OCR Text |
Show Led by a Harvard History Professor, A Party of 'Scholarly Navigators' Is Retracing the Voyages of Columbus By ELMO SCOTT WATSON (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) HOW good a navigator was Christopher Columbus, whom a large part of the world honors hon-ors on October 12 as the "discoverer "dis-coverer of America"? So far, most of the men who have attempted to answer an-swer that question have been scholars who had no knowledge knowl-edge of seamanship or navigation. navi-gation. Writing in their cloistered retreats or in libraries, li-braries, they have indulged In fruitless speculation and inaccurate guesses as they 'dealt with the really vital part of the career of the great Italian explorer. Recently one of these scholars, schol-ars, who for many years has combined historical scholarship scholar-ship with practical seamanship, seaman-ship, decided to try to answer the question in a really practical prac-tical way. He would make a definite estimate of Columbus as a seaman and discoverer by sailing the seas he sailed and visiting the places he visited. This scholar is Professor Samuel Sam-uel Eliot Morison of Harvard university, uni-versity, official historian for that famous institution of higher learning learn-ing and author of the prize-winning history of Harvard for its tercentenary celebration three years ago. But, more important than that to his newest piece of "research," is the fact that in 1937-38 he sailed among the Lesser Less-er Antilles in a yawl and checked up on the route of Columbus' voyage. In January of this year, he followed the route of the explorer's ex-plorer's first voyage along the north coast of Haiti and identified the approximate site of Navidad, the first European settlement in the New world. To follow up on that experiment experi-ment in "retracing the voyages of Columbus," Professor Morison set out two months ago on a more ambitious project. One morning in August a 100-foot three-masted steel ketch put to sea from Oyster Oy-ster Bay, L. I. She was the Capitana named for the flagship of Columbus' third voyage. She was captained by Paul Hammond, Ham-mond, famous racing skipper and ocean cruiser who served in the CiA I , r " I ' - ' t ft -si' If s & i i J Wiv. J?. ii These ladies are on the 'back-tracking-on-CoIumbus' voyage. They are (left to right) Mrs. Samuel E. Morison (wife of the Harvard history his-tory professor who is leading the expedition), who Is a stewardess on the Capitana during part of the trip ; her daughter, Miss Elizabeth Morison, Mor-ison, who is also serving as a stewardess; and Mrs. Paul Hammond, wife of the commander of the ketch Mary Otis, who is chief stewardess. set forth on his first voyage. The next objective will be San Lucar de Barrameda, where Columbus' third voyage started. The Mary Otis will sail up the Guadalquivir river, the route of the Spanish treasure galleons to Seville. The historians in the party will study Columbus' marginal comments in his books on the Columbian library li-brary at Seville, look up certain points in the Archives of the Indies, In-dies, and visit Cordova, where Columbus first met Ferdinand and Isabella, and where his son Ferdinand was born. The next objective will be Porto Santo, the island near Madeira where Columbus married the daughter of a Portuguese gentleman, gentle-man, and lived for some time. After a call at Fuchal, the expedition expe-dition will proceed to the Canaries, Cana-ries, the jumping-off place for three out of four of Columbus' voyages. From San Sebastian, Gomera, Canary islands, the two vessels will follow approximately the The departure of Columbus. (From an illustration in De Bry's 'Voyages,' 1590.) World war, but the most important im-portant figure on her deck was Professor Morison, leader of the "Harvard Columbus expedition." Rendezvous in the Azores. Several days previously the ketch Mary Otis had set out from Portland, Maine, under the command com-mand of Capt. William D. Ste- vens, who served as ensign in the United States navy during the World war. Headed for Flores in the Azores where she would join the "flagship" of the "modern "mod-ern Columbus." This smaller vessel, ves-sel, like Columbus' Nina, is expected ex-pected to be most useful for poking pok-ing into harbors and up rivers that the Capitana with her 15-foot 15-foot draft cannot enter. On the first leg of their voyage the Capitana and the Mary Otis picked up the course of Columbus' Colum-bus' return passage of 1493 near the Azores, called at Santa Maria, Ma-ria, where the Nina put in after a bad storm, and visited the little chapel, where Columbus' men heard mass. The expedition then made for Lisbon, concluding the route of the first voyage of the Italian navigator, and spent some time there identifying and photographing photo-graphing places associated with Columbus. ASter that, the plans of the expedition, as announced before it set out, were as follows fol-lows : From Lisbon the party was to sail to Huelva, opposite the Convent Con-vent of La Rabida and the seaport sea-port of Palos whence Columbus route of Columbus' third voyage to Trinidad, and identify the landfall of the three hills which gave him the idea of naming the island after the Holy Trinity. After calls at Port of Spain, Curacoa and Cartagena, they will pick up the route of his fourth voyage and follow it along the Central American coast, as far as Honduras. This was the second most important of Columbus' voyages, voy-ages, for he discovered a large section of the mainland, began the first European settlement on terra firma (Santa Maria de Be-lem), Be-lem), and paved the way for the discovery of the Pacific. Yet it is the least known; and a number num-ber of the places such as his refuge ref-uge harbor in or near the Gulf of San Bias, the Rio de Veragua, and the site of Belem itself, have never been certainly identified. The vessels will probably spend Christmas at Puerto Limon, Costa Cos-ta Rica. Voyage Ends in 1940. From Central America the expedition ex-pedition will stretch across the Caribbean to the northern coast of Jamaica, where Columbus spent over a year; and if time permits will clear up some doubtful doubt-ful points about his course around Hispaniola. The voyage will end in Haiti about February 1, 1940. This is not intended to visit the Bahamas because Columbus' landfall at San Salvador has been identified and his course through the Bahamas accurately traced by the late Admiral Murdock, Rudolf Ru-dolf Cronau, Glenn Stewart, and George B. Massey. As the expedition includes at least eight experienced navigators naviga-tors there will be constant analysis analy-sis of Columbus' work as a seaman sea-man and navigator in connection with the existing accounts of his voyages. Some historians have hailed Columbus as the greatest navigator of all time, while others oth-ers claim that he was a mere landlubber with a big idea; yet none of these authorities ever took the trouble to follow his courses themselves, and few knew anything about navigation. This revaluation of Columbus as a seaman and navigator will be the most important part of the expedition's work. A second part of the work will be to identity the American places touched at in his four voyages; and a third will be to obtain photographs of the coasts that he followed. The party does not expect to find anything new or startling about Columbus. It will supplement supple-ment the excellent research on portions of his life by scholars such as Von Humboldt, De Lollis, Charcot, Harrisse, Vignaud, Mag-naghi, Mag-naghi, and Windsor by investigations investiga-tions in the ocean field. A select se-lect library of about 300 volumes of Columbiana will be aboard to aid the navigators in their work. The expedition does hope to achieve a better understanding of the most momentous voyages of modern times, and accurately to rewrite the opening chapters of American history. It will attempt to do for Columbus what Francis Parkman did for the history of France in the New World. The Capitana, Commodore Morison's "flagship" has had an interesting history. She began life 10 years ago as a three-masted, three-masted, gaff - headed British schooner yacht. Her mizzen was subsequently shortened and she became a ketch. In preparation for this voyage, Captain Hammond Ham-mond completely rerigged her with sails and gear from other large yachts. The foremast has a staysail rig and two or three of the Aloha's old yards will be crossed for the tradewinds. By that time she can probably be called a barkentine. Unlike Columbus' Capitana which, of course, had to depend entirely upon the winds to propel pro-pel her across the Atlantic, Morison's Mor-ison's Capitana has a 250-horse-power Diesel engine to keep her going should she become becalmed. be-calmed. The ketch, Mary Otis,, built in South Bristol, Maine, in' 1936, is only 45 feet long but she has already made two ocean crossings under Captain Stevens. Both vessels are manned by a distinguished crew of scholars and practical seamen, all of whom will take part in the work, of operating their respective ships and all of whom, except those in the steward's department, depart-ment, will take turns "standing watch." The expedition has been largely financed by those who are accompanying ac-companying Professor Morison on the voyage, with the aid of grants from the Mellon Educational Educa-tional foundation of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie corporation of New York, the Milton fund of Harvard Har-vard and several other companies compa-nies and individuals who contributed contrib-uted such supplies as sails and gear, a direction finder, a two-way two-way radio set, a surgical kit, heraldic designs and flags. Most Americans are" familiar with the story of Christopher Columbus Co-lumbus but how many of us have a clear picture of what took placf on that historic October day 441 years ago in a little island in the West Indies? Modern scholarship scholar-ship has found but little to correct cor-rect in the record as it is set down by Washington Irving in his "Life and Voyages of Columbus." He wrote, in part, as follows: "It was on Friday morning the twelfth of October, that Columbus first beheld the New world. As the day dawned he saw before him a level 6land, several leagues in extent, and covered with trees like a continual orchard. or-chard. Though apparently uncultivated, un-cultivated, it was populous, for the inhabitants were seen issuing from all parts of the woods and running to the shore. They were perfectly naked, and, as they stood gazing at the ships, appeared ap-peared by their attitudes and gestures ges-tures to be lost in astonishment. Columbus made signal for the ships to cast anchor, and the boats to be manned and armed. He entered his own boat, richly attired in scarlet, and hiding the royal standard; while Martin Al-onzo Al-onzo Pinzon, and Vicente Yanez, his brother, put off in company in their boats. "As he approached the shore, Columbus, who was disposed for all kinds of agreeable impressions, impres-sions, was delighted with the purity pur-ity and suavity of the atmosphere, atmos-phere, the crystal transparency of the sea, and the beauty of the vegetation. On landing he threw himself on his knees, kissed the earth, and returned thanks to Cjod with tears of joy. His example' ex-ample' was followed by the rest, whose hearts indeed overflowed with the same feelings of gratitude. grati-tude. Columbus, then rising, drew his sword, displayed the royal standard, and assembling round The earliest engraved likeness of Columbus (from Paulus Jovius 'Elogia Virorum Illustrum,' 1595.) him the two captains, with Rod-rigo Rod-rigo de Escobedo, notary of the armament, Rodrigo Sanchez, and the rest who had landed, he took possession in the name of the Castilian sovereigns, giving the island the name of San Salvador. "The feelings of the crew now burst forth in the most extravagant extrava-gant transports. They had recently re-cently considered themselves devoted de-voted men, hurrying forward to destruction; they now looked upon themselves as favorites of fortune, and gave themselves up to the most unbounded joy. They thronged around the admiral with overflowing zeal, some embracing embrac-ing him, others kissing his hands. Those who Mad been most mutinous muti-nous and turbulent during the voyage were now most devoted and enthusiastic. Some begged favors of him, as if he already had wealth and honors in his gift. "The natives of the island, when, at the dawn of day, they had beheld the ships hovering on their coast, had supposed them monsters which had issued from the deep during the night. They had crowded to the beach and watched their movements with anxiety. When they beheld their boats approach the shore, and a number of strange beings clad in glittering steel, landing upon the beach, they fled in affright to the woods. Finding, however, that there was no attempt to pursue or molest them, they gradually recovered re-covered from their terror, and approached the Spaniards with great awe. During the ceremonies of taking possession, they remained re-mained gazing in timid admiration admira-tion at the complexion, the beards, the shining armor, and splendid dress of the Spaniards. Span-iards. The admiral particularly particu-larly attracted their attention, from his commanding height, his air of authority, his dress of scarlet, scar-let, and the deference which was paid him by his companions; all which pointed him out to be the commander. When they had still further recovered from their fears, they approached the Spaniards, Span-iards, touched their beards, and examined their hands and facas, admiring their whiteness. Columbus Colum-bus was pleased with their gentleness gen-tleness and confiding simplicity, and suffered their scrutiny with perfect acquiescence, winning them by his benignity. "As Columbus supposed himself him-self to have landed on an island and at the extremity of India, he called the natives by the general gen-eral appellation of Indians, which was universally adopted before the true nature of his discovery was known, and has since been extended to all the aboriginals of the New world." |