In the early morning of July 1, 1503, the Caribbean sky was clear and clear. On the main deck of the Capitana, Christopher Columbus savors the first rays of the Sun. It is one of the only comforts offered to him by this country of virgin forest where he has been stranded for a week. The admiral looks around the ship: motionless on an ocean of sand, the aching skiff awaits help. Its hull, eaten away by salt, is riddled with holes. The shipworms, voracious molluscs that nest in the wood, have transformed it into a colander. One thing is certain: the caravel, damaged by storms, will not return to sea anytime soon.
How did the Genoese explorer get there? Eleven years earlier in 1492, his incredible discovery had made him Viceroy of India. Since then, the tide has turned. In fact, the Spanish Crown came close to cutting off his supplies before this fourth – and probably last – trip. Embarked with 140 sailors, crew, officers and foremen in four dilapidated ships, he narrowly escaped a storm that ravaged the coasts of Santo Domingo. “The caravels were constantly in trouble, their sails were torn off, the anchors, the shrouds, the hawsers, the rowboats and a good part of the provisions lost,” laments Christopher Columbus in his diary. The men were exhausted and desperate.”
Desperately seeking the strait which would separate it from India and China, Christopher Columbus and his crew sailed along the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. In vain. Coral reefs tear apart ships, when they are not targeted by the natives’ javelins. The violent winds tear the sails. A ruined caravel is left in the cove of Puerto Bello. Another is abandoned to the warlike natives. The two remaining ships (the Capitana and the Santiago) resume their…
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