Of this voyage we have Columbus’s own official account.

There were four vessels, three of which were rated as caravels.  The fourth was very small.  The chief vessel was commanded by Diego Tristan; the second, the Santiago, by Francisco de Porras; the third, the Viscaina (Biscayan), by Bartholomew de Fiesco; and the little Gallician by Pedro de Torreros.  None of these vessels, as the reader will see, was ever to return to Spain.  From de Porras and his brother, Columbus and the expedition were to receive disastrous blows.

It must be observed that he is once more in his proper position of a discoverer.  He has no government or other charge of colonies entrusted to him.  His brother Bartholomew and his youngest son Fernando, sail with him.

The little squadron sailed from the bay of Cadiz on the eleventh of May, 1502.  They touched at Sicilla,—­a little port on the coast of Morocco,—­to relieve its people, a Portuguese garrison, who had been besieged by the Moors.  But finding them out of danger, Columbus went at once to the Grand Canary island, and had a favorable passage.

From the Grand Canary to the island which he calls “the first island of the Indies,” and which he named Martinino, his voyage was only seventeen days long.  This island was either the St. Lucia or the Martinique of today.  Hence he passed to Dominica, and thence crossed to San Domingo, to make repairs, as he said.  For, as has been said, he had been especially ordered not to interfere in the affairs of the settlement.

He did not disobey his orders.  He says distinctly that he intended to pass along the southern shore of San Domingo, and thence take a departure for the continent.  But he says, that his principal vessel sailed very ill—­could not carry much canvas, and delayed the rest of the squadron.  This weakness must have increased after the voyage across the ocean.  For this reason he hoped to exchange it for another ship at San Domingo.

But he did not enter the harbor.  He sent a letter to Ovando, now the governor, and asked his permission.  He added, to the request he made, a statement that a tempest was at hand which he did not like to meet in the offing.  Ovando, however, refused any permission to enter.  He was, in fact, just dispatching a fleet to Spain, with Bobadilla, Columbus’s old enemy, whom Ovando had replaced in his turn.

Columbus, in an eager wish to be of use, by a returning messenger begged Ovando to delay this fleet till the gale had passed.  But the seamen ridiculed him and his gale, and begged Ovando to send the fleet home.

He did so.  Bobadilla and his fleet put to sea.  In ten days a West India hurricane struck them.  The ship on which Columbus’s enemies, Bobadilla and Roldan, sailed, was sunk with them and the gold accumulated for years.  Of the whole fleet, only one vessel, called the weakest of all, reached Spain.  This ship carried four thousand pieces of gold, which were the property of the Admiral.  Columbus’s own little squadron, meanwhile—­thanks probably to the seamanship of himself and his brother—­weathered the storm, and he found refuge in the harbor which he had himself named “the beautiful,” El Hermoso, in the western part of San Domingo.