Columbus_ The Four Voyages - Laurence Bergreen [189]
Meanwhile, Ferdinand wrote, the men quietly moved to a “large cleared space on the eastern bank of the river,” where they constructed a makeshift fort from casks and pieces of artillery. The structure did its job, and the Indians, terrified of the cannonballs, kept their distance.
The thunderstorm took its toll on Columbus, who experienced the roaring wind and sickening swells as apocalyptic manifestations, all of it made worse by the fear that the Indians had killed the men he had left behind. All the while he remained confined to the captain’s cabin, hardly more than a closet, too weak and ill to mount a struggle against his adversaries and the elements.
Recalling the trauma for the benefit of Ferdinand and Isabella, who could only have considered him mad as they listened to his account, he described how his predicament worsened with every flash of lightning. “My brother and the rest of the crew were on a ship that remained inside [the bar] while I alone was outside, off a wild coast with a high fever, laid so low that all hope of recovery was gone.”
Finally, the incredible occurred; aboard the flagship La Capitana Columbus heard a voice from heaven, designating him the recipient of new scripture:
In such a state of torment, I got up to the highest part of the ship, calling for help with a frightened voice, crying, and with great intensity invoking to the four winds the succor of Your Highnesses’ captains of war, but no one ever responded. Overcome by weariness, I fell asleep moaning. I heard a merciful voice saying,
“O fool, O man to believe in and serve your God, the God of all, what more did He do for Moses or David, His servants. From birth He always took great care of you; when He saw you were of an age that seemed right to Him, He caused your name to resound marvelously throughout the world. The Indies, that part of the world that is so rich, He gave to you; you divided them as you thought best, and He permitted you to do so. To you He gave the keys to open the barrier of the Ocean Sea, which were closed with such strong chains; you were obeyed in so many countries and this acquired such glorious fame among all Christians. . . .”
As if in a swoon I listened to it all but could make no reply to words so certain, and I could do nothing but weep for my errors. He who was speaking to me, whoever He was, ended thus:
“Fear not, have faith.”
It is unclear whether Columbus actually reached the “highest part” of his ship. His son, among others, mentioned his inability to leave his cabin. Perhaps he scaled these heights in his imagination. No matter what his location, he believed he had heard the voice of God.
In Columbus’s telling, his faith was rewarded nine days later, on April 15, when the weather cleared sufficiently to rally the survivors of the massacre and the storm for one last voyage. Despite everything, he remained determined to return to Spain, offering this justification: “I would have stayed with everyone to garrison the colony if I had had a way to inform Your Highnesses.” Having made his apologies to the distant Sovereigns, he left “on Easter night”—April 16. Ravaged by shipworms, his fleet was no longer seaworthy. He abandoned fragile La Gallega at Belén, and would soon forsake Vizcaína just before she broke up. “That left only two, in the same condition as the others, without boats or provisions, to cross 7,000 miles of sea and water or else to die along the way with a son, brother, and so many men,” he lamented. To those who would dare to second-guess Columbus’s decisions, he replied: “I would like to have seen them on this voyage!”
While Columbus underwent his catharsis, emerging with his faith intact, the situation aboard Bermuda rapidly deteriorated. Cowering in the fetid hold were