This text comes from our book, From Sea to Shining Sea.
It took some courage for sailors to set off westward across the Ocean Sea. In those days, few sailors had ventured far out to sea, but had always kept close to the coast. Sailors did not fear sailing off the end of the world, for most people knew the Earth was round like a ball. They did fear that they might sail so far out to sea that the winds that blew them west would not blow them back home again. And who knew how far the Indies really were? What if they sailed and sailed, and found no land? This, indeed, was a frightening thought! They might end up stranded in the middle of the ocean, where they would run out of food and fresh water, and so would die a slow and painful death.
Columbus and his crew set sail from Spain on August 3, 1492, in three small ships. Columbus’s “flagship,” the Santa Maria (SAHN•tah Mah•REE•ah), was a small vessel; the other two ships, the Niña (NEE•nyah) and the Pinta (PEEN•tah), were even smaller. In these small craft the sailors were to brave the great and violent Atlantic Ocean.
The vast Ocean Sea was a wondrous place. Needless to say, the sailors kept a weather eye out for the sea monsters, about which many stories had been told. Whether they saw any, nobody can say. In late September, the three small ships moved through a sea covered with a carpet of seaweed. Then, for several days, no wind blew. The sea below them was like glass. Only the swimming sailors caused ripples to disturb the water.
Every day the men on Columbus’s ships would greet the morning with prayer. At daybreak, a sailor would sing this song to waken his mates:
Bendita sea la luz y la Santa Veracruz y el Señor de la Verdad y la Santa Trinidad; bendita sea el alma, y el Señor que nos la manda. Bendito sea el día y el Señor que nos lo envía. | Blessed be the light And the Holy Cross; And the Lord of Truth And the Holy Trinity; blessed be the soul, and the Lord who guides it. Blessed be the day And the Lord who sends it to us. |
But the evening song was reserved for Blessed Mary Virgin. It was the ancient and beautiful “Salve Regina.”
Salve Regina, Mater Misericordiae, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Evae. Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle. Eia ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria. | Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, Hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us. And after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. |
By the end of September, Columbus’s sailors were getting restless and fearful. They had sailed far into the west, but saw no land. What if the Indies were farther away than Columbus thought? What if the ships became stranded in the middle of the sea and could not return to Spain? On September 25 the captain of the Pinta cried out that he saw land; but neither the next day, nor the next, did any land appear. Five days passed, and still no land. On October 10 the crew threatened to mutiny, and Columbus had to promise that if they discovered no land in three days, they would return to Spain.
One day passed, and then another. No land appeared. But on the third day, long before sunrise, Columbus heard the cry that he had so long hoped for. “Land! Land!” cried the sailor on watch. Dawn came; then the sun rose. In the full light of day, across the blue-green water, the sailors could see an island! They had reached land, indeed! That day, October 12, 1492, Columbus and his men rejoiced to feel solid earth beneath their feet.
Columbus ordered the planting of the royal standard on the island that he named San Salvador (“Holy Savior”). With the flag of Spain in one hand, and a sword in the other, Columbus knelt and claimed the land for the Church and for the Catholic monarchs, Isabel and Fernando.
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