others
believed his words; and when, after the fall of Granada, the Court had a
free hand, it was decided to equip Columbus for his first voyage over
the Atlantic.

All the negotiations nearly fell through at the last moment, owing to
the demands of Columbus. He wished to be appointed High Admiral of the
Ocean and Viceroy over all the savage countries he discovered, and he
demanded for himself and his descendants an eighth part of all the
revenues of the new lands. But when he declared that he intended to
devote his gains to the recovery of Jerusalem from the Turks, his wishes
were granted and funds were assigned for the equipment of three ships in
the harbour of Palos.

These vessels each had three masts, but they were far too small for such
an adventurous enterprise. Only the Admiral's ship, the _Santa Maria_,
was completely decked over. The other two, the _Pinta_ and _Nina_, had
only decks fore and aft. The two brothers Pinzon, of noble extraction,
at once volunteered for the voyage, but it was far from easy to enlist
crews. Had it been a voyage along the coasts of Europe and Africa, there
would have been no difficulty in finding men, but for a voyage straight
out into the unknown ocean--with that the sailors would have nothing to
do. At last it was necessary to open the prisons in order to procure
ninety men, for only that number was needed for the whole three vessels.
The lists of the crews are still extant, and show that most of the men
were Castilians.

Two doctors were taken, as well as a baptized Jew, who spoke Hebrew and
Arabic, and might be useful as an interpreter when the expedition came
over the ocean to India. Curiously enough, Columbus had no chaplain on
board, but before he set sail his friend the prior administered the
sacrament to all his men, who in the opinion of most were doomed to a
watery death.

Armed with a royal despatch to the Great Khan of Mongolia, Columbus
stepped on board the _Santa Maria_, the moorings were cast off, and on
August 3, 1492, the three ships steered under full sail out into the
open sea.

They kept on a south-westerly course, and in six days reached the Canary
Islands, where the little fleet stayed a month to repair some damages
and patch up the _Pinta's_ broken rudder.

On September 8 a definite start was made, and when the lovely Canary
Islands and the Peak of Teneriffe sank beneath the horizon, the sailors
wept, believing that wind and sails would carry them from