“Although the discoveries actually accomplished appear great and surprising, yet I should have achieved much more had I been furnished with a suitable fleet. Nevertheless the great success of this undertaking is not to be ascribed to my own merits, but to the holy catholic faith and to the piety of our sovereigns, the Lord often granting to men what they never imagine themselves capable of accomplishing, even that which appears impracticable, for he is accustomed to hear the prayers of his servants and those who love his commandments. In this way has it happened to me that I have succeeded in an undertaking never before accomplished by man.”[168]
On Thursday night, the fourteenth of February, a violent tempest arose, “the waves crossing and dashing against one another so that the vessel [the Nina] was overwhelmed, and not able to get out from between them. The foresail was set very low, in order to carry her somewhat out of her dangerous situation. They stood under it for three hours, going twenty miles, when the wind and sea increasing, they began to drive before it, not having any other deliverance. At the same time the Pinta, in which was Martin Alonso Pinzon, began to scud likewise, and they soon lost sight of her, although the two caravels made signals to each other with lights, until from the fury of the storm they were no longer visible.” The fear of being lost now overcame Columbus and his men. They prayed and made many vows. “The admiral ordered that lots should be cast for one of them [if they safely reached land] to go on a pilgrimage to Santa Maria of Guadalupe and carry a wax taper of five pounds’ weight. He made them all to take an oath that the one on whom the lot fell should perform the pilgrimage. For this purpose as many peas were selected as there were persons on board. One of the peas was marked with a cross, and all were shaken together in a cap. The first who put his hand into the cap was the admiral, and he drew out the crossed pea. So the lot fell on him, and he considered himself as bound to accomplish the pilgrimage. Another lot was taken for a pilgrimage to Santa Maria of Loretto, in the province of Ancona, the territory of the pope, where is the house in which Our Lady has performed so many miracles. This lot fell on a sailor of Puerto de Santa Maria, called Pedro de Villa. The admiral promised to furnish him with the money for his expenses. A third lot was determined upon for the selection of a person who should watch a whole night in Santa Clara de Moguer, and have a mass said there. This lot fell on the admiral. After this he and all the crew made a vow to go in procession, clothed in penitential garments, to the first church dedicated to Our Lady which they should meet with on arriving on land, and there pay their devotions. Besides these general vows, every individual made a private one, all expecting to be lost, so terrible was the violence of the hurricane. Their danger was increased by the want of ballast in the vessel, ... which the admiral had neglected to supply among the islands, because he wished to husband his time in making discoveries, and expected to take in ballast at the island of Matinino, which he intended to visit. The only thing that they could do in this emergency was to fill with sea-water such empty casks as they could find, and by doing this they obtained some relief.
“Here the admiral speaks of the circumstances which caused him to fear that our Lord would suffer them to perish, and of some which made him hope that he would bring them safe to land, and not allow the important information they were carrying to the king and queen to be lost. He seems to have felt the greatest anxiety to have his wonderful discovery known, so that the world might be convinced that his assertions had been correct and that he had accomplished what he had professed himself able to do. The thought of this not being done gave him the greatest disquietude, and he was constantly apprehending that the most trifling thing might defeat his whole intention. He ascribes this to his want of faith and confidence in a divine providence, but comforts himself by reflecting upon the many mercies God had shown him in having enabled him to succeed in his project, when so many adversities and hindrances opposed him in Castile, and afterward to accomplish his great discovery. And as he had made the service of God the aim and business of his undertaking, and as he had hitherto favored him by granting all his desires, he indulges in the hope that he will continue to favor him, and will give him a safe return. He also remembered that God had delivered him on the outward voyage, when he had much greater reason to fear; that the eternal God gave him resolution and courage to withstand his men when they conspired against him and with a unanimous and menacing determination resolved to turn back. With these thoughts, and the consideration of other wonderful favors he had enjoyed, he says he ought not to be in fear of the tempest; but he adds that his apprehensions and the anguish of his mind would not allow him to rest. Besides, he continues, his anxiety was increased by reflecting upon the condition of his two sons whom he had left at their studies in Cordova,—these would be left orphans in a foreign land, and the king and queen being ignorant of the services he had rendered them by the voyage, would not feel any inclination to provide for them. On this account, and that their highnesses might be informed that our Lord had granted success to the undertaking in the discovery of the Indies, and might know that storms did not prevail in those regions (which was apparent from the plants and trees growing down to the brink of the sea), he devised the means of acquainting them with the circumstances of the voyage in case they should perish in the storm. This he did by writing an account of it on parchment, as full as possible, and earnestly entreated the finder to carry it to the king and queen of Spain. The parchment was rolled up in a waxed cloth and well tied. A large wooden cask being brought, he placed the roll inside of it, and threw the cask into the sea, none of the crew knowing what it was, but all thinking that it was some act of devotion.”[169]
On the sixteenth of February the Nina reached the Azores, and two days afterward was riding at anchor at the island of Santa Maria. Departing from the Azores on the twenty-fourth of February, the Nina again encountered another storm, which caused Columbus to take refuge in the mouth of the river Tagus, on the fourth of March. From this roadstead he sent a courier overland to Spain bearing the intelligence of his arrival at this haven on the coast of Portugal, and another to the king of Portugal to ask permission to anchor in the harbor of Lisbon.
When, on the sixth of March, it became known in Lisbon, says Ferdinand Columbus, “that the ship came from the Indies, such throngs of people went aboard to see the Indians and to hear the news, that the vessel could not contain them, and the water was covered with boats, some of the people praising God for the success of so great an undertaking, and others storming because the Portuguese had lost the discovery through the king’s incredulity.... The next day the king wrote to the admiral congratulating him on his safe return, and expressing the desire, since the admiral was in his dominions, that he would visit him [at Valparaiso, nine leagues from Lisbon].... The king ordered all the nobility of his court to go out to meet him, and when the admiral came into the presence of the king, he honored him by commanding him to put on his cap and to sit down. The king, having heard the particulars of his fortunate voyage, offered him all he stood in need of for the service of their catholic majesties, although he thought that as the admiral had been a captain in the service of Portugal, that the discovery belonged to him. To which the admiral answered that he knew of no agreement by which he could obtain it, and that he had strictly obeyed his orders, which were that he should not go to the mines of Portugal or to Guinea. The king said that it was all well, and he did not doubt but justice would be done. Having spent considerable time in this conversation, the king commanded the prior of Crato, the greatest man then about him, to entertain the admiral, and show him all civility and respect, which was done accordingly. Having remained there all Sunday, and all Monday until after mass, the admiral took leave of the king.... As he was on his way to Lisbon, he passed a monastery, where the queen was, who sent him an earnest entreaty that he would not pass by without seeing her. She was much pleased to see him, and bestowed upon him all the favor and honor that were due to the greatest lord. That night a messenger came from the king to the admiral, to inform him that if he wished to go by land to Spain he would attend him, provide lodgings on the way, and furnish him all that he might require, as far as the borders of Portugal.
“On Wednesday, the thirteenth of March, two hours after daylight, the admiral set sail for Seville, and, on Friday following, at noon, arrived at Saltes, and came to anchor in the port of Palos,[170] from which he had departed on the third of August, the previous year, 1492, seven months and eleven days preceding his return.”[171]
Desiring as early as possible to make known his return and his remarkable discoveries, Columbus, as soon as his vessel came to anchor, sent letters to several of his friends, in which he gave brief descriptions of the people and of the islands which he had found, as he believed, in the eastern part of Asia. One of these letters, that addressed on the fourteenth of March to Rafael or Gabriel Sanchez, treasurer of Spain, was shortly afterward translated into Latin and printed at Rome. The title given to the letter expresses the popular belief respecting the situation of the discovered islands: “A letter of Christopher Columbus, to whom our age is greatly indebted, respecting the islands of India lately found beyond the Ganges.”[172]
Conscious of the greatness of his discovery, Columbus enthusiastically closes his letter with these words: “And now the king, the queen, the princes, and all their dominions, as well as the whole of Christendom, ought to give thanks to our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has granted us such an achievement and success. Let processions be ordered, let solemn festivals be celebrated, let the churches be filled with boughs and flowers.”
When his father landed at Palos, “he was received there,” says Ferdinand Columbus, “by all the people in procession, giving thanks to God for his fortunate success, which, it was hoped, would contribute greatly to propagate the Christian religion and enlarge their majesties’ dominions. All the inhabitants of the place considered it a matter of no little fame that the admiral had sailed from that port, and that most of the men he had with him belonged to it, though many of them, through [Martin Alonso] Pinzon’s fault, had been mutinous and disobedient.... The admiral then proceeded toward Seville, intending to go from there to Barcelona where their catholic majesties were. He was compelled to tarry a little along the way thither, though it were ever so little, to satisfy the curiosity of the people where he went, who came from the neighboring towns to the road along which he journeyed to see him, the Indians, and the other things he brought. Proceeding in this manner, he reached Barcelona about the middle of April, having previously sent their highnesses an account of the good fortune attending his voyage, which exceedingly pleased them, and they appointed him a most impressive reception as a man that had performed for them an extraordinary commission. All the court and city went out to meet him. Their catholic majesties sat in public in great state, on costly chairs, under a canopy of gold-cloth; and when he approached to kiss their hands they arose as to a great lord, and were unwilling to give him their hands, and caused him to sit down by them. When he had given them a brief account of his voyage, they permitted him to retire to his apartment, to which he was attended by all the court. And he was so highly honored and favored by their highnesses, that when the king rode about Barcelona, the admiral was on one side of him, and the Infante Fortuna on the other, for before this, no one rode by the side of his majesty but the Infante, who was his near kinsman.”[173]
Galvano, speaking of the enthusiasm created by Columbus’s return, says: “Hereupon there arose so extraordinary a desire to travel among the Spaniards that they were ready to leap into the sea to swim, if it had been possible, unto these new lands.”[174]