martin Opinions respecting their position varied among the Fernandez de Enciso, printed in 1519, mention is made of that town of Saltes, yet it is certain that, at that time, only the church remained, pilots of. the three caravels; but that of the Admiral attached to those of Huelva, which shows that there were no longer proved to be nearer the truth. He wished to go to Gran any inhabited houses. No length of time can have passed before the Canaria, to leave the caravel Pinta, because she was dis­ church itself fell into ruins, for, in order to preserve some memory of it, abled by the faulty hanging of her rudder, and was making a hennitage was founded in Huelva with the title of "Our Lady of Saltes", in which a cross was kept, being a relic of the old church. water. He intended to obtain another there if one could Some traces of the church remain, and the district is divided into be found.