32
LIFE A N D V O Y A G E S
OF
[BOOK
I.
leys richly laden were on their return voyage from Flanders, laid in wait for them on the Portuguese coast, between Lisbon and Cape St. Vincent. A desperate engagement took place; the ves sels grappled each other, and the crews fought hand to hand, and from ship to ship. The battle lasted from morning until evening, with great carnage on both sides. The vessel commanded by Columbus was engaged with a huge Venetian galley.
They
threw hand-grenades and other fiery missiles, and the galley was wrapped in
flames.
The vessels were fastened together by
chains and grappling irons, and could not be separated; both were involved in one conflagration, and soon became a mere blazing mass. The crews threw themselves into the sea; Colum bus seized an oar, which was floating within reach, and being an expert swimmer, attained the shore, though full two leagues distant.
It pleased God, says his son Fernando, to give him
strength, that he might preserve him for greater things.
After
recovering from his exhaustion he repaired to Lisbon, where he found many of his Genoese countrymen, and was induced to take up his residence.* Such is the account given by Fernando of his father's first arrival in Portugal; and it has been currently adopted by modern historians; but on examining various histories of the times, the battle here described appears to have happened several years after the date of the arrival of Columbus in that country.
That
he was engaged in the contest is not improbable; but he had previously resided for some time in Portugal.
In fact, on refer
ring to the history of that kingdom, we shall find, in the great maritime enterprises in which it was at that time engaged, ample * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 5.
See Illustrations at the end of this work,
article “ Capture of the Venetian Galleys.”