With three small caravels, a mere handful of Spaniards, and a few Indian guides, Christopher Columbus had left Isabela on April 24. Five days later they reached the coast of Cuba, still unaware that this was an island, still convinced, in fact, that this was the coast of the Asian mainland. According to Aristotle’s ancient theory that “anything good would be found to the southward,” they now headed in that direction, certain that the farther south they sailed, the more gold and precious metals they would find. At Puerto Grande – today’s Guantanamo Bay – as everywhere along the coast of Cuba, they met with friendly natives, all of whom kept assuring them that there was plenty of gold – not in their country, of course, but always farther south, on an island they called Jamaica. Since there obviously was no gold to be found in all Cuba, Columbus finally decided to try that new island.
No sooner had the ships anchored at St. Ann’s Bay in Jamaica, than about sixty Indians came out in dugout canoes, showing obvious signs of hostility; not until the Spaniards fired a blank cannon shot did the Indians retreat in terror. In another part, as they went ashore, the sailors were again attacked by natives; this time the Spaniards killed one of them with their crossbows, while the dogs that were set on them “bit them and did them great hurt, for a dog is worth ten men against Indians.” Though the Jamaican Indians then tried to appease the white strangers with food supplies, they, too, were unable to produce any gold at all. After one more stop at Montego Bay, the Spaniards returned to Cuba, empty-handed and disappointed.
The Spanish ships sailed around the Gulf of Guacanaybo, where they watched the natives hunt turtles and flamingos; they continued westward past the site of today’s Cienfuegos, investigated the Gulf of Cochinos, which centuries later would become infamous as the Bay of Pigs. They observed the subterranean streams that break out from under the sea and which enabled the sailors to fill their water casks without going ashore. They entered the Gulf of Batabano, crossed Ensenado de la Broa, and, sailing still westward, they gradually explored nearly the entire southern coast of Cuba.
By June 12, Columbus’ own calculations finally convinced him that he had now gone halfway around the world, and yet there had been no signs at all of anything resembling Chinese civilizations – not one Chinese junk or temple or building of any sort, no gold in any amounts worth noting. Not one of the many natives had ever heard of Prester John or the Great Khan. Wherever or whatever this place was, the culture of Cathay had obviously not yet reached this remote part of the Great Khan’s empire.
But by this time Columbus had enough; completely exhausted and ill from the lack of sleep, the caravels already leaking badly, the provisions running low, there was no choice but to reverse course. Yet Columbus was determined that this voyage was not to be entirely useless. Every man in the expedition was now ordered to sign and swear a deposition declaring that they had traveled 335 leagues along this coast. Since no one had ever heard of an island that long, Cuba undoubtedly was part of a continent, and there was no need to sail any further. Actually, on June 12, they were only about 50 miles off Cape San Antonio, the westernmost tip of Cuba, and another hundred miles would have brought them to the coast of the Yucatan peninsula. But the crews presumably had had enough too; at any rate, they all made the required declaration – all, that is, except Michele de Cuneo and Juan de la Cosa. And only six years later, La Cosa published a famous map that clearly showed Cuba to be an island off the coast of a continent.
On this return trip to Isabela, however, the expedition ran into difficult sailing; against the trade winds and the westward flowing currents it took them 35 days to make the 400 miles to Cape Cruz. During that time their food supplies nearly disappeared, and the Admiral became seriously ill. It was not until September 29, six months after they had left, that the ships finally reached Isabela again.
For once, Columbus was now met by some good news – during his absence there had arrived on Hispaniola his brother Bartholomeo, whom he had not seen since those bitter days in Lisbon six years earlier. News of Columbus’ discovery had spread so slowly through 15th-century Europe that Bartholomeo had not heard about it until his brother had already left again on the second voyage. But Ferdinand and Isabella had been so impressed by Don Bartolome that they had given him command of three caravels to take the requested provisions to Hispaniola. Not only was Bartholomeo an expert sailor and cartographer, but he also appears to have been a far better administrator than his brothers. Intelligent and courageous, he seems to have met all situations and emergencies with resolute efficiency. Together with his brother Diego, he now took Christopher in his care, and for a long time left the Governor-General in blissful ignorance of the true state of affairs on Hispaniola. Five months passed before Christopher Columbus was well enough to realize that the island of his ambitious dreams had meanwhile become a living hell to Indians and Spaniards alike.