2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I48 



The significance of this light in establishing definite proof of the 

 position of Columbus's landfall has increased over the years. Did 

 Columbus really see the light he thought he saw? 



This light has been the subject of many theories (table 1) suggest- 

 ing several places where the Admiral could have made his first land- 

 fall in the New World. Most of these theories have provided more 

 heat than light, in the absence of adequate proof. As a result, the 

 mystery of the light remained unsolved for 467 years. 



Theories have been contributed by scholars with many different 

 backgrounds. Historians, navigators, biographers, and numerous 

 other investigators have contributed to the light-landfall controversy. 



TABLE 1.— THEORIES OF VARIOUS INVESTIGATORS AS TO 

 COLUMBUS'S FIRST LANDFALL IN THE NEW WORLD 



Island 

 was called 

 Year San Salvador Investigator 



1793. . . Watling J. B. Munoz, Historia del Nuevo Mundo, vol. I. 



1802 Cat Bahamas Parochial Act, first public record, Moseley's 



Handbook, 1926, p. 18. 



1802. . .Watling Bahamas Parochial Act of 1802.* 



1826. . .Turks Martin Fernandez de Navarrette, Colcccion, vol. 1, 



1, p. 20. 

 1828. . .Cat Alexander S. Mackenzie, USN, worked problem for 



W. Irving. 

 1837 .Cat Alexander von Humboldt, Examen Critique, vol. 3, 



pp. 181, 186-222. 

 1856. . .Watling Capt. A. F. Beecher, R.N., Landfall of Columbus, 



pp. 1-58. 

 1858. . .Watling Oscar Peschel. Gcschichte des Zcitalters der Entdeck- 



iint/cn, 2d ed., 1877. 

 1864. . .Mayaguana F. A. de Varnhagen. Das Wahre Guanahani; and La 



V erdadcra Guanahani, 1896. 



1870. . .Grand Turk R. H. Major, Select Letters of Columbus, 1847. 



1871 .. .Watling R. H. Major, Journ, Royal Geographical Society, 



vol. 16, p. 193. 

 1880. . .Samana Capt. Gustave V. Fox, USN, U.S. Coast Guard Sur- 

 vey Report, app. xviii. 

 1884... Watling Lt. j. B. Murdock, USN, The Cruise of Columbus 



in the Bahamas, 1492. 

 1889. . .Watling Clemente R. Markham, Hakluyt Society, ser. 1, vol. 86, 



p. 15, London 1893. 

 1921. . .Watling Dr. Rudolf Cronau, Discoz'ery of America and the 



Landfall of Columbus. 

 1926. . .Watling Father Schreiner Chrysostom, O.S.B.* Nassau Daily 



Tribune, Bahamas 

 1942... San Salvador ...Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, USNR, Admiral of 



the Ocean Sea, vol. 1, pp. xvi, 294-313. 

 1958. . .Caicos Edwin A. and Marion G. Link. New Theory an Co- 

 lumbus's Voyage through the Bahamas. 

 1959... San Salvador ...R. Wolper Columbus's Landing: Light Dispute Is 



Now Settled. Nassau Daily Tribune, Oct. 1959. 

 1964. . . San Salvador . . . R. Wolper. Present paper. 



* Watling called St. Christopher. Cat Island, called San Salvador officially 

 from 1802 until 1926, when Father S. Chrysostom, O.S.B., was responsible for 

 having the name San Salvador returned officially to Guanahani (Watling). 



