COLUMBUS' 4TH & LAST JOURNEY...
Columbus' biographer, Samuel Eliot Morrison described Admiral Columbus:
"It was the Admiral who exorcised the waterspout. From his Bible he read of that famous tempest off Capernaum, concluding, 'Fear not, it is I!' Then clasping the Bible in his left hand, with drawn sword he traced a cross in the sky and a circle around his whole fleet."
Columbus explored the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. He briefly landed in Panama, but was too ill and too suspicious of the natives to cross the 50 mile-wide isthmus on foot to the Pacific side, where he could have seen the real route to India and China.
As it was, they were attacked by Indians, and barely made it out of a shallow Belen River at low tide with 3 of his 4 ships. Another ship was lost in a storm off Cuba. With his last two ships worm-eaten and taking on water, he beached them on the Island of Jamaica at St. Anne's Bay, on June 25, 1503, marooned for the next year.
Natives at first accommodated them, but the situation deteriorated when some sailors began an unruly mutiny. Fearing an attack, Columbus had to act fast. An accomplished explorer, Columbus had been diligent to keep track of the position of the moon and stars in the night sky of the Western Hemisphere, something that had never been observed before.
Using astronomic tables made by Rabbi Abraham Zacuto of Spain, Columbus summoned the chiefs to his marooned ships on the specific night of February 29, 1504. When he correctly predicted a lunar eclipse, the natives became afraid and convinced Columbus had divine favor. They abandoned their plans of attack and continued to provide for them.
Finally, Columbus' captain, Diego Méndez de Segura, purchased a canoe from the natives and set off with several of them from Jamaica toward Hispaniola (Haiti), crossing 450 miles of open sea. Arriving there, Méndez found Governor Ovando in the jungle, subduing the Taino Arawak natives. Ovando was not thrilled to hear that Columbus was still alive and waited months to send help. Being rescued at last, Columbus returned to Santo Domingo for a final visit, then to Spain, arriving on November 7, 1504. Three weeks later, his chief patron, Queen Isabella, died.
Columbus died a year and a half later at the age of 55. Though unsuccessful as a governor, Columbus was nevertheless one of the world's most accomplished sailors and explorers, and though he did not reach India or China, he did change history.
Back during his fourth and final voyage, when he was in Panama, trapped on the Belen River at low tide, he was incapacitated with physical pain. On July 7, 1503, not knowing if anyone would ever read it, he wrote his Lettera Rarissima: "The Indians were many and united and attacked ... I was outside very much alone, on this rude coast, with a high fever and very fatigued. There was no hope of escape. In this state, I climbed painfully to the highest part of the ship and cried out for help with a fearful voice ...
... At length, groaning with exhaustion, I fell asleep, and heard a compassionate voice saying, 'O fool, and slow to believe and serve thy God, the God of every man! ... From thy birth He hath ever held thee in special charge ... Of those barriers of the Ocean Sea, which were closed with such mighty chains, He hath given thee the keys ... Turn thou to Him and acknowledge thy faults; His mercy is infinite; thine old age shall not hinder thee from performing mighty deeds ... Whatever He promises He fulfills with interest; that is His way."