The Last Voyage - 1

The Last Voyage - 1

The four ships that made up the Admiral's fleet on his fourth and last voyage were all
small caravels, the largest only of seventy tons and the smallest only of fifty. Columbus
chose for his flagship the Capitana, seventy tons, appointing Diego Tristan to be his
captain. The next best ship was the Santiago de Palos under the command of Francisco
Porras; Porras and his brother Diego having been more or less foisted on to Columbus by
Morales, the Royal Treasurer, who wished to find berths for these two brothers-in-law of
his. We shall hear more of the Porras brothers. The third ship was the Gallega, sixty tons,
a very bad sailer indeed, and on that account entrusted to Bartholomew Columbus, whose
skill in navigation, it was hoped, might make up for her bad sailing qualities.
Bartholomew had, to tell the truth, had quite enough of the New World, but he was too
loyal to Christopher to let him go alone, knowing as he did his precarious state of health
and his tendency to despondency. The captain of the Gallega was Pedro de Terreros, who
had sailed with the Admiral as steward on all his other voyages and was now promoted to
a command. The fourth ship was called the Vizcaina, fifty tons, and was commanded by
Bartolome Fieschi, a friend of Columbus's from Genoa, and a very sound, honourable
man. There were altogether 143 souls on board the four caravels.
The fleet as usual made the Canary Islands, where they arrived on the 20th of May, and
stopped for five days taking in wood and water and fresh provisions. Columbus was
himself again—always more himself at sea than anywhere else; he was following a now
familiar road that had no difficulties or dangers for him; and there is no record of the
voyage out except that it was quick and prosperous, with the trade wind blowing so
steadily that from the time they left the Canaries until they made land twenty days later
they had hardly to touch a sheet or a halliard. The first land they made was the island of
Martinique, where wood and water were taken in and the men sent ashore to wash their
linen. To young Ferdinand, but fourteen years old, this voyage was like a fairy tale come
true, and his delight in everything that he saw must have added greatly to Christopher's
pleasure and interest in the voyage. They only stayed a few days at Martinique and then
sailed westward along the chain of islands until they came to Porto Rico, where they put
in to the sunny harbour which they had discovered on a former voyage.
It was at this point that Columbus determined, contrary to his precise orders, to stand
across to Espanola. The place attracted him like a magnet; he could not keep away from
it; and although he had a good enough excuse for touching there, it is probable that his
real reason was a very natural curiosity to see how things were faring with his old enemy
Bobadilla. The excuse was that the Gallega, Bartholomew's ship, was so unseaworthy as
to be a drag on the progress of the rest of the fleet and a danger to her own crew. In the
slightest sea-way she rolled almost gunwale under, and would not carry her sail; and
Columbus's plan was to exchange her for a vessel out of the great fleet which he knew
had by this time reached Espanola and discharged its passengers.
He arrived off the harbour of San Domingo on the 29th of June in very threatening
weather, and immediately sent Pedro de Terreros ashore with a message to Ovando,
asking to be allowed to purchase or exchange one of the vessels that were riding in the
harbour, and also leave to shelter his own vessels there during the hurricane which he
believed to be approaching. A message came back that he was neither permitted to buy a
ship nor to enter the harbour; warning him off from San Domingo, in fact.
With this unfavourable message Terreros also brought back the news of the island.
Ovando had been in San Domingo since the 15th of April, and had found the island in a
shocking state, the Spanish population having to a man devoted itself to idleness,
profligacy, and slave-driving. The only thing that had prospered was the gold-mining; for
owing to the licence that Bobadilla had given to the Spaniards to employ native labour to
an unlimited extent there had been an immense amount of gold taken from the mines. But
in no other respect had island affairs prospered, and Ovando immediately began the usual
investigation. The fickle Spaniards, always unfaithful to whoever was in authority over
them, were by this time tired of Bobadilla, in spite of his leniency, and they hailed the
coming of Ovando and his numerous equipment with enthusiasm. Bobadilla had also by
this time, we may suppose, had enough of the joys of office; at any rate he showed no
resentment at the coming of the new Governor, and handed over the island with due
ceremony. The result of the investigation of Ovando, however, was to discover a state of
things requiring exemplary treatment; friend Roldan was arrested, with several of his
allies, and put on board one of the ships to be sent back to Spain for trial. The cacique
Guarionex, who had been languishing in San Domingo in chains for a long time, was also
embarked on one of the returning ships; and about eighteen hundred-weights of gold
which had been collected were also stowed into cases and embarked. Among this gold
there was a nugget weighing 35 lbs. which had been found by a native woman in a river,
and which Ovando was sending home as a personal offering to his Sovereigns; and some
further 40 lbs. of gold belonging to Columbus, which Carvajal had recovered and placed
in a caravel to be taken to Spain for the Admiral. The ships were all ready to sail, and
were anchored off the mouth of the river when Columbus arrived in San Domingo.