CHAPTER VIII

OFF AT LAST!


Oddly enough, the ships Columbus was to take on his voyage were,
according to royal command, to be supplied by that very seaport of Palos
by which he is supposed to have entered Spain. Palos, Huelva, and
Moguer, all thriving maritime cities in Columbus's day, are grouped at
the mouth of the Rio Tinto. _Tinto_ means deep-colored, like wine;
and as this river flows through the richest copper region in the whole
world, it is not surprising that its waters are reddish, nor that the
copper trade enriched the neighboring towns. How the now unimportant
Palos at the mouth of the Rio Tinto came to be chosen as the seaport
from which Columbus should embark is an amusing story.

Some time before, its inhabitants had, through disobedience or some
other offense, incurred the displeasure of their sovereigns. By way of
punishment, the Crown ordered that Palos should fit out two caravels at
its own expense and lend them to the government for a year whenever the
government should call for them. The royal intention was, no doubt, to
use the boats against Naples and Sicily, which they hoped to conquer
after finishing the Moorish war. But when they decided finally to help
Columbus, they remembered the punishment due Palos, and called upon it
to give the two caravels to "Cristobal Colon, our captain, going into
certain parts of the Ocean Sea on matters pertaining to our service."