ing eerily like a mechanical man standing guard over the 

 entrance to the harbor. 



It was eleven o'clock on Christmas Eve, Columbus 

 noted in his Journal, that "he was distant one league" from 

 this point. The account continued, "Our Lord willed that 

 at midnight as they had seen the Admiral lie down and 

 rest, and as they saw that it was a dead calm and that the 

 sea was like a small bowl, all should lie down to sleep, 

 and the rudder was left in the hand of that boy ( a young 

 ship's grummet), and the currents which were swift car- 

 ried the ship upon one of these banks." 



Thus calmly did the Journal announce the disaster 

 which resulted in the loss of the Santa Maria. 



From Sea Diver's position off the seaward side of 

 Point Picolet, we tried to reconstruct what had happened. 

 When Columbus's ships had reached this spot, they must 

 have changed course toward Guacanagari's village, which 

 apparently lay several miles distant close to the inner shore 

 of the large harbor that stretched before us. We could see 

 many breaking reefs ahead to starboard. They formed a 

 wide semicircle which curved away toward the distant 

 shore. 



We could not understand how Columbus, in the dead 

 of night, had had the temerity to sail into completely 

 strange waters, knowing that there were reefs in his path. 

 The sailors who had explored the route the previous day 

 must have been aware of the dangerous waters they must 

 cross. Surely they would have warned their master. And 

 yet the Santa Maria had sailed on, with both Columbus 

 and the master of the ship asleep and only a ship's boy to 

 guide the boat! 



Could this be the same Great Navigator who had led 

 his ships across three thousand miles of unknown ocean to 

 the shores of an unknown land, and then guided them with 

 admirable judgment and ability through the intricate Ba- 



Search for the Santa Maria 167 



