Christopher Columbus’

fourth trip
IDEA STORMING:

 How was the trip organised?

 How many people travelled in the boats? Which was their idea?
 Where did they came from?
 Artillery? Salary for the crew?
 Where were they going?
 Which materials where they carrying?
 Which professions did the tripulation had?

 Describing the voyage:

 How many boats? How did they were? Which were their names?
 What type of food? How much food? What disseases did they
have? Were animals in the boats? How many animals? What
type of animals? How many food was taken to feed the
animals?
 It has to be historically correct. We can’t write that they ate
Marmitako because the potatoes didn’t exist yet.

1. PREPARATION

 147 memebers in the expidition. “The goal was to find a westward

passage through Central America and reach the Maluku Islands, also
known as the Spice Islands.”-Wikipedia
  He (Cristopher Columbus) left Cádiz, Spain on May 12, 1502, with four
caravels Capitana (50 members), as well as the Gallega (27), Vizcaína
(25), and Santiago de Palos (37). The caravelas had threes masts and a
capacity of 106 tones of the period which is 51 tones more or less
nowadays.

ARMY:
 The caravels were equipped with espingardas which were small
cannons similar to the “falconetes”. They were installed in the laterals
of Carabelas.
 The crew also had espingardas which were a replic of the cannons
which they could carry with them. These guns had large cannons.
SALARY:

 The crew was paid differently:

-Masters and pilots: 2000 maravedis per month.
-Able seamen: 1000 maravedis per month
-Ordinary seamen: around 650 merevedies per month.

WHAT WERE THEY CARRYING?

Food:

 Fish, bacon (tocino), flour, wine (which were the main source of
vitamins), water, olive oil, cooked bread (which was boiled many
times to delete humidity).
 They also carryed cereals and alcoholic drinks.

Animals:
  They carried cows, chicken and pigs. These animals were very
important to have fresh meat, eggs and milk. The mariners
could kill animals during the voyage.
 They also used animal’s leather and feathers.

Materials:

 They took stone and wood mainly.

PROFFESIONS:

 In the ship there were more than 10 and more than 20 different
proffesions. They were: One captain-general, it was Columbus. Santa
María was one of the ships and this ship was Juan de la Cosa’s. Juan
de la Cosa was also cartographer. There were also carpinters,
controllers, royal stewards, secretaries and servants. There were many
different jobs.

Christopher Columbus’diary
Part1: Today I am going to ask the Monarchs
permission to make my fourth voyage possible. This
time my objective is to find a westward passage to
the Spice Islands. This way the trade route will be
opened again. I wonder if the Monarchs would
approve my idea and finance it, because I will need
to take lots of sailors and qualified men and ships to
travel to Asian coast.
I had the permission of the Monarchs to make the
voyage and I have to say that they were ambitious
with the idea. The conclusion that I got from the
meeting we had in the morning is that they are trying
to reach the Spice Islands before another kingdom
does it and Portugal is near to reach them, but I am
convinced I will reopen the trading route before they
do it. The majesties have given me the opportunity
to travel with four caravels: the Capitana, which is
not exactly a Caravel, to be more exact it is a Nao,
the Gallega, the Vizcaína and the Santiago de Palos.
I can carry 144 qualified men with me. The
majesties are also going to pay the products we are
going to carry with us. At least, this time, we know
better what we have to carry with us. The caravels
are equipped with Espingardas and that’s why I am
feeling safer.
Another important fact that we have to take into
account is the food, water, animals and materials we
are taking with us. The animals we are carrying are
cows, chickens and pigs and our idea is to keep them
alive during the voyage and if any time we need
fresh meat or leather and feathers we will have
access.
We are also taking lots of wine, water and some
other alcoholic drinks. Boiled bread will be very
important for us because it is well conserved. We are
taking some cereals too.
I think this is (more or less) what we will need for
the voyage, but as always, I will have to ask my
officials if I have skipped something.

Now we are going to prepare the caravels for the

trip. The caravels are faster boats than the Naos
although they are a bit smaller. They can reach a
speed of 12 knots (which is something similar to 15
miles per hour). Having into account this, we
suppose we will reach India in 50-60 days depending
on the conditions.

Part 2:
Day 1
Here we are in the caravels going to theSpice
Islands with the idea of discovering a sea passage.
The idea o is very simple, it is to go to India faster.
We are in the first day, and the sea tide is peaceful at
this moment. We think that we have enough
provisions to survive.

Second day.
We are navigating in these peaceful seas in the
second day of the voyage. Yesterday I slept badly
because of the waves and I was a bit dizzy.
We have seen a whale but we haven’t hunt it. We
move thanks to the stars, but at the time the sky is
cloudy. We are waiting to see better the stars but at
the time I am eating a cooked bread and drinking a
bit of whine. I am going to sleep.

10th day:
We are losing more and more crewmans, at leat 10
crewmans died. We are a bit worried because we
don’t know how many crewmans are going to die an
also if I die me too. We are in the sea and we don’t
see any place to stop to take more food because is
scasing and because we need to rest a bit.
We have seen a place to do lunch. Recently we have
seen one of my slave dying. We don’t know the
reason for dying.

Day 55th:
We have discovered a new island but our ships have
been sunk and with the wood we have made a camp
to survive. In this island we have seen more and
more indians and we have tried to coexist and live
together. I told Diego Mendez to go to La Española
in canoe and ask for help. Mendez was very tired
after the voyage to la Española with native indians.
In the voyage an Indian has died because of the hot
temperature.

Part 3:
We are getting back to the Sanlucar de Barrameda
with the idea of arriving the 7th of November of the
year 1504. We haven’t reached our objective but we
have done important discoveries. I feel exhausted
due to voyage and all the adventures we have liven
but also sad and misunderstood. Nobody seems to be
happy with the trip we have done to India. I feel bad
for the seamen who have lost their life for the
Spanish crown.

Today I am in Seville with my son. We want to

report to the authorities that the gold has been
adulterated and we want to ask a part of it in
exchange, to at least, live my life’s last days with my
son in Seville.
Xabier Bergara and Eneko De laVega
Websites: https://laamericaespanyola.wordpress.com/navios/c/carabelas/
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexo:Naves_usadas_por_Crist%C3%B3bal_Col
%C3%B3n_en_sus_viajes (translated by us)

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espingarda

https://www.elcorreo.com/bizkaia/sociedad/201506/24/1492-viaje-cambio-
mundo-20150615083240.html?ref=https:%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
(translated by us)

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuarto_viaje_de_Col%C3%B3n

http://columbuslandfall.com/ccnav/crew.shtml

https://www.elcorreo.com/bizkaia/sociedad/201506/24/1492-viaje-cambio-
mundo-20150615083240.html

https://www.semana.com/especiales/articulo/los-500-datos-del-
descubrimiento/18522-3
https://www.historiaespanaymundo.com/sabias-que/pinta-fue-carabela-se-
avistaron-tierras-americanas