First Voyage of Christopher Columbus (1492–1493)

First voyage (1492–1493)

For his westward voyage to find a shorter route to the Orient, Columbus and his crew took three medium-sized ships, the largest of which was a carrack (Spanish: nao), the Santa María, which was owned and captained by Juan de la Cosa, and under Columbus's direct command. The other two were smaller caravels; the name of one is lost, but it is known by the Castilian nickname Pinta ("painted one"). The other, the Santa Clara, was nicknamed Niña ("girl"), perhaps in reference to her owner, Juan Niño of Moguer. The Pinta and the Niña were piloted by the Pinzón brothers (Martín Alonso and Vicente Yáñez, respectively). On the morning of 3 August 1492, the expedition departed from the Port of Palos, going down the Rio Tinto and into the Atlantic.

Three days into the journey, on 6 August 1492, the rudder of the Pinta broke. Martín Alonso Pinzón suspected the owners of the ship of sabotage, as they were afraid to go on the journey. The crew was able to secure the rudder with ropes until they could reach the Canary Islands, where they arrived on 9 August. The Pinta had its rudder replaced on the island of Gran Canaria, and by 2 September the ships rendezvoused at La Gomera, where the Niña's lateen sails were re-rigged to standard square sails. Final provisions were secured, and on 6 September the ships departed San Sebastián de La Gomera for what turned out to be a five-week-long westward voyage across the Atlantic.

First landing in the Americas

After 29 days out of sight of land, on 7 October 1492, the crew spotted "mmense flocks of birds", some of which his sailors trapped and determined to be "field" birds (probably Eskimo curlews and American golden plovers). Columbus changed course to follow their flight.

On 10 October, Columbus quelled a mutiny by sailors who wanted to abandon the search and return to Spain. On the next day, they saw several artefacts floating up the sea, which caused them to believe that land was nearby. Columbus changed the fleet's course to due west and sailed through the night, with many sailors looking for land. At around 10:00 PM on 11 October, Columbus thought he saw a light "like a little wax candle rising and falling". Four hours later, land was sighted by a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana (also known as Juan Rodríguez Bermejo) aboard the Pinta. Triana immediately alerted the rest of the crew with a shout, and the ship's captain, Martín Alonso Pinzón, verified the land sighting and alerted Columbus by firing a lombard. Columbus would later assert that he had first seen land, thus earning the promised annual reward of 10,000 maravedís.

They landed on the morning of 12 October. Columbus went ashore with the crew carrying a royal flag. The account of the voyage does not specify the image further and Columbus is often depicted with the royal banner of Castile.

Exploration through the Antilles

From San Salvador they continued the voyage through the Bahamas and discovered a small island that Columbus called Santa María de la Concepción (present-day Rum Cay according to Samuel Morison, or present-day Samana Cay according to more recent studies) and another small island which he called Fernandina (present-day Long Island) in honor of King Ferdinand. A few days later he discovered another island which he called Isabela (present-day Crooked Island) in honor of Queen Isabella. Subsequently they headed toward the eastern coast of a large island which they called Juana (present-day Cuba), landing there on 28 October 1492. Columbus explored the northeast coast of Cuba. In 1515 the name Juana was replaced by Fernandina, because it was not considered appropriate for King Ferdinand to have dedicated to him only such a small island as that of the Bahamas.

They coasted Cuba slowly, without the possibility of trading due to the express prohibition of Columbus. On 2 November Columbus sent four men to explore the interior, two Europeans and two Indians. While waiting, Columbus measured the latitude with his quadrant and, according to Las Casas, obtained a value of 42° north, which in reality is impossible to observe from Cuba. On 12 November the explorers returned and Columbus hesitated for a week about which direction to take next, also disoriented by another measurement of latitude that again yielded 42°.

First return

On 16 January 1493, the homeward journey began. While returning to Spain, the Niña and Pinta encountered the roughest storm of their journey, and on the night of 13 February lost contact with each other. All hands on the Niña vowed, if they were spared, to make a pilgrimage to the nearest church of Our Lady wherever they first made land.

On the morning of 15 February, land was spotted. Columbus believed they were approaching the Portuguese Azores Islands, but others felt that they were considerably north of the islands. Columbus turned out to be right. On the night of 17 February, the Niña laid anchor at Santa Maria Island, but the cable broke on sharp rocks, forcing Columbus to stay offshore until morning when a safer location was found nearby. A few sailors took a boat to the island, where they were told by several islanders of a still safer place to land, so the Niña moved once again. At this spot, Columbus took aboard several islanders with food. When told of the vow to Our Lady, the islanders directed the crew to a small shrine nearby.

Columbus sent half of the crew to the island to fulfill their vow, but he and the rest stayed on the Niña, planning to send the other half later. While the shore party were in prayer, they were taken prisoner by order of the island's captain, João de Castanheira, ostensibly out of fear that they were pirates. Castanheira commandeered their shore boat, which he took with several armed men to the Niña, planning to arrest Columbus.