Notable Voyagers | Page 2

who had a right to be
heard, while a rich flow of eloquence carried his hearers with him. His
countenance was handsome; his hair already blanched by thought, toil,

and privation.
He was no other than Columbus, who, after his proposals had been
rejected by the Court of Portugal, had addressed himself to that of
Spain, and had, year after year, waited patiently to obtain a hearing
from Ferdinand and Isabella, then occupied in their wars against the
Moors.
He had been a seaman from the age of fourteen. He was born in the city
of Genoa about the year 1435, where his father, Dominico Colombo,
carried on the business of a wool comber, which his ancestors had
followed for several generations. He was the eldest of three brothers,
the others being Bartholomew and Diego. He had at an early age
evinced a desire for the sea, and accordingly his education had been
mainly directed to fit him for maritime life.
His first voyages were made with a distant relative named Colombo, a
hardy veteran of the seas, who had risen to some distinction by his
bravery.
Under this relative young Christopher saw much service, both warlike
and in trading voyages, until he gained command of a war ship of good
size. When serving in the squadron of his cousin information was
brought that four richly-laden Venetian galleys were on their return
voyage from Flanders. The squadron lay in wait for them off the
Portuguese coast, between Lisbon and Cape Saint Vincent. A desperate
engagement ensued; the vessels grappled each other. That commanded
by Columbus was engaged with a huge Venetian galley. Hand-grenades
and other fiery missiles were thrown on board her, and the galley was
wrapped in flames. So closely were the vessels fastened together, that
both were involved in one conflagration. The crews threw themselves
into the sea. Columbus seized an oar, and being an expert swimmer,
reached the shore, though fully two leagues distant. On recovering he
made his way to Lisbon. Possibly he may have resided there previously;
certain it is that he there married a lady, the daughter of a distinguished
navigator, from whose widow he obtained much information regarding
the voyages and expeditions of her late husband, as well as from his
papers, charts, journals, and memoranda.

Having become naturalised in Portugal, he sailed occasionally on
voyages to the coast of Guinea, and when on shore supported his
family by making maps and charts, which in those days required a
degree of knowledge and experience sufficient to entitle the possessor
to distinction.
He associated with various navigators, and he noted down all he heard.
It was said by some that islands had been seen far away to the west
when they had been driven in that direction. Whatever credit might
have been given to these reports by Columbus, he had far stronger
reasons for believing that, by sailing across the ocean to the west, he
should reach land. He was of opinion that about one-third of the
circumference of the earth was unknown and unexplored. A great
portion of this might be filled up by the eastern regions of Asia, while
the tract of water intervening between these countries might be less
than at first supposed.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, two great travellers, Marco
Polo and Sir John Mandeville, journeyed eastward over a large portion
of Asia, and had given vivid descriptions of the magnificence of its
cities and scenery. Marco Polo especially had described two large
islands, Ontilla and Cipango, the latter undoubtedly Japan, which it was
expected would be the first reached by a navigator sailing westward.
A Portuguese pilot, Martin Vicenti, after sailing four hundred and
fifty-two leagues to the west of Cape Saint Vincent, had found a piece
of carved wood evidently laboured with an iron instrument, and as
probably the wind had drifted it from the west, it might have come
from some unknown land in that direction. A brother-in-law of
Columbus had likewise found a similar piece of wood drifted from the
same quarter. Reeds of enormous size, such as were described by
Ptolemy to grow in India, had been picked up, and trunks of huge
pine-trees had been driven on the shores of the Azores, such as did not
grow on any of those islands. The bodies of two dead men, whose
features differed from those of any known race of people, had been cast
on the island of Flores. There were islands, it was rumoured, still
farther west than those visited, and a mariner sailing from Port Saint

Mary to Ireland asserted that he had seen land to the west, which the
ship's company took to be some extreme point of Tartary.
These facts being made known to Columbus, served to strengthen his
opinion. The success indeed