Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was an excellent mariner. But was he one of the best? According to Samuel E. Morison, Columbus was “one of the greatest mariners, if not the greatest, of all time” (vi). The “Discoverer” (9) and “Admiral” (27) made four voyages to America, “each of which was sufficient to place him in the first rank of the world’s navigators” (70).
Concerning the “large number of people” (22) he discovered on his voyages, Columbus had two goals: “that they be fond of us and that they might be made Christians” (152). To prepare for the first goal, he instructed his sailors to treat the locals “very well and lovingly” (70). For the second goal he assigned six priests to the fleet. As a result, Columbus “organized the biggest overseas colonizing expedition every sent out by a European nation” (71).
The formal cause of Columbus was his huge talent. He was an excellent mariner with various skills: “coastal piloting, island hopping, charting a course across the ocean, and conducting a fleet in blue water” (95). The shipmates of Columbus “never tired of extolling his feats of navigation, his consideration for them and his magnanimity toward the natives” (95).
The principal agent of the voyages, according to Columbus, was Almighty God. “He placed the third voyage under the special protection of the Holy Trinity” (109). Many times he sailed “without charts, without a log line, with no means for accurate check by celestial bodies” (116). Thus, he figured out the correct course with “superb dead reckoning and divine guidance” (116). And he always gave thanks to “the eternal God, Our Lord, Who gives to all those who walk in His way victory over things which appear impossible” (155).
The assisting agent prayer. Morrison writes, “Sailors in those days were the most religious of laymen” (35). Columbus and his sailors were assisted by a young man who was responsible for “singing a ditty at daybreak: ‘Blessed be the light of day and the Holy Cross, we say,’ after which he recited the Lord’s prayer and the Ave Maria” (35). During the day Columbus and his sailors said the following prayer. “To our God let’s pray, to give us a good voyage. And through the Blessed Mother, our advocate on high, protect us from the waterspout and send no tempest nigh” (35).
The instrumental agents were numerous for the voyages across the Atlantic. First Columbus needed “money and support” (21). Further he needed seventeen vessels. Morison notes how “a Spanish ship in those days” had two names, “usually that of a saint and a nickname” (30). Hence, his first ship was the “Santa Maria” and was named “La Gallega.” His “favorite” ship was named “Santa Clara” and named “Nina” (30), because the ship was donated by the Nino family of Palos. Further, the meals “were monotonous” and involved “salt meat, hardtack, dried peas, wine while it lasted and water in casks which often went bad” (30). They would “wait for darkness to eat” their hardtack, because the hard dry bread were “full of weevils” (134). Further, Columbus needed ways to measure “direction, time and distance” (34). He used a compass for distance and for time he used a half-hour hour glass. Concerning distance, he “merely estimated it” (35). Further, Columbus needed gifts to present to the natives. He “distributed beads, sugar and hawks' bells” when the locals “came out in a fleet of canoes bringing fruits of the country” (113).
Samuel E. Morison is a trustworthy counseling agent on Columbus, because Morison “organized the Harvard Columbus Expedition” in 1939-1940 and crossed the Atlantic following “as closely as possible the track of Columbus's Third Voyage” (v). What did the author learn about the seafaring skills of Columbus? According to Morison, “The Columbus fleet made an average of 142 miles per day for five days and the day's best run was 182 miles. Any yachtsman today would be proud to make the records that the great Admiral did. Improvements in sailing vessels since 1492 have been more in seaworthiness and comfort than in speed” (35).
Columbus was described by people who met him as a person “with a fine presence and an innate dignity” (25). He never spoke perfect Castilian Spanish, since he was “Genoa-born and a long resident of Portugal” (25). Sadly, people who saw him along with his two brothers after they returned from the third voyage (1498-1500) felt “lamentable” (122), because the three brothers were wearing the “Franciscan brown cloak with iron fetters on their ankles and wrists” (122). Why were they punished after the third voyage? Because “the three Columbus brothers had been failures. They had been weak when they should have been firm, ruthless at the wrong time and had not saved the Indians from exploitation” (120).
The first voyage (1492) is called “the greatest round voyage in history” (61). Columbus said, “Of this voyage I observe that the will of God has miraculously been sent forth by many signal miracles” (61). Sailors today question if Columbus’ first voyage was the greatest voyage in history. It is certain that he felt guided by the Lord on the first voyage and observed miracles that strengthened his feeling.
Columbus learned to observe the signs of an approaching hurricane. Morison writes, “An oily swell rolled in from the southeast; veiled cirrus clouds tore through the upper air; light gusty winds played over the surface of the water; low-pressure twinges were felt in his arthritic joints; and both seals and manatees gamboled [and leaped] on the surface in large numbers” (126). Columbus “experienced two hurricanes” (126), near Saona in 1491 and at Isabela in 1495, and had the ability to recognize the signs of potential hurricane. Further, a sign that Columbus was a great mariner was the title given to him. Morison writes, “Columbus was supreme in his generation. Never was a title more justly bestowed that the one which he most jealously guarded – Almirante Del Mar Oceano and Admiral of the Ocean Sea” (148).
Columbus had two motives. Morison writes, “Each of his roles of discoverer and colonial administrator hurt the other” (114). Columbus was an excellent discoverer and one of the best. Morison writes, “He was one of the greatest seamen of all time” (9). However, he was not a very good administrator. Morison writes, “As administrators the three Columbus brothers had been failures. They had been weak when they should have been firm, and ruthless at the wrong time, and had alienated most of the Spaniards” (120).
Columbus felt a variety of passions on his voyages He felt “proper fear of running on reefs in the dark of the moon” (116). Further, while sailing through “the north wind reaching the heights of its fury” he “could have died of despair in such weather” (127). Further, he felt sad when he remembered how his son participated in the fourth voyage (1502-1504). “What griped me most,” he said, “were the sufferings of my son. To think that so young a lad, only thirteen, should go through so much” (130). Finally he felt courage which inspired others. “Nobody without Columbus’ perseverance would have kept it up” (130) on the fourth voyage. The author himself feels sad about how Columbus “died ignorant of what he had really accomplished” (148). While he discovered the “Other World,” he had no knowledge “of the vast extent” (148) of South America nor of the Pacific Ocean that lay between it and Asia.
Reviewing the investigation above allows me to support my thesis with two good reasons. I freely choose the principal agent cause and the formal cause. Now I can make the following command. Columbus was an excellent mariner, because Columbus “sailed under the protection of the Holy Trinity” and was skilled at “coastal piloting, island hopping, charting a course across the ocean, and conducting a fleet in blue water.”
Final remarks. A study of the life of Columbus makes it clear that if a person wishes to become excellent with his talents and gifts, then he should place himself under the protection of the Lord.