New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1917-10-27
OUR FIRST WHITE BOY.
He Set Good Example for American
Boys of Today by Sticking to the Job.

Boys of Today by Sticking to the Job.
(Boston Herald)
Many phases of the life of Column
bus offer mysteries that the historians
have never been able to clear away,
and one student Of the life of the
great explorer has come across an
incidental mystery that has an appeal
ing interest It relates to a boy who
accompanied the expedition of 1492--
the only boy among its members and
consequently the first white boy to
set foot In America, If we except the
remote possibility Of boys in the crews
OF the Norsemen in the hazy centur-
les long before.
The contemporary accounts Of the
first expedition Of Columbus mention
the boy in question only once and that
briefly. They indicate that he was the
only boy in the expedition and they
place on his young shoulders the
blame for the great catastrophe that
befell when the Santa Maria was
wrecked on the coast of Haiti. To be
sure the story OF the wreck shows
that the boy was less to blame than
make him the scapegoat. It was the
night before Christmas, 1892, ten
weeks after the discovery of land, and
Columbus was pushing his search for
gold among the West Indies. The
flagship, the Santa Maria, was skirting
the coast of Haiti, and late at night
as the wind was light and the ship
barely moving, Columbus went to his
cabin for rest. He passed the helm
over to the captain. He, too, soon felt
the need Of sleep and went below. His
successor at the tiller was sailor and
he shortly followed the example Of the
admiral and the master Before he
went he awakened the lad in question
and told him to mind the helm.
The boy did not go to sleep. He was
doubtless a live lad and he felt the
importance of being trusted to steer
the ship. But he was In strange wa
ters and the currents were treacher-
Gus near that coast. The ship struck
reef. The admiral and crew rushed |
on deck in terror. OF course they |
blamed the boy. That was the way of |
the world before 1892 and the fashion J
has never changed. But what of ad- /
miral, master and helmsman who in |
turn went off their berths and left |
the boy at their post?
That was the end of the Santa |
Maria The crew reached the shore
in safety and made q fort from the |
timbers Of the wreck. In that fort,
which they called La Navidad i'll
honor of the day, about forty Of the
crew remained while their compan-
ions went home to Spain on the Pinta
and the Nina One historian mem
lions q tradition that the buy re-
NAMED with this number. but 1t is
only a tradition. The fate of the
forty Is a mystery, for when the Sec
ond expedition of Columbus reached
that island a year later there were
only a few charred timbers and
bones to be found. Perhaps our first
white boy persisted there; perhaps he
went back to Palos to tell his young
the wonders of the new
world and to set himself straight, at
least among them In the matter of
the blame for the wreck of the flag
ship. His name has not even come
down to us, but the brief glimpse that
we have Of him Is q fascinating one.
There is som ething to stimulate the
Imagination in that f1eeting picture
Of the boy who stuck to his post while