COLUMBUS RETURNS TO SPAIN
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Januaryobligedseveralcourt
Isabelladecidedfifteenthdelay
Ferdinandwreckeddiscoveredsearch
Santa Mariafarewellseaportvoyage
At last Columbus gave up the search for gold, and decided to return to Spain. He wished to tell King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of the islands he had visited.
He was sure that he had discovered a new way to India, and he wished to ask the king for more ships and more men. He believed that great riches could be found on these islands which he had visited.
Early in January he gave a farewell feast to the natives. Then he sailed for Spain, taking with him six Indians.
His flagship, the Santa Maria, had been wrecked. One of his captains had sailed away in the Pinta and had not returned. And so Columbus was obliged to cross the ocean in the Nina, which was the smallest of his three ships.
The voyage was long and the storms were many. The little ship was tossed about by the waves and was often in great danger. But at last the shores of Spain were seen by the sailors, and great was their joy.
At noon, on the fifteenth of March, 1493, they sailed into the harbor which they had left more than seven months before. All the people in the town crowded to the shore. For a long time they had thought that Columbus was lost at sea, and that they would never see him and his sailors again.
The first act of Columbus was to lead his men to the church, where they gave thanks to God for their safe return.
Very soon the good news spread over all Spain. Bells were rung, and great fires were lighted on the hilltops.
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were several hundred miles from the seaport town where Columbus landed with his sailors. As soon as the king and queen heard of his safe return, they sent Columbus a letter asking him to come without delay to their court.