No he had to get most of his crew from prisons because people knew that the earth was much bigger then he said it was.
The thing is, he thought he found what he was looking forislands off of a continentfilled with people with long straight black hair, speaking strange languages and eating strange food, right where he expected to find it.
And yes, his math was rubbish.
filled with people with long straight black hair, speaking strange languages and eating strange food.... Even now some of us are commenting and lurking on Freerepublic.