Note 450 — Chapter II

Humboldt says that it cannot be true of either voyage, and relies for proof upon the documentary evidence of Vespucci’s presence in Spain during the absence of Columbus upon those expeditions. But he makes a curious mistake in regard to the first, which, we think, has never been noticed. Columbus sailed on his first voyage in August, 1492, and returned in March, 1493. Humboldt asserts that Vespucci could not have been with him, because the letter written from Cadiz and jointly signed by him and Donato Nicolini was dated Jan. 30, 1493. But Humboldt has unaccountably mistaken the date of that letter; it was not 1493, but 1492, seven months before Columbus sailed on his first voyage. The alibi, therefore, is not proved. There is indeed no positive proof that Vespucci was not on that voyage; but, on the other hand, there is nothing known of that period of his life to suggest that he was; and, moreover, the strong negative evidence is—unusually strong in his case—that he never claimed to have sailed with Columbus.