n to more than mention the first named in
connection with an expedition in which all three were so deeply
interested. The fleet finally sailed away, pursued by the maledictions
of Fonseca, and followed by the heart-felt longings of Vespucci. Some
historians have stated that the Florentine sailed with Columbus on
this second voyage; but there are no records to prove this assertion,
and he himself never made the claim. We have every reason for
believing that he continued in his employment as purveyor to the crown
and contractor for the furnishing of fleets, with his residence
sometimes at Seville and sometimes at Cadiz, as occasion demanded, the
office of the India house being at the former city, and the port of
customs and sailing at the latter. He was, undoubtedly, brought into
more or less intimate contact with Fonseca, whose supervision of
colonial affairs and control of expeditionary fleets demanded his
constant attention for many years. He probably appreciated such a man
as Vespucci, whose even temper and mastery of detail, combined with
great sagacity and learning, were invaluable to the man who was
building up a government beyond the ocean. They were nearly of the
same age--Fonseca having been born in 1441--and at this time in the
fulness of their natural powers.

Just what Vespucci was doing in the two years succeeding to the
departure of Columbus is not definitely known; but in December, 1495,
we find him actively engaged in settling the estate of Juan Berardi,
who had died in that month and year. He was then, it appears, the most
influential if not the sole member of the firm then resident in Spain,
and after Berardi's death he undertook and carried out the contracts
entered into by the senior partner with the government.

About three hundred years after the death of Vespucci, some ancient
documents were discovered by a Spanish historian, in which it was
shown that on January 12, 1496, the royal treasurer, Pinelo, had paid
to Vespucci the sum of ten thousand maravedis on account. He advanced
pay and furnished subsistence for the mariners of an expedition which
sailed on February 3, 1496, and was wrecked two weeks later, with the
loss of several lives. The fragmentary records also show, apparently,
that in the year 1497 and the early part of 1498, Vespucci was "busily
engaged at Seville and San Lucar, in the equipment of the fleet with
which Columbus sailed on his third voyage"; and yet, according to a
letter