means at an end. The little port of Palos was commanded by royal
order to furnish the new Admiral with two small vessels known as
caravels. This was soon done, but no sailors were willing to embark on
such a voyage, the maddest in all history. Only by the most extreme
measures, by impressment and the release of criminals willing to
accompany the expedition in order to get out of jail, were crews
finally provided. A third small vessel was secured, and on the morning
of Friday, August 3, 1492, this tiny fleet of three boats, the Santa
Maria, the Pinta and the Nina, whose combined crews numbered less than
ninety men, sailed out from Palos on the grandest voyage the world has
ever known.

The shore was lined with people weeping and wringing their hands for the
relatives and friends whom they were sure they should never see again,
and most of the sailors were certain that they were bidding farewell
forever to their native land. Even at the present day, few men would
care to undertake such a voyage in such ships. The two little caravels,
Nina and Pinta, were decked only at stern and prow. The Santa Maria was
but little larger, her length being only about sixty feet, and all three
of the vessels were old, leaky, and in need of frequent repairs.

The map which Toscanelli had given Columbus years before showed Japan
lying directly west of the Canaries, so to the Canaries Columbus steered
his fleet, and then set forth westward into the unknown. By a fortunate
chance, it was the very best route he could have chosen, for he came at
once into the region of the trade winds, which, blowing steadily from
the east, drove the vessels westward day after day over a smooth sea.
But this very thing, favorable as it was, added greatly to the terror of
the men. How were they to get back to Spain, with the wind always
against them? What was the meaning of a sea as smooth as their own
Guadalquiver? They implored Columbus to turn back; but to turn back was
the last thing in his thoughts. An opportune storm helped to reassure
his men by proving that the wind did not always blow from the east and
that the sea was not always calm.

But there were soon other causes of alarm. The compass varied strangely,
and what hope for them was there if this, their only guide, proved
faithless? They ran into vast meadows of floating seaweed, the Sargasso
Sea, and it seemed certain that the ships would soon be so entangled
that they could move neither backward no