Nearly everyone knows
that "Columbus sailed
the ocean blue .. in fourteen hundred ninety two (1492)." The
question is - Was Columbus smart about safety?
Can you imagine what it would be like to live
on a crowded school bus for eight long months? Columbus and his men had a
little more room than that, but not much. It was an amazing
adventure.
He built sturdy
ships. It is
a matter of record that Columbus carefully planned the construction of his
three ships - the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina.
He even ordered "crooked pines" from the Pyrenees to be dragged down to the
sea to be used to make the frames, beams, and decks, for extra sturdiness.
He had no idea what dangers he would face, but he was sure that one of them
might be storms at sea.
He protected his maps and
charts. Columbus
had a small cabin built on the Santa Maria that held his bed, a few personal
belongings, and his maps and charts. It was the only
cabin on board.
He built space below the deck to store ample
supplies. The hold - the space
below deck - was used to store food, tools, ropes, extra sails, cannon balls,
guns, and other supplies Columbus felt they might need on the trip.
He ordered the crew to catch fresh fish every
day, to avoid illness. The crew caught fresh
fish every day they could. Along with fish, they ate salt meat, cheese, beans,
rice, almonds, honey and raisins.
He told his men that they could not drink
the ocean water. Instead, Columbus and his
crew drank water from wooden barrels they had brought on board, and wine
from big casks.
He ordered his men to cook their meals.
All meals were cooked in small fireplaces
on deck called sandbox cookers, to reduce the risk of illness. Sandbox
cookers were designed to allow cooking on deck safely, without catching the
wood ship on fire.
He had at least one man on watch at all
times. At least
one member of the crew was always on watch, on the lookout for any danger
including pirates, men overboard, reefs, and land. The man on watch was tucked
high up on the 80-foot mainsail, in the "crow's nest."
Everyone arrived
safely! Once he set sail, it
took Columbus only two months to catch his first sight of the New World.
Still, that was a very long time for 90 men to live in a space
about the size of a schoolbus. Yet, there is no
record of any outbreak of disease. No one fell overboard.
When they spotted land, they did not rush
in. They must have been glad to spot land
for many reasons! Still, they did not land right away. Columbus and his crew
sailed along the shoreline. They stopped at a couple of places and established
some base camps. They met the natives - some friendly, some not.
His careful planning and sturdy ships saved
their lives. When Columbus and his men decided
to leave the New World and return to Spain, they ran into a little trouble.
By then, they were down to only two ships, which made things even more crowded.
A storm had wrecked the Santa Maria on Christmas Day that year. (Columbus
returned to Spain on the smaller ship, the Nina.) They ran into another
storm as they were returning to Spain. They were tossed about by waves higher
than a sixty foot building! The Nina and the Pinta were separated
in the storm. Yet, both ships safely found their way home.
The round trip, including their adventures in the New World,
took eight months. Columbus was paid well for his trip.
Columbus was highly respected and, thanks to his adventures, he was
also quite wealthy. He was happily married. He had a couple of kids. He was
incredibly stubborn. To the day he died, he never once admitted that he had
found a New World. He insisted that he had, in fact, discovered the back
door to China.
Here are some great sites to help you learn about and enjoy Columbus
Day:
ASKACOP.org
