All things being ready, Columbus influenced by de votional feelings, went, with those under his authority, in solemn procession to the monastery of Rabida ; and there, confessing his sins, and partaking of the sacra ment, he implored the blessing of heaven throughout the voyage which he designed to undertake.
Early next morning, (on the 3d of August, A. D. he set sail from the harbour of Palos, in the Santa Alaria, the largest of the vessels which had been fitted out at his desire. The others were called the Pinta, and the Nina ; the former of which was commanded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and the latter by Vincent Yanaz Pinzon, his brother. In six days the admiral reached the Canaries without any occurrence deserving of par ticula• notice, except only that the rudder of the Pinta broke loose ; an accident which the superstition of his associates interpreted as an omen, at once unfavourable and alarming. After refitting at the Canaries, Colum bus proceeded (Sept. 6.) on his voyage. He passed into seas which no vessel had yet entered, without a chart to direct him, and without any knowledge of the tides and currents which might interrupt his progress. And many of the sailors, reflecting on the hazardous nature of the enterprize, began already to beat their breasts in dejection and dismay, and relinquished all hope of visit ing again their country and their friends.
Columbus was admirably qualified for the expedition which he had undertaken. He was patient and perse vering, master of himself, and skilful in the government of other men. In naval science, as well as experience, he was far superior to any of his associates. He con ducted every thing by his presence and authority, al lowing himself only a very few hours for the necessary refreshment of his body. At all other times he was upon deck, watching the flight of birds, ascertaining the depth of the ocean, and marking the appearance of the weeds which floated upon its surface. fle moved ra pidly before the trade wind, which blows invariably from the cast within the tropics, judiciously concealing from his men the number of leagues which he had sailed ; an artifice which he employed during the rest of the voyage. Nor did any bad col sequence result from this imposition ; for so great was the ignorance of his com panions, that none of them was able to detect it. About
the 14th of September, Columbus was distant nearly 2o0 leagues from the most westerly of the Canaries ; and here the magnetic needle was observed to vary from its direction to the polar star, and incline towards the west ; an appearance which is now familiar, but for a hich phi losophy has in vain attempted to account. I t was the Ol casion of serious alarm hi the breast of Columbus, and it filled his associates with a terror, by no means un reasonable. They were far from laud, and far from the tract of other nay igators ; all around them was uncertain ; all before them was unknown ; nature seemed to be de parting from her steadiness, and the guide on which they had formerly relied, appeared to be no longer en titled to their confidence. With astonishing presence of mind, Columbus declared, that the needle did not point directly to the pole, but that in particular circum stances it described a compass round it ; a solution, which, though it was wholly unsatisfactory to himself, had the effect of silencing the murmurs of his crew.
Sec Churchill's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 504.
The alarm, however, to which the variation of the needle gave rise, was not the only difficulty which Co lumbus had to surmount. In a short time after that phenomenon had been observed, the murmurs of his sailors broke out with greater violence; first among the ignorant and wavering ; but the disaffection, spreading gradually, reached at length those who were more ad venturous and better informed, and extended with un propitious influence through the whole fleet. The men blamed their sovereign for listening inconsiderately to the schemes of a dreaming adventurer, and for sporting with the lives of his subjects, in order to carry them into execution. The indications of land had all proved fallacious: They would be amused and deceived no longer: They agreed that Columbus should be forced to relinquish an undertaking, which seemed to issue in nothing but unavoidable destruction; and some of the more daring talked of throwing him into the sea as a vi sionary projector, whose death would never be inquired into, or, if inquired into, would be considered as merited by his rashness and folly.