But when Queen Isabella learned how he had been brought back to Spain in shackles, she was greatly angered. Both Sovereigns commanded that he should be immediately released. And when the venerable Columbus grown old in her service, entered her presence, Queen Isabella wept bitterly. Columbus fell at her feet, unable to utter a word, so great was his sorrow.
Both Sovereigns promised to restore all his titles and the wealth which had been taken from him by force. But though Bobadilla was finally deposed from power because of his treatment of Columbus and because of his evil rule, yet the royal promise was not fulfilled. His titles and property were never restored to Columbus.
Instead, he was again sent overseas, on a fourth voyage of discovery.
With four miserable caravels manned by only a hundred and fifty men, the gray-headed, weary Columbus set forth once more still hoping to discover the country of Kublai Khan, and find the Earthly Paradise. And this time Columbus took with him his younger son, Ferdinand, who was thirteen years old.
QUEEN ISABELLA’S PAGE
Off to find Kublai Khan, to drink from his golden cups, to eat from his silvern plates, to ride his elephants, to visit in his great palace, and, perhaps, to discover the Earthly Paradise—what more thrilling adventure could a boy want?
So Ferdinand Columbus, Queen Isabella’s page, eager for adventure, set sail with his father Columbus, to cross the Sea of Darkness and explore beyond the emerald islands.
For, while his father, on his former voyage, had been gathering pearls among the Pearl Islands of the New World, the boy Ferdinand, amid the splendour of the Spanish Court, had been waiting upon Queen Isabella.
But now, what a change! Ferdinand was off across the heaving, foaming Sea of Darkness in a small caravel tossed about like a cockleshell on the billows. A tempest with rain, thunder, and lightning arose. It struck Columbus’s wretched caravels. They were buffeted by the wind, their sails were torn, their rigging, cables, and boats were lost. Food was washed overboard. The sailors were terrified, they ran about making religious vows and confessing their sins to each other. Even the boldest was pale with fear.
“But the distress of my son who was with me, grieved me to the soul ...” wrote Columbus afterward, “for he was but thirteen years old, and he enduring so much toil for so long a time. Our Lord, however, gave him strength to enable him to encourage the rest. He worked as if he had been eighty years at sea.”