Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-10-06
The First American Immigrants.

The First American Immigrants.
Some people have been curious Ia
know when the first Irishman came To
America. They may or may not be sur
prised to find that the exact date. cor.
rected to suit the modern stv.e of
reckoning, was Oct 81, 1892. There
was an lrishman on board the Columbus
Heet that discovered the western world,
1t viii be 400 years this coming Oct. q
when the first Irishman set foot in
America. Irish occupancy therefore
antedates both that of Knickerbocker
and Puritan. The Irish are our real old
Families. 1t may be mentioned that one
OF Columbus sailors was an English.
man. There were two Italians besides
Columbus-Genoese sailors-but all the
rest were Spaniards. It is a curious
turn OF fate that the nationalities that
were least represented in those ships of
discovery are now the ones, with their
descendants, that mainly own and peo-
pie North America.
Sept. IS will be the day, 400 years ago.
when the sailors of Columbus had
their last sight of land in Europe. Now
adays the trouble would have been To
Keep the men back, and even the women
VINO want to go out and discover new
worlds. But it was not like that in the |
day of Columbus, He could scarcely |
get sailors at all to man his three little |
crafts, the largest, the flagship, being
only ninety feet long. The ninety sea-
men who constituted the crew had been
secured partly by the amiab1e press gang
system in vogue in those days. Many of
them, too, were criminals who had been
pardoned on condition that they 20 on
the expedition. A jolly lot they must
have been. Columbus inaugurated
among them the original American plan
Of doctoring the returns. He dared not
let them know how far the ships sailed
during the voyage, or they would have
thrown him overheard and turned the
ships noses the other way. So he doc
Sored the logbook and made it announce
that they had sailed $50 miles less than
they actually had done. Meantime he
zept up their spirits, this adroit "Ad-
nirai Don Cristobal Colon" by scatter
ng among the sailors the following
When our beloved sovereiens honored ma
With the commission of admiral and yicerov {
those secret seas toward which we are now
teertng, considered it as the most glorious
M 9oytul event of my life, as now consider
MS moment, which seems painful 10 some ct
ou. as second to 1t only in joy The end of {
ur voyage Is Cathay, country known TO lie \
q the uppermost eastern extremity of Asia
vhtther II has been reached by Christian trav | |
lers. Our voyage Is different from ali Others
a the circumstance that we go west, not east. T
act In this on conviction that the earth ts 1
puma, whence II follows that the Atlantic
lust have western boundary of land as well
s an eastern, and certain calculations make
certain that this western boundary, which
Cathay, cannot be more than thirty days'
liling from u.s.
Now Cathay abounds with gold and germs
nd silks and merchandise more than any
nd, however wealthy, in all Europe OF the
ivantages Of reaching such a country We NAV
ldge readily. Going not as Invaders, but as
hristian friends, We will meet the most
tendly reception and be laden with presents.
speak now Of the honor of being the first TO
TRY the cross to the heather world Neither
le church nor its great Master forgets the
rvttor who advances the cross, and we NAV
'unt on blessings both bow and hereafter,
A more striking mixture of shrewd-
ess, avarice, hypocrisy and piety can
arceiy be found in history than this
reclamation. To further keep up the
'irits of the crew they were reminded
Queen lsabella's promise of a pension
10000 maravedis" ($i2Wa year to the
an who should first see land. BY the
ERECTED chronology o'clock in the
orning, Oct. 81, will be the anniversary
the exact hour, 400 years ago, when a
Q first actual land of the New World
rs seen and by common sailor,
odriguez Triana. But poor Rodriguez
rs cheated out of his pension after all,
d it was given to the great Columbus
mself, because he thought he saw a
'ht at 10 o'clock the night of the Goth, fo
ar hours earlier. Thus again was
rifed Miss Snifkin's scripture quota.
N, Them that has gifts"
=
Birth Marriage and Death.