COLUMBUS THE BOLDEST NAVIGATOR.
Capt. William H. Parker, an American naval officer of the nineteenth century. From "Familiar Talks on Astronomy."[51]
Let us turn our attention to Christopher Columbus, the boldest navigator of his day; indeed, according to my view, the boldest man of whom we have any account in history. While all the other seamen of the known world were creeping along the shore, he heroically sailed forth on the broad ocean.
When I look back upon my own voyages and recall the many anxious moments I have passed when looking for a port at night, and when I compare my own situation, supplied with accurate charts, perfect instruments, good sailing directions, everything, in short, that science can supply, and then think of Columbus in his little bark, his only instruments an imperfect compass and a rude astrolabe, sailing forth upon an unknown sea, I must award to him the credit of being the boldest seaman that ever "sailed the salt ocean."
Columbus, then, had made three discoveries before he discovered land—the trade-winds, the Sargasso Sea, and the variation of the compass.
THE MAP OF COLUMBUS' PILOT, JUAN DE LA COSA.
From the original in the Marine Museum, Madrid.
(See page [228])
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