Columbus, the Sailor

A LITTLE Italian boy, named Christopher Columbus, lived many years ago in the city of Genoa, by the sea. He used to watch the ships when they sailed away to distant lands. And he watched for them to return with their loads of spices, silks, and gems. Most of his playmates had fathers or brothers who were sailors, who told wonderful stories of the strange things they had seen. No wonder that the bright-eyed Columbus longed to go to sea.

"I am going to be a sailor when I'm a man," he said to his father. "I know now the names of all the ropes and sails of a ship."

"I am sure you will never care to work with me in cleaning and combing wool," was the reply. "I am willing for you to go to sea. But you must go to school first, and learn about the winds, and tides, and stars."

Years passed away. The boy grew to be a man, and became a sailor. On a voyage to England there was a sea fight, but Columbus escaped to Lisbon, in Portugal. From here he made long voyages in the Atlantic Ocean. He sailed north into the seas beyond England, and far to the south, along the coast of Africa. When he was at home, he spent his time in study, or talked with old sailors about their voyages, and earned a living by making maps and charts.

Now this was more than four hundred years ago, and in those days very little of the earth was known. Sailors did not venture far from the land. They kept mostly in the sea between Europe and Africa. The Atlantic Ocean was called the Sea of Darkness. People said that if a man sailed far out on it, he would never get back again, but would be lost in clouds of darkness and seas of fire. They also said that it had monsters big enough to swallow a ship.

But there were a few wise men who did not believe these stories. They felt sure that the earth was round.

"If you sail straight west," some said, "you will come back to the place from which you started."

"No, indeed," others declared. "The earth is flat, like the floor of a room. If you go far enough, you will come to the edge, and fall off."

Columbus was one who did not believe that the earth was flat.

"I'm sure it is round like a ball," he said. "If it is, I can sail round it, just as a fly can crawl round an orange, and I can reach India by sailing straight to the west. If I can only get ships and sailors, I will try it."

But he was a poor man. What could he do without money to buy ships and hire sailors? He must find rich and powerful people to help him.

Now when Columbus talked in this way about sailing across the Sea of Darkness, people said it was wild and foolish talk. The idea that men could live on the other side of the earth! "Why, they would have to walk with their feet up," they said, "and their heads hanging down." And others said, "If you sail down hill to the other side, how can you sail up hill and get back home?"

We are told that even the children used to laugh and shout at Columbus. The boys would tap their foreheads with their fingers as he walked along the street, and whisper, "He is crazy."

After a time a few men began to think that what Columbus said might be true. But the rich merchants and people of rank who could afford to help him only made fun of him. Month after month and year after year he went from place to place, asking for aid. He often became weary and sad, but he never lost faith and hope. What happened to him must be told in another story.