Two vessels were purchased, one for Bartholomew and one for
Fernando and himself. Again Columbus proceeded with the familiar
business of calking ships, buying provisions, and engaging a crew. In
less than a month he was off again from San Domingo on the last voyage
he was ever to make. On September 12, 1504, the ships weighed anchor and
pointed away from the "western lands" which Christopher Columbus had
made known to Europe. The white-haired old man, we may be sure, stood
long on deck gazing backward as the scene of his triumph and his
humiliation faded from sight. Never again could he undertake a voyage of
discovery, for he was now a confirmed invalid. Cipango, Cathay, and "the
strait" to the Indian Ocean were not for him; so it was with many a
heartburn that his poor old eyes strained toward the fading islands.
His ill luck held out to the end. The first day a sudden storm broke
with a crash and carried away his masts. With the utmost difficulty he
and Fernando got into a small boat and clambered on board Bartholomew's
vessel, the disabled boat being sent back to San Domingo. Still the sea
would show him no mercy. Hardly had he crawled into a berth than another
tempest came, and another and another, one unending, pitiless fury all
across the ocean, till our great man must have thought that old Atlantic
hated him for having solved her mysteries.
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