shore in the approximate vicinity of Limonade Bord de 

 Mer. He had then apphed the Journals account of the 

 salvaging of the Santa Maria and figured that the flagship 

 must have struck upon one of these reefs. 



But there was no proof of where Navidad had actu- 

 ally stood. Moreau de St.-Mery, the French historian who 

 lived in Hispaniola for a time at the end of the eighteenth 

 century, claimed that the fort was erected inland on the 

 banks of the Fosse River, which in Columbus's time prob- 

 ably emptied into the sea near Limonade Bord de Mer. Yet 

 he also recorded the discovery of one of the Santa Maria's 

 anchors in the muddy bottom of the Grande Riviere, a mile 

 from its mouth and some two miles west of that fishing 

 village. 



Was Navidad on the shore, or was it located on the 

 bank of one of these two rivers? If Navidad was in the 

 vicinity of the Grande Riviere, it would be logical to look 

 for the remains of the Santa Maria to the west of where 

 we had been searching, on a line east of Punta Santa to 

 the mouth of the river. Several times, when Sea Diver had 

 remained at anchor overnight behind the reefs, I had 

 watched the native fishing boats as they sailed forth at 

 dawn from the anchorage in front of Limonade Bord de 

 Mer, some three miles from us. I felt that a visit to this 

 area might provide the answer to some of the questions 

 that were puzzling us. 



Meanwhile I reviewed what had happened to Navi- 

 dad and its thirty-nine settlers between the time Columbus 

 left them to sail back to Spain and his return the following 

 fall with men and supplies to strengtlien the colony. 



He found Navidad burned and not one of the settlers 

 still alive. Columbus must have counted much upon the 

 existence of that first colony. He had no doubt looked 

 forward to the accumulation of a vast treasure of gold in 

 his absence, as well as shelter and fresh food, for his sea- 



196 Sea Diver 



