Landfall - 1

Landfall - 1

During the night the ships had drifted a little with the current, and before the north-east
wind. When the look-out man on the Pinta first reported land in sight it was probably the
north-east corner of the island, where the land rises to a height of 120 feet, that he saw.
The actual anchorage of Columbus was most likely to the westward of the island; for
there was a strong north-easterly breeze, and as the whole of the eastern coast is fringed
by a barrier reef, he would not risk his ships on a lee shore. Finding himself off the north
end of the island at sunrise, the most natural thing for him to do, on making sail again,
would be to stand southward along the west side of the island looking for an anchorage.
The first few miles of the shore have rocky exposed points, and the bank where there is
shoal water only extends half a mile from the shore. Immediately beyond that the bottom
shelves rapidly down to a depth of 2000 fathoms, so that if Columbus was sounding as he
came south he would find no bottom there. Below what are called the Ridings Rocks,
however, the land sweeps to the south and east in a long sheltered bay, and to the south of
these rocks there is good anchorage and firm holding-ground in about eight fathoms of
water.
We may picture them, therefore, approaching this land in the bright sunshine of the early
morning, their ears, that had so long heard nothing but the slat of canvas and the rush and
bubble of water under the prows, filled at last with the great resounding roar of the
breakers on the coral reef; their eyes, that had so long looked upon blue emptiness and
the star-spangled violet arch of night, feasting upon the living green of the foliage ashore;
and the easterly breeze carrying to their eager nostrils the perfumes of land. Amid an
excitement and joyful anticipation that it is exhilarating even to think about the cables
were got up and served and coiled on deck, and the anchors, which some of them had
thought would never grip the bottom again, unstopped and cleared. The leadsman of the
Santa Maria, who has been finding no bottom with his forty-fathom line, suddenly gets a
sounding; the water shoals rapidly until the nine-fathom mark is unwetted, and the lead
comes up with its bottom covered with brown ooze. Sail is shortened; one after another
the great ungainly sheets of canvas are clewed up or lowered down on deck; one after
another the three helms are starboarded, and the three ships brought up to the wind. Then
with three mighty splashes that send the sea birds whirling and screaming above the rocks
the anchors go down; and the Admiral stands on his high poop-deck, and looks long and
searchingly at the fragment of earth, rock-rimmed, surf-fringed, and tree-crowned, of
which he is Viceroy and Governor-General.
Watling's Island, as it is now called, or San Salvador, as Columbus named it, or
Guanahani, as it was known to the aborigines, is situated in latitude 24 deg. 6' N., and
longitude 74 deg 26' W., and is an irregularly shaped white sandstone islet in about the
middle of the great Bahama Bank. The space occupied by the whole group is shaped like
an irregular triangle extending from the Navidad Bank in the Caribbean Sea at the southeast
corner, to Bahama Island in Florida Strait on the north, about 200 miles. The south
side trends west by north for 600 miles, and the north side north-west by north 720 miles.
Most of the islands and small rocks in this group, called Keys or Cays, are very low, and
rise only a few feet above the sea; the highest is about 400 feet high. They are generally
situated on the edge of coral and sand banks, some of which are of a very dangerous
character. They are thinly wooded, except in the case of one or two of the larger islands
which contain timber of moderate dimensions. The climate of the Bahamas is mild and
temperate, with refreshing sea breezes in the hottest months; and there is a mean
temperature of 75 deg. from November to April. Watling's Island is about twelve miles in
length by six in breadth, with rocky shores slightly indented. The greater part of its area is
occupied by salt-water lagoons, separated from one another by small wooded hills from
too to 140 feet high. There is plenty of grass; indeed the island is now considered to be
the most fertile in the Bahamas, and raises an excellent breed of cattle and sheep. In
common with the other islands of the group it was originally settled by the Spaniards, and
afterwards by the British, who were driven from the Bahamas again by the Spanish in the
year 1641. After a great deal of changing hands they were ceded to Great Britain in 1783,
and have remained in her possession ever since. In 1897 the population of the whole
group was estimated at 52,000 the whites being in the proportion of one to six of the
coloured population. Watling's Island contains about 600 inhabitants scattered over the
surface, with a small settlement called Cockburn Town on the west side, nearly opposite
the landfall of Columbus. The seat of the local government is in the island of New
Providence, and the inhabitants of Watling's Island and of Rum Cay unite in sending one
representative to the House of Assembly. It is high water, full and change, at Watling's
Island at 7 h. 40 m., as it was in the days of Columbus; and these facts form about the
sum of the world's knowledge of and interest in Watling's Island to-day.
But it was a different matter on Friday morning, October 12, 1492,
[This date is reckoned in the old style. The true astronomical date would be October 21st,
which is the modern anniversary of the discovery]
when, all having been made snug on board the Santa Maria, the Admiral of the Ocean
Seas put on his armour and his scarlet cloak over it and prepared to go ashore. The boat
was lowered and manned by a crew well armed, and Columbus took with him Rodrigo de
Escovedo, the secretary to the expedition, and Rodrigo Sanchez his overseer; they also
took on board Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vincenti Yanez Pinzon, the captains of the
other two ships. As they rowed towards the shore they saw a few naked inhabitants, who
hid themselves at their approach. Columbus carried with him the royal standard, and the
two captains each had a banner of the expedition, which was a square flag with an "F"
and a "Y" upon either side, each letter being surmounted by the crown of the sovereigns
and a green cross covering the whole. Columbus assembled his little band around him
and called upon them to bear witness that in the presence of them all he was taking
possession of the island for the King and Queen of Spain; duly making depositions in
writing on the spot, and having them signed and witnessed. Then he gave the name of
San Salvador to the island and said a prayer; and while this solemn little ceremony was in
progress, the astonished natives crept out of their hiding and surrounded the strange white
men. They gesticulated and grovelled and pointed upwards, as though this gang of armed
and bearded Spaniards, with the tall white-bearded Italian in the midst of them, had fallen
from the skies.