The Lost Diary of Christopher Columbus’s Lookout
The eleventh Lost Diary detailing Columbus’ first voyage across the Atlantic and his historic landing in the ‘New World’. As told by Luc Landahoya who tries to work out where he’s going.The diary tells the story within a 12-month span from Spring 1492 when Columbus got the official go-ahead from Ferdinand and Isabella, to the Spring of 1493 when he returned in triumph following his ‘discovery’ of the New World.Life aboard ship, New World discoveries that still survive today tobacco, hammocks, barbecues, canoes, maize etc. The power of the ‘press’ – printed accounts of Colubus’ triumphs spread fast and coming at the end of the 15th Century, the 1492 voyage was part of a significant turning point in european and world history. There are plenty of good-natured laughs in this story – Columbus was convinced he was sailing to China and Japan. He was also convinced he was travelling to a land of untold riches but took along cheap glass beads of worthless trinkets and glass beads as gifts.
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The Lost Diary ofChristopher Columbus’sLookout
Caught by Clive DickinsonIllustrated by George Hollingworth
CONTENTS
1 April 1492 – Toledo, central Spain
2 April 1492 – Toledo, central Spain
13 May 1492 – Palos, south-west Spain
1 August 1492 – Palos (but not for much longer)
2 August 1492 – abroad the Santa Maria in the Tinto River, Palos)
4 August 1492 – somewhere at sea
6 August 1492 – somewhere else at sea
28 August 1492 – Grand Canary (still)
5 September 1492 – Gomera (again)
10 September 1492 – out on the Ocean Sea
17 September 1492 – somewhere on the Ocean Sea
25 September 1492 – still somewhere on the Ocean Sea
26 September 1492 – still on the Ocean Sea
1 October 1492 – Sailing westwards on the Ocean Sea (but for how much longer?)
6 October 1492 – on the Ocean Sea (though I’m having doubts about even that now)
10 October 1492 – sailing south-west on the Ocean Sea
12 October 1492 – very early morning, in the Indies!
12 October 1492 – evening in the Indies
13 October 1492 – San Salvador
16 October 1492 – at sea again
24 October 1492 – at sea once more
29 October 1492 – somewhere along the coast from where we were last night
2 November 1492 – further west along the coast
12 November 1492 – somewhere off the coast of who knows where
21 November 1492 – off the coast again, not far from where we were ten days ago
23 November 1492 – further along the coast from two days ago
7 December 1492 – the island of Española
18 December 1492 – along the coast of Española
23 December 1492 – further along the coast of Española
24 December 1492 – Christmas Eve aboard the Sana Maria, sailing along the coast of Española
25 December 1492 – Christmas Day, ashore on Española
26 December 1492 – ashore on Española, in the land of King Guacanagari
27 December 1492 – in the land of King Guacanagari
1 January 1493 – New Year’s Day, in the land of King Guacanagari
6 January 1493 – anchored off Española eastwards of La Navidad
8 January 1493 – off the coast of Española
13 January 1493 – still off the coast of Española
16 January 1493 – at sea, on our way home!
25 January 1493 – somewhere on the Ocean Sea
12 February 1493 – somewhere on the top of some big waves on the Ocean Sea
13 February 1493 – somewhere in a storm on the Ocean Sea
14 February 1493 – still in the storm on the Ocean Sea (but for how much longer?)
15 February 1493 – off the islands of the Azores (we think)
19 February 1493 – the islands of the Santa Maria, in the Azores
24 February 1493 – at sea once more, on our way home (I hope)
3 March 1493 – somewhere on the Ocean Sea (still no sign of home)
4 March 1493 – at anchor in the River Tagus, in Portugal (wouldn’t you know it!)
5 March 1493 – at anchor in the River Tagus
13 March 1493 – at sea, on the last leg home
It isn’t very often that unknown records of famous events in history are discovered by accident. However, this is exactly what happened when Clive Dickinson caught something much fishier than a fish on a recent weekend fishing trip.
After trawling up several old boots and a couple of sprats, Clive pulled a small wooden barrel out of the water. Inside were pages of rough paper, smelling faintly of tobacco and covered in childlike sketches of what seemed like life on a desert island. There was writing too – in Spanish – and, from Mr Dickinson’s rudimentary knowledge of this language from his frequent holidays in Spain, it seemed to describe a sea journey.
Mr Dickinson soon discovered that he had a priceless document in his hands. Although the name Christopher Columbus* did not appear on any of the pages, it was clear that the writing described the famous voyage Columbus led in 1492, across the Atlantic Ocean, to discover a new sea route to Asia.
Christopher Columbus had kept his own day-by-day account of the voyage, but his original journal has been lost over the last 500 years. Could this new discovery be the only surviving record of that great event?
Using the Internet, Mr Dickinson found two experts on medieval voyages who agreed to examine his find (for a very reasonable price, he says). Dr Miles Away, an Alaskan academic, and the Spanish historian Don Believavor D’Ovid confirmed that the pages in the leather folder were indeed written in 1492 by a member of Columbus’s expedition, who sailed with him on the flagship, the Santa Maria. His duties are a little unclear, but he appears to have spent some of his time as a lookout.
