Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/618

 were to be equipped and commissioned, the inhabitants of that place having, for some reason, been condemned by the royal council to serve the crown, for one year, with a certain number of armed caravels.

When the royal decree was issued, requiring the Andalusian shipowners to provide three vessels ready for sea within ten days from the 30th of April, and to sail in whatever direction Columbus might command, they refused to furnish them for what they conceived to be a desperate service; while the boldest of the Andalusian seamen shrunk from a wild and chimerical cruise into the mysterious regions of an unknown and stormy ocean; hence many weeks elapsed ere the royal commands could be carried into effect, nor could the influence of the prior of La Rabida induce the ship-owners and seamen of Palos to comply with the decree of their sovereigns. It was only when absolute and threatening mandates were issued on the 20th of June, ordering the magistrates of the coast of Andalusia to press into the service any Spanish ships or seamen they pleased, backed by the offer of Martin Alonzo Pinzon, a rich and enterprising navigator, to take a large personal share in the expedition, that the requisite vessels and crews were obtained. His example, and that of his brother, likewise a navigator of great courage and ability, and their combined determination to sail with Columbus, induced many of their relations and friends to embark, so that the equipment was completed within a month after they had resolved to risk their lives and fortunes in the expedition.

Three vessels were apparently all that Columbus had requested. Two of them were light barques,