The First Wise Traveler to the West - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 17

WHAT DID COLUMBUS DEMAND OF HIS SOVEREIGNS?
Ever proud (some would say preposterously so) and convinced that he was a man of des-
tiny, Columbus asked for a written contract covering his proposed voyage. One biograph-
er expresses astonishment that a penniless sailor, standing before the haughtiest thrones of
Europe, never known to have captained a vessel or to have discovered any new lands, de-
manded that if his voyage were successful, he be made a hereditary nobleman of title and
rank (Admiral of the Ocean Sea), be governor of all lands discovered, entitled to 10 percent
of all the wealth obtained from those lands, and permitted to invest one-eighth in subse-
quent voyages. (The monetary claims of the soon-to-be Admiral would tie up the Spanish
courts for years.) Such were the formally titled Capitulations of Santa Fe.
Money for the voyage was provided by the coffers of the Society of Hermandad (the
treasury of the Inquisition), and the town of Palos, having incurred royal displeasure, was
ordered to furnish the ships. Three ships (as might be imagined) were grudgingly offered
up, and in another instance of Columbus's long string of good fortune, two resourceful and
experienced captains, the Pinzon brothers, joined the expedition. Those three ships, soon to
sail into greatness, were not in the most seaworthy condition. And their names have been
glossed over. They were dedicated to the whores of Palos. Nina means little girl; Pinta is a
painted woman; and “Santa Maria” revised the original name of Maria Galante, or Naughty
Mary.
WHAT WAS COLUMBUS'S ROUTE?
Ordinarily, Columbus might have sailed from Seville, Spain's chief southern port, but he
was forced to sail out of Palos. On sailing day, August 23, the Seville harbor was jammed
with ships carrying Jews into exile. The Spanish court had given them three hard choices:
leave, convert, or face the Inquisition.
Columbus sailed to the Spanish Canary Islands, named not for any species of bird but
for the fierce wild dogs (Latin, canis ) that once roamed the islands. The tiny fleet anchored
in Las Palmas for refitting and reprovisioning. Backstairs history offers Columbus (now a
widower with a mistress in Spain) a liaison with Beatriz de Paraza, widow of the governor
of Las Palmas. For whatever reason, the fleet spent more time than might be ordinarily re-
quired for refitting, and on September 8 it sailed on the trade winds “bound for glory.”