My wife expressed an interest in reading this book by Martin Dugard to get a sample of his writing beyond the “Killing” books with Bill O’Reilly. She decided she would be good with me reading it and her reading a review. The subtitle of the book is, “Being the Epic Tale of the Great Captain’s Fourth Expedition, Including Accounts of Swordfight, Mutiny, Shipwreck, Gold, War, Hurricane, and Discovery.” I’m glad I read the book. It is filled with history and facts about Columbus, the New World, and the natives who should have chased Columbus off the instant he and his ships landed.

I had no idea that Columbus had taken four voyages to the New World or that he was imprisoned for over a year because of the jealousy of some of his competitors and the fact he was “a poor foreigner.” He did not come from a rich or powerful family and he was Italian. Queen Isabella approved his first voyage despite Ferdinand’s skepticism. The landing in New World led to him being granted control of the lands he found and the title “The Admiral of the Ocean Sea” even though he came up few thousand miles short of finding a path to India. He also mislabeled the people he found “Indians” (an error that persists).

The book is full of fascinating factoids. Ferdinand and Isabella were in competition with Portugal and sought an ally. Pope Alexander VI was sufficiently corrupt to fit that description. He had purchased the position of Pope, fathered seven children out of wedlock, hosted orgies, and was eager to issue rulings that were favorable to Spain. Another factoid is that spices and pepper in particular was the wealth that was being sought. Gold, silver, pearls, and other precious materials were welcomed when brought back from explorations, but pepper was the real prize. The horrors of the Inquisition were in full force and the brief descriptions were enough for me.

The first three voyages by Columbus are covered at least by maps in the front cover of the book and in brief detail in the writing. However, the fourth receives the most attention. Columbus had to find a way to get out of prison and make his way to Ferdinand and Isabella before he had any hope of organizing another expedition. There were settlers on Hispaniola who weren’t happy with conditions. Columbus was the governor, and was blamed. That made it easier for Francisco Bobadilla, who had arrived with letters from the sovereigns to put down rebellions, to put Columbus and his brothers in the jail that had been built under his orders. Columbus wasn’t even certain whether he might not die on the gallows he had built and could see from his prison.

Allies of Columbus were able to arrange his release from prison and he made it back to Spain. He was overcome by emotion when he approached the sovereigns and fell to the ground at Isabella’s feet as he wept uncontrollably while the King and two of his sons watched in astonishment. Isabella also began to weep. It wasn’t long before Columbus had worn down the sovereigns with requests to return to the New World with four ships. He sailed on the La Captiva with his illegitimate son Fernando who had given up the royal court for the voyage. There was a crew of forty-four, half of which were boys from twelve to eighteen.

One of the saddest episodes in the book is after Columbus arrived in the New World in shortest time of any of his crossings. Columbus sensed that a hurricane was coming and ordered a race toward Hispaniola. The man who was in charge there was not happy to see Columbus and refused to either allow him and his ships to come into the harbor. He also refused to stop a fleet of ships scheduled to leave for Spain. Columbus was able to desperately find a place to ride out the brutal hurricane. Only four of the twenty eight ships in the fleet that left despite the warnings survived. An estimated 500 were lost along with the loads of riches destined to be delivered to Spain.

The book portrays Columbus to have been a remarkable sailor who had instincts for the ocean and weather conditions that resulted in salvation of his ships and men when lesser commanders would have failed. The details given of life aboard the ships do not explain why anyone would have wanted to sail with him. The food often consisted of wormy bread, salted fish or meat, olive oil, and wine. Water had to be scavenged from whatever could be found on any land and often was gathered from muddy river outlets. Toilets were boards with a large hole that hung over the fore and aft edges. They were called jardines in reference to outhouses that were often near the fragrant family garden. Columbus and the ship’s captain had a private cabin; everyone else slept during the twelve hours they off duty wherever they could find a place or nearly flat place among the rats, lice, and cockroaches.

“Shipworms” presented a threat to the wooden ship.” They are boring clams that use the sharp edge of the shell that covers the front half to burrow into and eat the wood of the ships. They grew to a length of three to four feet as they consumed the timbers. Constant pumping would eventually be required to keep the ships afloat. The solution was to find a place to land on a gently sloping beach at low tide, turn the ship on its side (called careening) and cover the wood with a thick layer of pitch. Ships would sink if a port could not be found in time.

The voyage carried Columbus to the coast of Panama where he found the Guaymi tribe and abundant gold. He anchored in a natural harbor that eventually would be at the beginning of the Panama Canal. He was told there was another ocean nine days through the jungle. The Guaymi weren’t excited about the explorers and attacked the fifty he left to establish a colony when he sailed with three of the ships. The colony fought over 400 natives. Columbus disgustedly learned water casks hadn’t been filled and sent two canoes back to the port. Only one man in the canoes escaped slaughter. Columbus was forced to leave and sail along the coast to a protected cove where one of his ships sank from the shipworms. He and his men had the good fortune to find the Caymans where they found the “…sea full of floating rocks…” were actually turtles.

Columbus was finally able to reach Jamaica and ground his two remaining ships on the beach in a protected harbor. He and his men then faced over a year as castaways with little chance of being discovered by another ship. Columbus settled on the audacious plan of sending a canoe to Hispaniola. The first canoe returned. A second canoe was launched complete with a “…contingent of Indian paddlers.”  Columbus was eventually rescued and returned to Spain.

There are many references to the mistreatment, murder, enslavement, and other forms of mistreatment of the natives encountered by the Spanish to validate why Native Americans protest Columbus Day. Columbus was not guilty of many of the crimes, although he was characterized as “…enslaving the Indians…”  There is also reference in the book of a Spanish explorer sailing from Spain on February 13, 1502 making “…the first time African slaves, accompanying their Spanish owners, went to the New World.”

All in all, it is an interesting and worthwhile book that I recommend.