Wednesday, November 19, 2008.
Christopher Columbus Fourth Voyage
This is the fourth and final journey of Christopher Columbus to 'The New World'. This end to a set of adventures is dramatic in and of itself. Christopher Columbus was not liked at his destination of Hispaniola but he was determined by his life-long dream to find the link between the Indies and the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately he was still way off in his calculations and still considered the Indies as being in Asia.Christopher Columbus was 51 years old and still fairly sickly when he departed on May 11, 1502 on his fourth and final voyage. This adventure included 4 aging ships holding about 140 men. They landed at Santo Domingo making a plea to be let into the docking area and gain protection from the strong weather which was on its way. It was June 29, 1502 when they arrived and Columbus waited for a response. Christopher Columbus while this was happening made a recommendation to a fleet getting ready to leave about the oncoming weather conditions.
In the end Christopher Columbus was not allowed entry to the harbor and his recommendation about the weather was also ignored. It was the resident governor a Nicolas de Ovando who made this decision forcing Christopher Columbus to go to a nearby semi-enclosed area which was freely connected to the ocean but provided good cover.
Christopher Columbus was right in his warning as when the hurricane made its impact the fleet leaving from Santo Domingo, carrying treasure, got trapped right in it capsizing 20 of them and allowing 9 to hobble back. One ship actually made it all the way to Spain. Christopher Columbus 4 aging ships made it through the treacherous conditions with minor repairs needed.
They headed out once the conditions were safe and in late July landed by Honduras. To their dismay the strong winds continued which made the following 8 weeks hard work as they went along the coastline. Upon reaching what we today call Panama Christopher Columbus discovered some interesting and vital facts. The indigenous people told them that an additional ocean lay nearby and they showed lots of gold objects which Christopher Columbus made deals for. Finding out this information made two important impacts on their voyage. Firstly, Christopher Columbus was even surer that he had found the path he'd dreamed of and secondly the local gold placed this area with high worth.
Christopher Columbus carried travelling by Panama for a while, at least until the gold dwindled down. At this point Christopher Columbus attempted to go back to Veragua and would have succeeded if it hadn't have been for the continuous strong air stream. It wasn't until January 9, 1503 that Christopher Columbus made it to Rio Belen which he then used as a base for ongoing exploration.,
Christopher Columbus built a defence fort at that place as he prepared to go homeward. Moving out with 3 of the vessels on the 5th of April they held position outside this river area. This meant that one ship stayed by the fort for the extraordinary next day events. It was the 6th of April, the following day, when the river area happened to drastically empty itself to the point of opening an obstruction at the entrance way - prohibiting going in or out - trapping the remaining ship!
Shortly after this a sizable group of local Indians rushed the fort in an assault. Men at the fort did a good job of holding their own even with an amount of casualties. However, they were not able to continue to hold the fort for an extended period, which they realized, as did Christopher Columbus. He made a decision to leave behind the trapped ship and pull out the men under attack. This left the ships in even worse condition with many leaks. At this time Christopher Columbus aimed for home and went on their way.
Things seemed to get even worse. Another of their vessels had become derelict and was left behind. This only gave them 2 ships which attempted to make their way back to Hispaniola, which was an unsuccessful effort. Another significant and intense weather front hit them severely damaging one of the ships. Christopher Columbus, still on the flag ship, took the vessel in tow for a period. However, both ships were taking in more and more water from the ocean. The crew frantically tried to keep the ships floating but it was a losing battle.
It was June 25, 1503 when Christopher Columbus made the decision to abandon ship for the nearby Jamaica, and they found themselves stranded on St. Anne's Bay. Christopher Columbus arranged with one of his captains, a Diego Mendez, to purchase a small canoe from a native leader and make his way to Hispaniola. The story is riddled with a long list of unfortunate events and so it makes sense that upon Diego Mendez arrival he was immediately imprisoned for the next seven months and denied use of any vessel to save the stranded Christopher Columbus and remaining crew.
To make things even worse Christopher Columbus was trying to deal with an insurrection from the men he was leading. However, he eventually stopped the attempt and they remained stranded on Jamaica for about another year. Christopher Columbus captain, Diego Mendez, was finally released he entered Santo Domingo but found that no vessels existed for the salvage mission. After a time of looking for a solution he ended up arranging for a smaller ship to get the men. He pulled into the shores of Jamaica on June 29, 1504 and recovered Christopher Columbus and his group. It was on November 7, 1504 when Christopher Columbus set foot on his home soil again and officially finished his last and most memorable voyage.
