24/63
[ stop the slideshow ]

Columbus sets sail

Columbus sets sail.jpg C. P. R. grain elevator at Fort William, OntarioThumbnailsColumbus casting a barrel into the seaC. P. R. grain elevator at Fort William, OntarioThumbnailsColumbus casting a barrel into the seaC. P. R. grain elevator at Fort William, OntarioThumbnailsColumbus casting a barrel into the seaC. P. R. grain elevator at Fort William, OntarioThumbnailsColumbus casting a barrel into the seaC. P. R. grain elevator at Fort William, OntarioThumbnailsColumbus casting a barrel into the sea

The fleet consisted of three vessels, one furnished by himself, through the assistance of his friends, and was to sail from the little port of Palos in Andalusia. Two of the vessels were caravels—that is, light vessels without decks—the other was of a larger burden, though not amounting even to an hundred tons. How such craft could survive the waves and storms of the Atlantic, is one of the marvelous circumstances of the undertaking. The number of men received on board amounted to one hundred and twenty. The preparations having been finished, the undaunted navigator set sail on the morning of the 3d of August, 1492, having first with his whole crew partaken of the sacrament.