, 1892-10-19

life was S emit" Here we have, doubtless, one
II the fables. of which Mr.. Markham speaks,
The actual facts are quite different Columbus,
OF, in It's Italian form, Colombo, was the family
name. His grandfather was Giovanni Colon
DO; his father, Domenico Colombo even the
houses where they lived are known. A deed
exists, in which the mother of Christopher
Columbus consents to the sale Of property by
her husband, and this deed is witnessed by
her son Cristoforo Colombo in August 1873.
There is, therefore, no doubt whatever about
the name having been his own.
But to continue with Mr.. Markham's paper.
He deals with the question of the size and
build Of he ships. He tells US that Captain
Duro, Of the Spanish navy. has investigated all
questions relating to the ships of the Columbi-
an period and their equipment with great
care. There were, as is we'll known, three ships.
Two c~aravels were provided by the town Of
Palos, from which the expedition sailed. They
were small vessels and only partially decGed.
In Webster's dictionary a "caravel" is defined
as "a small vessel on the coast of France, used
inthe herring fishery, and usually from rs to
80 tons burden" Columbus's c~aravels were
respectively 50 and 40 tons The larger of the
two, the Pinta, was strongly built, was lateen
rugged on all three masts, and was the fastest
sailer in the expedition. The smaller vessel
was the Ni0o, so-called after her owners, the
Miro family, Of Palos. The third ship, the
Santa Maria, was the largest, being of 100
tons burden; she was completely decked, and
had a high poop and forecastle. She had three
maats, the foremost and mainmast carrying
square sails, the m%izzenmast being lateen
rugged. In order TO get a clear idea OF the
size oftbe vessels, We may compare them With
some which we know. Thus the brigantine
7. I o1cner, now lying in Christiansted harbour,
he's q burden OF 1871 tons; the schoonels Ocean
Trareher, Vigiiont and Mary are respectively
Of Il3, As, and 30 tons burden. We see at
once that the Z. Iopner is much larger than
any If Columbus's ships, but that these latter
may very well be respectively represented as
to size by the three schoouers OF our own
port.
Columbus sailed in the Santa Maria and
with him the owner Of the vessel, Juan de la
Cosa, who WAS a famous Spanish pilot, and 90
others. The Pinta carried q complement Of
is men, Mr.. Markham does not.say how many
the Milo carried. Washington Irving says
that there wore in the three ships l20 persons
in oil, but this number nus be too high, since
if the former figures are correct it would leave
80 to be carried by the Milo alone, the smallest
Of the ships. Az TO the capacity Of these
ships for sailing, Mr.. Markham says The
rigs of these vessels were admirably adapted
to their purpose. The large courses Of the
caravels enabled their commanders to lay
their courses nearer to the wind than any
clipper ship Of modern times As to tho
crews. he says that those on board the two
caravels MI came from Palos or its neighbour
hoed, while those OH board the Santa Maria
came from various parts Of Spain and includ-
ed one Englishman.
Friday, August 3rd 1892, when the three
little vessels sailed over the bar Of SaItes,
was a memorable day in the worlds history.
It had been prepared for by many years Of
study and labour, by long years of disappoint-
ment and anxiety. rewarded at length by sue
cess. The proof was to be made at last. To
the incidents Of that famous voyage nothing
can be added. But we may at least settle the
long disputed question of the landfall Of Co.
lumbus. 1t is certainly an important question.
There are the materials for final decision,
and we ought to know for certain on what
spot of land it was that the admiral knelt
when he sprang from the boat on that famous
18th of October 1892"
Mr.. Markham then proceeds to examine the
claims of no less than five islands in the Bahia
ma group, each of which has been advocated
as being the island on which Columbus landed
md to which he gave the name of Salvador,
and which the natives called Guanahanl. He
decides in favour Of Waiting island, OF three
grounds namely that it is the only island