Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1879-01-28
THE ANCHOR or COLUMBUS.
THE OLDEST RELIC IN EXISTENCE OF
THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.

On the night of the I'd of August,
1893, the little fleet of Christopher
Columbus, the discOverer Of America, he
being then upon his third voyage, lay
at anchor just off the southwest point
Of the island Of Trinidad, off the main
land Of South America, which he had
seen that day for the first time. "Being
on board OF his shlp," says Washington
Irving, in his history Of the great navi-
gator (Vol. IL, Book X, page 123),
''late at night, kept awake by painful
illness and an anxious and watchful
spirit. he heard a terrible roaring from
the south, and beheld the sea heaped
up, as it were, into great ridge of
hill, the height Of the ship, covered
with foam, and rolling towards him
with tremendous uproar. AS this
furious surge approached, rendered
more terrible in appearance by the OBJ
scurity OF the night, he trembled for
the safety Of his vessels. His own ship
was suddenly lifted up to such height
that he dreaded lest it should be over
turned or cast upon the rocks, while
another of the ships was torn violently
from her anchorage leaving, it was
hardly necessary for Mr.. Irving to add,
her anchor behind her The crews
were for time in great CONSERVATION,
fearing they should be swallowed up,
but the mountainous surge passed on,
and gradually subsided, after violent
contest with the commencement of the
strait. This sudden rush of water, it is
supposed, was caused by the swelling
of one of the rivers which flow into the
Gulf of Paria, and which were as yet
unknown to Columbus. -
So far Washington Irving, who of
course POUNDS his text upon that of the
old authorities, and especially upon the
''Vita'' of Ferdinand Columbus, the
son of the great Admiral. The words
of Ferdinand, in reference to the loss
Of the anchor aforesaid, in the original
Italian, are as follows: MA piacque a
Dio che passo di sotto, per dir miglio
che gil levo in alto, senza fargli danno,
dncorche dd atn naUiglio lerdsse le anchore
di terra'- although one of the ships
left her anchor behind her ~
The anchor thus lost on the night of
August I'd, 149S-nearly four hundred
years agol-from one of the ships Of
Columbus, off the southwest eXtremi-
ty of the island of Trinidad-Point
Arenat, as Columbus named the spot,
ride Irving-has recently been recov-
cred by Senior Argostino, the gentle
man who now owns the point Of land
in question. 1t has the rare and
thrilling merit of being the oldest
relic extant of the great navigator and
of the discovery of America.
AS would be expected from the age
of this relic, 1t is an anchor in its
simplest form of expression. The shaft
is round and eight feet nine inches in
length. AT the head of the shaft is a
round ring nearly foot in diameter,
to which the cable was fastened. The
fiukes have spread of about five feet.
Its total weight is eleven hundred
pounds.
But the Strangest part is to come.
This anchor was dug up by Senior
Argostino in his garden, from depth
of six feet, at the distance of three
hundred and twenty-seyen feet from
the nearest beach of the sea. His first
supposition was that he had stumbled
upon relic of the Ph9nicians, or OF
the ancient nations who have been sup
posed by many to have visited the
coasts of America thousands of years
ago. But an attentive examination ol
local facts and authorities soon con.
vinced him that portion of his garden