rel="nofollow" href="#litres_trial_promo">13 January 1493 – still off the coast of Española
16 January 1493 – at sea, on our way home!
25 January 1493 – somewhere on the Ocean Sea
12 February 1493 – somewhere on the top of some big waves on the Ocean Sea
13 February 1493 – somewhere in a storm on the Ocean Sea
14 February 1493 – still in the storm on the Ocean Sea (but for how much longer?)
15 February 1493 – off the islands of the Azores (we think)
19 February 1493 – the islands of the Santa Maria, in the Azores
24 February 1493 – at sea once more, on our way home (I hope)
3 March 1493 – somewhere on the Ocean Sea (still no sign of home)
4 March 1493 – at anchor in the River Tagus, in Portugal (wouldn’t you know it!)
5 March 1493 – at anchor in the River Tagus
13 March 1493 – at sea, on the last leg home
15 March 1493 – Palos, home at last!
It isn’t very often that unknown records of famous events in history are discovered by accident. However, this is exactly what happened when Clive Dickinson caught something much fishier than a fish on a recent weekend fishing trip.
After trawling up several old boots and a couple of sprats, Clive pulled a small wooden barrel out of the water. Inside were pages of rough paper, smelling faintly of tobacco and covered in childlike sketches of what seemed like life on a desert island. There was writing too – in Spanish – and, from Mr Dickinson’s rudimentary knowledge of this language from his frequent holidays in Spain, it seemed to describe a sea journey.
Mr Dickinson soon discovered that he had a priceless document in his hands. Although the name Christopher Columbus* did not appear on any of the pages, it was clear that the writing described the famous voyage Columbus led in 1492, across the Atlantic Ocean, to discover a new sea route to Asia.
Christopher Columbus had kept his own day-by-day account of the voyage, but his original journal has been lost over the last 500 years. Could this new discovery be the only surviving record of that great event?
Using the Internet, Mr Dickinson found two experts on medieval voyages who agreed to examine his find (for a very reasonable price, he says). Dr Miles Away, an Alaskan academic, and the Spanish historian Don Believavor D’Ovid confirmed that the pages in the leather folder were indeed written in 1492 by a member of Columbus’s expedition, who sailed with him on the flagship, the Santa Maria. His duties are a little unclear, but he appears to have spent some of his time as a lookout.
Now, after five centuries, extracts from this remarkable first-hand account have been translated and can be published, recording one of the great turning points in world history, when the Old World and the New World met for the first time.
*‘Columbus’ is a Latin version of the discoverer’s name, which was written differently at various times of his life, depending on the country in which he was living. In Genoa and Portugal he was called Colombo. In Spain his name was written Colón. It is unlikely he ever knew himself by the English name, Christopher Columbus.
1 April 1492 – Toledo, central Spain
¡Ay caramba! I still can’t believe what’s happened.
There are only eight years to go until the start of the new century and people are already getting worked up about it. Some are predicting that the world’s going to end and that none of us will ever see the year 1500.
No-one in our household expected anything like this, though. If it wasn’t so serious, I’d think someone was playing a huge April Fool joke on everyone in Spain. But this isn’t a joke – it’s for real. We heard the news yesterday. There was a Royal Proclamation from the King and Queen and you don’t mess around with orders from the top.
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella have commanded every Jew to leave Spain by the beginning of August. The only ones allowed to stay are Jews who give up being Jews and change their religion to become Christians.
I can’t see my old master, Isaac Palestino, doing that. After what he’s told me about the Jewish people – how all through their history they’ve been kicked out of one country after another – I expect he’ll pack up, leave Spain and find a new home over the sea.
We’ve been waving goodbye to the Muslims recently. For hundreds of years, Muslim rulers had their own kingdom down in the south of the country. Then, three months ago, on 2 January this Year of Our Lord 1492, the great city of Granada itself surrendered to our King and Queen. That’s a date for the history books. For the first time in centuries, Spain is one country again – a Christian country.
The last of the Muslims have left. Now all the Jews are going. What will be next? They say things happen in threes and if there isn’t a third amazing event in the wind this year, my name isn’t Luc Landahoya.
2 April 1492 – Toledo, central Spain
Master Isaac called me into his study yesterday to break the news that I’ll be out of a job. He’s been so good to me, I was close to tears. He’s taught me to read. I can write. I know a bit of Latin. And I must know more about the world outside Spain than