"PS^M^^ 0ceanica ^ranK^uU CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Gift of Herbert Fisk Johnson '22 Cornell University Library E 125.P52M12 Vicente Anes Pincon, 3 1924 020 395 897 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924020395897 VICENTE ANES PINCON VICENTE ANES PINCON BY JAMES ROXBURGH McCLYMONT M.A., AUTHOR OF ' PROBLEMATICAL FEATURES IN MAPS DESIGNED BY MERCAT05 AND DESCELIERS,' ' PEDRALUAREZ CABRAL ' LONDON BERNARD QUARITCH 11 GRAFTON STREET, NEW BOND STREET 1916 150 Copies printed London : Printed by STRANGEWAYS & SONS Tower 'Street, Cambridge Circus, W.C. ERRATA P. 3, line 24. Instead of 'ship' read 'caravels'. P. 20, line 5 Delete ' — Cape Saint Roque — '. P. 42, line 31. Instead of 'hand' read 'hands'. P. 50, line 21. Instead of 'months' read 'months'.' P. 59, line 7. Instead of 'Chevaliers' read ' Caballeros '. P. 61, line 5. Instead of 'cavaliers' read 'caballeros'. London : Printed hv Strangeways & Sons, Tower Street Cambridge Circus, W.C. CONTENTS Vicente Anes Pincon 5 PAGF I Appendix A . 37 Appendix B . 39 Appendix C . 41 Appendix D .* 41 Appendix E . 43 Appendix F . 48 Appendix G . 49 Appendix H . SO Appendix I . SI Appendix J . 33 Appendix K . 59 Appendix L . 62 Appendix M . . 64 Appendix N . 68 Appendix . 74 AUTHOR'S NOTE T N case any of his readers should blame the writer for allowing this book to be printed whilst his country is at war, he informs them that it was pro- jected before the war began and reminds them that printing and publication are final not initial stages in the production of a book, that there are many people who catmot fight and who require to be fed and clothed and that assistance is best offered to these by giving thetn that work to do which they are accustomed and best able to do. TTICENTE ANES PINgON or Vicente Yanez Pinzon was a native of Palos which is now known as Palos de la Frontiera and in his day was sometimes called Palos de Moguer. It is a small town situated on the left bank of the Rio Tinto about five miles from the sea in the county or condado of Niebla in Andalusia. Vicente Anes and his brothers Martin Alonso and Francisco Martin were ' pilotos ' who corresponded rather to first mates than to pilots for the ' piloto ' had to accompany the vessel during the whole voyage and superintend its navigation from beginning to end. There was yet a fourth Pinion, Diego Martin, a brother of the other three. During the lawsuit between Diego Colon and the Crown, Vicente Anes stated in evidence in 1 5 1 3 that he was above fifty years of age.^ He was therefore born in or prior to the year 1463. We know nothing of his early career prior to his voyage with Columbus but there can be little doubt that he was engaged in maritime pursuits from an early age. He probably accompanied his brother Martin Alonso in some subordinate capacity. We learn from the testimony of witnesses at the lawsuit already mentioned that Martin Alonso Pin9on was regarded as an excellent captain, a good seaman and gifted in many ways. He had made voyages to Guinea and the Canary Islands and coasting voyages in the North Atlantic and in the Mediterranean as far as Naples. He had prospered so well that he not only owned the ship which he commanded but also another or two others and ^ Navarrete, III. p. 547. B 2 Vicente Anes Pinqon employed them in a lucrative trade. No braver captain was any- where to be found than Martin Alonso whether as fighter or as seaman and he was therefore, as well as on account of his honourable character, held in high respect by all his neighbours.^ The name of his wife was Maria Alvarez. Francisco Martin was also married and had a daughter named Marina Alonso. Three of the brothers,— Martin Alonso, Francisco Martin and Vicente Anes, — first came into prominence in connection with the first voyage of Columbus to the West Indies. But it is only in 149S that we meet with Vicente Ailes as captain of a ship and as having a licence to make a voyage on his own account. In 1492 when, after long negociations, Columbus obtained a royal commission authorizing him to lead a small squadron by a western route, Martin Alonso and Francisco Martin were selected to command two of the caravels. Vicente Anes sailed with his brother Francisco Martin apparently as a second or supernumerary captain.^ The caravels weighed anchor on the 3rd of August, 1492, and a course was shaped for the Canary Islands. On the fourth day there was an accident. The rudder of the Pinta, of which Martin Alonso Pin9on was captain, broke and a temporary rudder had to take its place. Martin Alonso suspected that the owners of the caravel, Gomez Rascon and Cristoval Quintero, who had shipped as seamen, had contrived the damage to the rudder because they were dissatisfied with the bargain made with them for the caravel, the cost of charter- ing which was, by royal command, to be borne by the inhabitants of Palos. It may well have been that Rascon had a hand in the matter for the Rascones seem to have been no friends to the Pinzones. In 1505 Vicente Aries was obliged to bring an action against one of them, Alvaro Alonso Rascon, for breach of contract. He failed to ' Navarrete, III. pp. 229, 231, 251, 252, 256. ^ According to the evidence of Hernan Perez Mateos, Francisco Martin was sailing- master of the Pinta and Vicente Aiies captain of the Niiw. Dure, ColSn y Pinzon, p. 263. Vicente Aiies Pinqon 3 provide a vessel which he had agreed to provide and Vicente Anes was thus prevented from making an intended voyage.^ At Grand Canary, the Pinta was repaired and square substituted for lateen sails on foremast and mainmast. They proceeded thence to Gomara which was reached on the 2nd of September. There wood and water, meat and fish and other provisions were taken on board. The caravels set sail again on the 6th of the same month. After passing through the Sargasso Sea great trouble commenced. The floating seaweed (Fucus nutans) was not, as might have been expected, an indication of the proximity of land and the goal appeared as far off as ever. Not only the sailors but also the three captains lost confidence in their leader and began to suspect that he knew as little of the course to be steered as they did themselves. They even threatened to throw him overboard unless he gave the order to put the ships about. Columbus soothed them with kind words and promised that if they did not make land within three days he would allow them to do exactly as they pleased. The three brothers in particular were moved by the eloquence of Columbus and agreed to continue the voyage but only for three days longer. This was reasonable enough on their part because the stock of provisions and that of water had now run so low that they would only be sufficient for the return voyage if they turned back at once. It was therefore absolutely necessary either to return or to find a port where they could re-victual the ship. At two o'clock on the morning of the nth of October a sailor on the flag-ship, the Maria- galante, called out ' Lumbre ! Tierra ! ' but was told by Colon's steward, Salcedo, that the admiral had already seen the light. A sailor on the Pinta, named Rodrigo de Triana, was the first to sight land, — a small island, — at daybreak. He was therefore entitled to the pension of ten thousand maravedis which Queen Isabella had offered to whomsoever should first sight land, for a light is not land nor even ' Appendix L. 4 Vicente Anes Pinion necessarily upon land. But Columbus invariably thought of himself and his own relatives above everyone else when a gain of money was involved, for, if he was in some respects a quixotic visionary or even a simple-minded child, he yet always had an eye to the accumulation of wealth. He therefore applied for the reward and received it and the poor sailor had to go without it. It may be noted here that Oviedo quotes the opinion of some to the effect that Columbus would have turned back from his enterprise had he not been urged by the Pin§ones to go forward and that it was owing to the insistency of the three brothers that the voyage was brought to a happy termination.^ Columbus landed accompanied by Rodrigo de Escovedo, his secretary, Rodrigo Sanchez and Martin Alonso Pingon and others. Natives were seen and conversed with by signs and were understood to say that the island was called Guanahani and that another island called Cuba lay to the southward. Guanahani, which is now generally identified with Watling Island, was named San Salvador. Other islands were soon in sight and the collective name Islas Blancas was bestowed upon them because of the white sand of the beaches or perhaps because of the abundant guano. But Columbus called them Las Princesas as being the first land seen. The islands of which Guanahani is one appear on maps of the period as the Lucayos and they are now called the Bahamas. No stay was made at Guanahani ; the vessels set sail on the afternoon of their arrival ; six natives were taken on board to act as guides and a course was steered to the westward where there was a second island larger than Guanahani to which the name Santa Maria de la Concepcion was given. It is identified with Rum Cay. Two of the Guanahani natives here escaped from the Nina. From Rum Cay Columbus sailed still westward to a third island which he named after the King, Fernandina; it is identified with Long Island ; on this island he landed. A fourth island lay to the ' Oviedo, lib. II. cap. v. Vicente Anes Pingon 5 eastward of Fernandina of which Columbus heard from his native guides who called it Samoete. It was reached on the 19th of October and received the name Isabella after the Queen. It is identified with Crooked Island. A landing was effected on it and many natives were seen. They brought cotton twist and spears for the purpose of barter but none of the gold which Columbus, probably misunder- standing his guides, had expected to find. They told him of countries called Cuba and Bohio and to Cuba Columbus proceeded on the 24th of October, passing near the Islas de Arenas, now known as The Ragged Isles. On the 28th of the month the vessels anchored in the mouth of a river which was named the San Salvador. The discoverers had reached Cuba. The admiral landed and inquired the way to Japan to which very natural inquiry the natives replied by indicating the direction in which Hayti lay, a district in which was called Cibao in the native tongue, whilst the name by which Columbus knew Japan was Cipangu. From this river the vessels coasted westward and touched at many points as they went. Martin Alonso reported to the admiral that one of the Guanahani natives on the Pinta had informed him that a city called Cuba was about four days' journey distant and that the king of it was at war with another king called Cami and he suggested, perhaps sarcastically, perhaps seriously, that probably Cami was identical with the Grand Khan. From a harbour called Baracoa, twelve leagues west of Punta de Maise, Columbus set sail for Hayti and in entering a port on the north coast of that island, which he named Puerto Real, the Maria-galante touched bottom and sprang a leak. This port was in the territory of a cacique named Guacanagari, who was greatly pleased with trifling presents such as hawks' bells, pins, needles and glass beads of various colours and who brought articles of food and other things to the Spaniards. The admiral resolved to leave thirty-eight men in Hayti or Espanola to form the nucleus of a settlement and caused a stockade 6 Vicente Anes Pingon to be erected for their protection. Martin Alonso Pin9on was strongly- opposed to this proceeding for he considered that the colonists would be exposed to great danger of an attack by the natives and would be unable to keep themselves in food. Columbus was greatly offended and the matter ended in an open rupture. Martin Alonso departed with the Pinia and went to another harbour about twenty leagues distant to the east of Puerto Real. He was even afraid that Columbus might order his arrest for insubordination. But the other two Pinzones effected a reconciliation and persuaded Columbus to send a letter by Indian messengers to Martin Alonso extending his forgiveness and appointing a rendezvous at a harbour named Isabela about eighteen leagues east of Puerto Real. The port in which Martin Alonso had taken refuge was named Puerto de Gracia in commemoration of the pardon granted by Columbus. From Isabela the two caravels now re-united proceeded to Puerto de Plata and thence to the eastern peninsula of Espanola which was called Samana by the natives. At this place there was an encounter with natives two of whom were wounded and the others put to flight. There were then ten Indian -captives on the caravels, — four from Guanahani and six from Cuba but one jumped overboard subsequently and was drowned. Anchors were weighed on the i6th of January, 1493, and a course laid N.E. by E. After encountering very tempestuous weather during which the Nina, in which Columbus now sailed, was almost given up for lost, land was sighted on the 13th of February. This was Santa Maria in the Azores. Half of the crew went ashore to return thanks for their deliverance but they were arrested by the Portuguese governor and only set at liberty in the evening after the admiral's royal commission had been exhibited. After leaving Santa Maria another gale was encountered and the caravels were separated. The Niiia reached the Tagus on the 4th of March ; the Pinta arrived at Bayona in Galicia. At Lisbon there was again trouble with the Portuguese. Bartholomeu Diaz, who was the Vicente Anes Pinqon 7 first to round the Cape of Good Hope and was captain of a man-of-war, came on board and ordered Columbus ashore. But Columbus refused to leave the vessel or to allow the Master to leave it and Diaz was at last satisfied with the sight of the royal commission. A messenger arrived from the Portuguese king with an invitation to Columbus to come to court. It was accepted and Columbus had a friendly interview with Joao II. and only left the Tagus on the 13th of March. By a strange coincidence, the Nina and the Pinta arrived at Palos on the same day, — the 15th of March, 1493. Martin Alonso was still afraid of the wrath of the admiral and went ashore secretly and remained in concealment until Columbus had started for Seville, after which he returned to his home in the Calle de Nuestra Senora de la Rabida at Palos. But he had been ill for some time and died a few days afterwards. He had been perfectly right in thinking that the colonists would be exposed to great danger. They were all massacred a few months later. On the 20th of May, 1 506, the bright heroic soul of Columbus was extinguished or, say rather, exalted to a holier sphere. There is only one authentic portrait of him — that which is at Como ; a good photograph of it hangs in one of the little bare-walled rooms of the house which was Domenico Colombo's at Genoa. The high fore- head and the dreamy liquid eyes of the old man remind one of the English poet William Blake. And indeed just as Blake is the visionary among poets so Columbus is the visionary among dis- coverers. The discovery of the New World was the practical result of his visions and the Book of Thel was in a manner a practical result also. The prosaic minds of the latter part of the sixteenth century were not satisfied with the portrait and required that Columbus should be represented as a coarse rough sailor and they had such a representation of him in the portrait which appears in Thevet's Vies des Homines Illustres} 1 Paris, 1584. 8 Vicente Anes Pinqon After his return from Espafiola, Vicente Afles was granted a royal licence for a voyage to the East (al Levante). The preamble to the Agreement states that it relates to two caravels commanded by Vicente Yanez Pinzon, residing in Moguer, one of which was named the Vicente Yailez and was of forty-seven toneles and the other the Fraila of fifty toneles. They are stated to have sailed in December, 1495, although the Agreement was only to have effect from the ist of January, 1496. Nothing more is known of this voyage than what is contained in the Agreement.^ The succeeding years are among the most obscure in the life of our navigator. But an indication of the activity exercised in them is to be found in two short paragraphs of the History of the Indies by Oviedo which must refer to this period. Oviedo writes : — ' In Book XXI., chapter xxviii., I said that the province of the Cape and Gulf of Hon- duras and also the Cape of Higueras were discovered by the pilots Vicente Yanez and Johan de Solis and Pedro de Ledesma and also I said in Book XXI. that the Point or Cape of Honduras is in 17" 30' on this side of the equator and the Cape of Higueras is eleven degrees and a half from the equator and I have mentioned in detail in the same place that which lies between these two capes.' ^ For ' xxviii.' we must read ' viii.,' for it is there that we find : — ' I continue from the point at which I left off in the preceding chapter, namely, from the Gulf of Higueras [the discovery of] which some attribute to the Admiral Don Cristoval Colon, saying that he discovered it. And it is not so, for the pilots Vicente Yanez Pinzon and Johan Diaz de Solis and Pedro de Ledesma discovered it before Vicente Yanez discovered the River Marafion or Solis discovered the Rio de la Plata.' Vicente Anes returned to Spain with Columbus on the isth of March, 1493, and sailed on the voyage in which he discovered the River Marafion on the 13th of November, 1499. Therefore the ' Appendix A. ' Oviedo, XXXI. cap. i. Vicente Anes Pingon g voyage in which he discovered the Gulf and Cape of Higueras was made between these two dates. The voyage which commenced in December, 149S, further curtails the period during which this voyage must have taken place to the years from 1496 to 1499 inclusively. And there is in fine an indica- tion of the date of it to be found in the history of Gomara who, writing of the last voyage of Columbus, — that to Honduras in 1502, — adds : — ' But some say that three years earlier Vicente Yanez Pin9on and Juan Diaz de Solis, who were very great discoverers^ had been there.'' Apparently then their visit was in 1499 but probably the voyage began in 1498. Another link of evidence may perhaps be found in the testimony given by Pedro de Ledesma at the lawsuit between Diego Colon and the Crown,^ for that testimony evidently does not relate to the voyage made to Central America in 1506 in which the coast beyond and to the west and north of the Island of Guanaja was not visited by Vicente Anes and in which it is not alleged that he was accompanied by Pedro de Ledesma. By comparing the data furnished by Oviedo with those supplied by Pedro de Ledesma we find that Vicente Anes, Juan Diaz de Solis and the aforesaid witness made a voyage at a date which is not stated to the Cape of Higueras in 11" 30' N. lat, — a position not far from the site of the modern Greytown and beyond the Spanish province of Veragua which lay on the confines of Panama and Costa Rica and which was subsequently visited by Columbus in 1503. Proceeding westward from the Cape of Higueras, Vicente Anes reached the Bay of Honduras and must have passed a cape in 17° 30' N. lat. called the Cape of Honduras and a point named Punta de Las Mugeres and an island named Isla de las Amagonas. This point and island were situated between the Island of Cozumel and Cape Catoche and were therefore in about 21" N. lat. The names which they received from their discoverers were conferred ' Gomara, cap. 55. (Madrid, 1749, p. 44.) - Appendix O. p. 77. lo Vicente Anes Pinqon because the women at those places were archers and fought with bows and arrows as the men did. Rounding Cape Catoche, Vicente Anes continued to follow the coast until he almost reached 23° 30' N. lat. Nothing further is known. But inasmuch as some authors have identified this voyage with a voyage described by Vespucci, it is necessary here to digress for a moment in order to examine this statement. On the 4th of September, 1504, Vespucci wrote a letter to a distinguished friend, Piero Soderini, then Gonfaloniere of Florence, describing four voyages to the New World. The letter was printed at Florence in Italian in 1505 in an edition which is of extreme rarity. One copy exists in the Grenville Collection in the British Museum, another is in the Capponi Library in Florence ; a third in the Library of Princeton University ; a fourth, which was in the Palatina Library in Florence, is lost or missing. No less an authority than Munoz, we are told,^ was of opinion that Vespucci could not, as he alleges, have taken part in the first of the voyages described in this letter because he (Muiioz) found ' records of expenses incurred in fitting out the vessels ' employed in the second and third voyages of Columbus bearing dates in 1497 and 1498 at which Vespucci (who was the purveyor to Columbus), asserts in his letter that he was absent from Spain and engaged in this voyage. It seems almost incredible that Vespucci should have willingly sought to impose upon a correspondent who knew him personally and who occupied an important public position. Moreover there were many men in Seville and elsewhere who could at once have denounced Vespucci as an impostor when the letter was published in 1 505 had the first portion of it contained a tissue of falsehoods. I would therefore prefer to believe that an agent of Vespucci made use of his name rather than that the first portion of the letter to Soderini was pure fiction. ' C. R. Markham, Life of Christopher Columbus, p. 344. Vicente Anes Pinqon 1 1 We are however still far from arriving at the conclusion that the first voyage of Vespucci was identical with the voyage of Vicente Anes, Juan Diaz de Solis and Pedro 'de Ledesma. Neither Oviedo nor Pedro de Ledesma in his evidence states that Vespucci participated in that voyage. Vespucci himself gives no name of any of his companions. He relates in his letter that he left Cadiz on the loth of May, 1497, and returned to it on the 14th of October, 1498. The letter is tedious in the extreme, full of prolix and puerile descriptions of native manners and customs and vague and untechnical in its statements regarding distances run and directions steered. Disregarding all subsidiary matter, we learn that the four vessels of the expedition made the land in 16° N. lat. at 74 degrees west of the Canary Islands, — probably therefore in the southern part of the Gulf of Campeachy. Vespucci, as well as Oviedo, remarks that the Indian women had bows and arrows and used them. He further relates that the vessels anchored at many places on the coast, always proceeding in a direction north-west or approximately so. The natives, he says, call themselves ' Carabi ' and their country is called ' Lariab ' or, as the Latin version of the letter has it, ' Parias.' There is evidently a misprint here or perhaps there are two misprints. The correct reading is possibly Ctiria or it may even be Paria, for Vespucci may have given to that name a vague and general signification as well as to the name Caribs which is perhaps what is meant by ' Carabi.' The final north-westerly run of the ships was according to all the early texts 870 leagues, which must surely be another misprint — 870 instead of 87. Having reached this point it was decided to turn back towards Spain, that is to say to steer an easterly or north- easterly course. The vessels were first beached and repaired — an operation which required thirty- seven days. After leaving this beach the vessels sailed with a wind between east and north-east for seven days until they reached islands the natives of which were called ' Iti.' 12 Vicente Aiies Pingon These people were hostile and attacked the Spaniards but forty-seven Spaniards put them to flight, killed many and took 240 prisoners with the loss of only one man. 'The expedition then sailed for Spain. It is impossible to determine the geographical position of the beach or port from which the vessels sailed to the island whence the captives were taken and therefore the island cannot be identified. But as it was one of numerous islands, some of which were inhabited and others not, as it was seven days' sail from the mainland and as the name of the inhabitants was believed to be ' Iti ', it seems not improbable that the island was Hayti. The warlike character of the inhabitants corresponds with that of the natives of the south-western district of Espafiola at the time of the discovery of that island when Caonabo was cacique in that district. Shortly after his return from the voyage to Honduras, Vicente Afles projected another voyage to the New World and, at his own expense and at the expense of two of his nephews. Arias Ferez Pingon and Diego Ferrandez Pingon, sons of Diego Martin Pingon, four caravels were equipped. They sailed from Palos on the 13th of November and from the Rio de Saltes, now known as the Canal del Padre Santo, early in December, 1499. Some of the officers who sailed with Vicente Afles gave evidence at the lawsuit. Diego Hernandez Colmenero was in command of one of the caravels. Arias Perez was in command of another. Juan de Umbria and Juan de Jerez were pilots ; Garcia Hernandez was physician {fisico). Their course was to the Cape Verde Islands where a provision of fresh meat was taken on board. They sailed from Fogo, which lies to the west of Santiago in 14° 53' N. lat., on or about the 6th of January, 1500, and steered S.S.W. until they lost sight of the pole-star, — a circum- stance which caused no little consternation amongst the sailors who had been accustomed to trust chiefly to a conspicuous star for guidance and who expected to see in the southern sky another conspicuous star in a position corresponding to that of the pole-star P'icente Anes Pinqon 13 in the northern sky. They accounted for the absence of such a st^r by the theory that some prominence of the earth hid it from view. Even their leader was perplexed by the novel aspect of the heavens for he now crossed the line for the first time. He was in fact the first navigator to the New World who crossed the equator. To add to their dread they encountered a violent gale. They had not chosen a favourable time of year in which to cross the Atlantic in caravels. Land was discovered on the 20th of January, 1 500, and a cape received from Vicente Anes the name of ' Cabo Santa Maria de la Consolacion,' and a point near it was named ' Rostro-hermoso.' Pin9on landed in the ship's boat, taking with him four clerks, one from each vessel, as witnesses of the act of taking possession of the newly discovered territory in the name and by authority of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. He also carved their names and the date on the trunks of trees and on rocks. Vicente Anes was justified in doing this because the pilots made the distance from the Cape Verde Islands to be 500 leagues and, at that time, according to the Treaty of Tordesillas, concluded on the 7th of June, 1494, the line of demarcation between the Spanish and Portuguese possessions ran north and south 370 leagues west of the westmost of these islands. Early next morning, forty armed Spaniards landed and were met by about thirty natives who showed no inclination to trade but, on the contrary, being well armed with bows and arrows and spears, prepared to oppose the landing. In vain did the Spaniards attempt to appease them by treating them as children and exhibiting beads, mirrors and hawks' bells. The natives would have none of these things and the Spaniards finally retired to the ships without fighting for, as Gomara naively relates, the Indians were the taller men, — taller than tall Germans and with very long feet.^ It appears from the evidence of Pedro Ramirez at the lawsuit^ 1 Gomara, cap. 85. (Madrid, 1749, p. 78.) ' Documentos ineditos, 2da Serie, 8, p. 151. 14 Vicente Anes Pinqon that an attempt was made to proceed in a southerly direction but for some unexplained reason this attempt was abandoned and the vessels' prows were turned northwards so as to follow the coast towards Cape St. Roque. The course, according to the evidence given by Vicente Afies, was W. by N.W. There can be no doubt that Vicente Anes touched at many places between Cape St. Augustine and the Gulf of Paria for he spent nearly five months on the voyage between that cape and Haiti. Galvao mentions some of the localities where a landing was effected.^ One of these was Cabo Primeiro in 5" 30' S. lat. As Cabo Primeiro is fifty leagues from Cape St. Augustine, which is identified with the Cabo de Santa Maria de la Consolacion of Vicente Anes, it follows that the landfall was in about 8° 21' S. lat. This accords approximately with the actual position of Cape St. Augustine, namely 8° 20' 41" S. lat. From Cabo Primeiro the coast trends north-west so that cape may be identified with Cape St. Roque ; it trends norlh-west for twenty leagues to Cabo de Placel in 4° 30' S. lat., thence 85 leagues to the Angla de San Lucas in 3" S. lat, where another landing was effected. Another 120 leagues brings us to the Tierra de Humos or Fumos in i" 30' S. lat. through which the amended line of demarcation between Spanish and Portuguese territories passed. Oviedo makes the distance from the Tierra de Humos to the mouth of the Maranon 62 or 63 leagues. Finally Galvao makes mention of the Rio Doge and of Paria as having been visited by Vicente Anes. Oviedo estimates the distance from Cape St. Augustine to the mouth of the Maranon at 358 leagues.' A landing which was effected near the mouth of a small river, — too shallow to admit of the ships entering it, — may have been at the locality named Angla de San Lucas. Many natives were seen on an adjacent hill and towards these a sailor was despatched with some of the same trinkets as on the previous occasion. He was well armed with sword and buckler. He threw a ' Galvao (Hakluyt Society), p. 95. '' Oviedo, XXI. cap. i. Vicente Ahes Pingon 15 hawk's bell to them ; they replied by throwing down a small gilded rod about two handbreadths long but when he stooped to pick it up they immediately resented the action and attacked him from behind. He was able to keep them at bay until assistance arrived from the boats. A fierce struggle ensued in which the natives had the advantage ; eight Spaniards were killed and several were wounded. So persistent was the attack that the Spaniards were pursued to their boats ; one boat was seized and set on fire. This result had been chiefly accom- plished by means of dense volleys of arrpws. But the fortune of war now turned in favour of the Spaniards who succeeded in killing many of the Indians by sword-cuts and spear-thrusts for they had no protection but the pelts which they wore. Vicente Anes proceeded westward from this place for forty leagues and entered a tract of ocean where the water was fresh at a distance of thirty leagues from the coast. The pilot Juan de Umbria stated in his evidence at the lawsuit that the water was fresh twenty leagues at sea. They entered a river and ascended it for the distance of fifteen or twenty leagues. This was doubtless the Amazon or Maranon. Here they had experience of the tumult of waters occasioned by the current of a great river when it encounters the inflowing tide of the sea. ' As the ships lay at anchor,' writes Herrera, ' a fearful noise was made by the strong impact of the fresh water against the water of the sea coming to meet it and the ships were raised four fathoms and from this proceeded great danger.' ^ Many natives were seen at various points on the shore but no gold or pearls were seen and, as the Indians here appeared inoffensive, thirty-six of them were cap- tured in order to be made slaves. The sailors also caught a monkey (' macaco '). The native name of the river or perhaps of the district was Mariataubal or Paricura. Proceeding on their way, the voyagers reached a dangerous part of the coast to which they gave the nam^ Boca dos Leones. It ' Herrera, I. cap. 173. (Doc. ined. LXIV. p. 450.) i6 Vicente Anes Pingon was a bay in which were two reefs, one of which lay ahead of them and they almost ran aground before the breakers were ob- served by a sailor who had climbed to the masthead. The crews succeeded in wearing the ships round and the imminent danger was avoided. Oviedo places a Rio de Vicente Pinzon 130 leagues east of the Rio Doce. Before the Gulf of Paria was reached the voyagers again entered a tract of sea where the water was fresh, — on this occasion at a distance of twenty-five or thirty leagues from the coast. This was because of a second great river, — doubtless the Orinoco. Anton Hernandez Colmenero testified at the lawsuit that the voyagers were afraid to land in the Gulf of Paria because of the fatal encounter but they allowed some of the natives to come on board who knew enough Spanish to say ' Sal Capitan ' by which they probably meant ' Salve, Capitan '. Pedro Ramirez testified that they landed on an island near the mainland and that they then continued their voyage so as to pass through the Boca del Dragon. Turning eastward, they sighted Tobago which they named Isla de Mayo. Thence their, course lay to Guadeloupe, from Guadeloupe to San Juan or Puerto Rico, thence to Espanola or Hayti, which they reached on the 23rd of June, 1500, thence to Samana, which is identified with Attwood's Cay, Someto, identified with Crooked Island and Maguana or Mariguana. In the vicinity of Crooked Island misfortune overtook Vicente Anes and he lost two of the caravels on reefs which were then known as Los Ojos de la Babura. He was therefore compelled to return to Haiti to refit. After this was accomplished, he set sail for Spain with the two remaining caravels and arrived at Palos on the 30th of September, 1500. The cargo consisted of three thousand pounds {Libras) of brazil-wood and sandalwood (brasil i sandalo), many canes of the valuable kind (perhaps sugarcane), much odoriferous gum (? copal), yicente Anes Pingon 17 the bark of certain trees resembling cinnamon, the carcase of an opos- sum which had died during the voyage and twenty surviving slaves. The losses sustained by Vicente Anes in this voyage had painful consequences. On his return to Spain he was unable to pay his debts. Before setting out on his voyage he had bought a consider- able quantity of goods on credit. Payment was now demanded but was not forthcoming. The creditors then, during his absence at Court, seized and sold certain property belonging to Vicente Anes and to his nephews Arias Perez and Diego Ferrandez. The uncle and nephews complained to the King, alleging that they had been shamefully overcharged for the goods, — even to the extent of fifty, eighty and one hundred per cent, above their value and they said that all their possessions would not suffice to pay at these values and that, in default, they would be sent to prison. They were willing, however, to pay what they could and begged for time to sell 350 quintals of brazil-wood which they had brought with them from the New World. They also begged that the goods might be valued and only a fair price exacted.^ As there is no mention of their being sent to prison it may be supposed that a compromise was effected. Another act of injustice touched Vicente Anes even more acutely. His slave, a good linguist and invaluable to him, was taken by another creditor, named Diego Prieto, in the place of one who had been promised but who was not forthcoming.^ As Vicente Anes offered to give Diego Prieto the value of a slave in money it is probable that this matter also was satisfactorily arranged. But these "difficulties only impeded Pin§on for a brief period. The Spanish Sovereigns interested themselves in him and the losses he had sustained were made good. The manner in which this was done is characteristic of the times. By virtue of a royal decree dated the 15th of October, 1501, Vicente Anes was empowered to take 400 cahices (about 4800 bushels) of wheat which he might collect either ' Appendix B. ^ Appendix C. C 1 8 Vicente A Ties Pinqon in Andalusia or in the diocese of Malaga and to sell the same for his own profit, provided only that the wheat was not sold to Moors nor to enemies of the King. This permission was given in order that he might have compensation for the losses he had sustained in the service of the king and queen and might be enabled to undertake the voyage which he then had in prospect in the same service.^ Finally, Vicente Afies was appointed Captain and Governor of the coast and islands which he had discovered from the Cabo Maria de la Con- solacion to the Rio Maria de la Mar Dulce P- He was also to receive one-sixth of the value of all minerals, pearls and precious stones and all other commodities whatsoever exported from that region and a sixth part of the money paid to the Crown for licences to explore it. These concessions however had to be taken advantage of within one year, which was to be reckoned from the date of signing the Agreement on the 5th of September, 1501, and, if Vicente Aftes did not start upon his voyage to the coast which he had recently discovered within one year, the agreement was to be null and void. Amongst the published official documents relating to voyages under- taken by Vicente Afies I find none referring to this projected voyage but indications that it was actually undertaken are not lacking. It is however doubtful if it was commenced within the allotted time for Vicente Anes was still in Seville in September, 1502, when Rodrigo de Bastidas returned from Darien.^ Pietro Martyre has an account of a voyage in which Vicente Aftes entered a fresh-water bay cele- brated for the abundance of its fish and the multitude of its islands where Columbus had been previously.* It lay to the east of Curiana and as Curiana lay a little to the west of Cumana it is "probable that the fresh-water bay with the many islands' was the most easterly portion of the Gulf of Paria where Columbus had been in 1498. The ^ Appendix F. ^ Appendix E. ' Appendix O, p. 79. * De rebus oceanicis, II. vii, p. 185. (Colonia;, M D LXXIIII.) ^ i.e. Islands formed by the numerous mouths of the River Orinoco. Vicente Ahes Pingon 19 waters of the Gulf are not quite fresh, but an enormous quantity of fresh water pours into it from the delta of the Orinoco. There were native villages all round the shores of the Gulf and the natives were found to be of a warlike disposition.^ They had canoes hollowed out of one log which they called ' chicos ' and, as soon as Vicente Anes anchored, several canoes approached and the caravels were assailed with arrows. The Spaniards however sheltered themselves within the hulls of the vessels where they were perfectly safe and replied to the assault by a few shots from their bombards which quickly dispersed the canoes and killed and wounded a number of the assailants. The headmen or chiefs, whom they called ' Chiaconos,' then sent ambas- sadors to sue for peace. No one on board understood a word of their language so that negociations could only be carried on by means of signs. Pietro Martyre says that valuable gifts were offered to the Spaniards in token of the desire of the Indians for peace. The invaders received three thousand ounces of gold and above seventeen hundred pounds of an odoriferous gum resin which Pietro Martyre calls ' thus masculinus praestantissimus.' The natives also presented numerous peacocks and peahens or rather birds resembling them, (for the peacock is an Asiatic bird and Pietro Martyre says that they differed in colour from the peacock known in Spain ^) and hangings of gossampine or cotton-silk of divers colours ornamented at the purfles with small gold bells like hawks' bells. The Spaniards also received many parrots of various colours which had been taught to speak. These natives wore outer garments of gossampine ; those of the men were double, the plaits being stitched together with fine stitches, and these were their only armour. The material alluded to was probably prepared from the downy covering of the seeds of trees resembling the cotton-silk tree, not from the down of the cotton plant. ' Pietro Martyre's description of these natives and their gifts must, I think, be received cum grano salts. ■ Apparently Pietro Martyre has translated ' pavo ' by ' pavo '. But ' pavo ' in Spanish means turkey. These birds were probably curassows. 20 Vicente Anes Pingon East of the Gulf of Paria, Vicente Aftes came to extensive inundated tracts of country and far-reaching stagnant water, — a con- dition of the coast which may have been the result of floods in the Orinoco. He continued to coast along eastwards until he reached a point in seven degrees south latitude — Cape Saint Roque^ — where the coast began to trend southwards. The natives there informed him that much gold was to be found beyond high mountains which lay to the southward but as he imagined that he had reached (for he did not know that he had already passed) the line of demarcation he went no further southward at that time. As a matter of fact, some of the Spanish captains paid little attention to the provisions of the Treaty of Tordesillas although they were strictly enjoined to do so in the instructions which they received. Vicente Anes did not return directly to Spain but went first to Espanola and there left some natives whom he had captured at the Gulf of Paria in order that they might be taught Spanish and that they might serve as interpreters in future expeditions. He was in Espanola when Columbus arrived there from Jamaica in July, 1504.^ He sailed thence for Spain and begged from the King the appointment of Governor of the island of Puerto Rico.^ He had been the first to make known that gold was to be found in that island. The region of which he had previously been appointed Governor contained little gold and moreover had been in part assigned to Portugal. Vicente Anes was in Palos in 1505 and in that, year we find him in close relation with Amerigo Vespucci. ' On Saturday, the 17th of May, 1505,' writes the Treasurer of the Casa de Contratacion, ' were given and I paid to Pedro de Miranda of Seville 153 maravedis for going with a letter to Vicente Yanez Pinzon to the town of Palos and to Moguer, for it was necessary to consult Amerigo and the aforesaid Vicente Yanez concerning the squadron which is to be made ready by them by command of His Highness.' And again : — ' Pedro de ^ De rebus oceanicis, II. vii. " Appendix O, p. 80. ^ De rebus oceanicis, II. viii. Vicente Anes Pingon 21 Miranda of Seville was sent with letters to their Highnesses and to their Secretary, Caspar de Gricio, concerning the consultation relating to the squadron which His Highness desires that Amerigo the Florentine and Vicente Yanez Pinzon should make ready, our Lord the King being at Segovia. ... He went on Wednesday morning the fifth of June.' 1 Columbus was also at Segovia. On the 24th of March, 1505, Vicente Anes had been appointed Captain of a fortress which he was to construct in the island of San Juan de Puerto Rico ^ and on the 24th of April of the same year, he had been appointed Captain and Governor of that island.^ Apparently he held that appointment until 1509 in which year it was conferred upon Ponce de Leon. Evidence which proves that Vicente Anes assumed the duties of Governor of the island is contained in a memorial in which Martin Garcia de Salazar claims to be reinstated in the offices of Alcaide and Corregidor which had been bestowed upon him by Vicente Anes and of which he had been unjustly deprived after the death of Pinion. The document is as follows : — El Rey. 'The President and Members of the Council of Our Lady the Queen and of my Council : Martin Garcia de Salazar, resident of the city of Burgos, has addressed a report to me stating that he has presented before this Council four letters in his favour which were written by Vicente Yanez Pinzon, his companion, conferring the offices of Corregidor and Alcaide and seven caballerias of land,"'' in the island of Sant Juan, which is in the Indies, for the aforesaid Vicente Yanez discovered the aforesaid island and he and the aforesaid Martin Garcia turned out some herds in it and he states that he has been deprived of the aforesaid offices of Corregidor and Alcaide and ' Documentos in^ditos, XXXIX. pp. 215 «/«?. ^ Appendix I. ' Appendix J. ■* A caballeria is about 33 acres j rood, 22 Vicente Anes Pinqon of the caballerias of land and that they have been taken from him unjustly and he begs and prays that I would graciously order that the bestowal of the aforesaid offices be confirmed and that they be restored to him and that the loss which he has sustained, owing to having been deprived of them, be made good and that I would order that a remedy according to law or according to my good pleasure be provided and I approved ; therefore I command you that, when you shall have summoned and heard the parties concerned, you shall administer justice concisely and without delay so that the parties shall have and obtain the same and you shall not act contrariwise hereto. ' Given under our hand in the city of Brussels this six-and- twentieth day of November, in the year one thousand five hundred and sixteen. ' Yo El Rey. — By command of the King. Pedro Ximenes. Signed by the Chancellor and by the Bishop of Badajoz and by D. Garcia.'^ The expedition which was to be prepared by Vicente Anes and Amerigo Vespucci was finally authorised by King Ferdinand before the end of the year 1505. On the nth of August of that year the King wrote to the officials of the Casa de Contratacion* : — 'With regard to what you say concerning the expenses and the salaries to be paid to Yanez Pinzon and Amerigo in respect of the .squadron to the effect that each of them demands fifty thousand maravedis for outfit and articles necessary for the voyage and twelve thousand maravedis each for the maintenance of their households during each year in which they shall be engaged for this voyage and that they shall be kept in food during the time to be occupied in preparing the squadron, it appears to me that they demand what is reasonable and that it is right to do this, for they are good men and I have confidence in them [and believe] that they will do me great service in this voyage and, if it should please God that they return and accomplish ' Navarrete, III. p. 144. ' From Segovia where the King was from the month of May until October 6, 1505. Vicente Aiies Pmcon 23 something of an advantageous kind, I will show them favour. There- fore arrange matters with them as is set forth in this letter.' ^ Las Casas mentions the voyage to which this letter of King Ferdinand alludes and a portion of the evidence of Vicente Aiies may also relate to it.^ Herrera assigns it to the year 1506.^ Las Casas says vaguely, — 'After the Admiral had escaped from the isolation and troubles which he suffered in Jamaica and had returned to Castille, Juan Dias de Solis and Vicente Yanez Pinzon agreed together to go to make discoveries.' * Columbus left Jamaica on the 28th of June, 1504, and reached Seville in November of that year. All the published documents relating to this expedition point to 1 506 as the year of the departure from Spain. Pietro Martyre narrates that Pingon and Solis fell in with land to the west of Cuba where the Admiral had been before.^ He alludes to the last voyage of Columbus in the years 1502, 1503 and 1504, in the course of which the Admiral visited the Gulf of Honduras and followed the eastern coast of Central America from the island of Guanaja to Cape Tiburon in the Gulf of Darien. Vicente Afies said in his evidence at the lawsuit that De Solis and he discovered all the land which had been discovered until that time from the island of Guanaja as far as the province of Camarona, following the coast towards the east as far as Chabaca (or Chahuaca) and Pintigron (or Pintigua). Pinion further testified that they discovered a large bay to which they gave the name of Bahia de la Navidad, not the Bahia de la Navidad between Honduras and Yucatan for that bay is west of the Island of Guanaja but probably the Gulf of Honduras. Pin9on and De Solis wrote a letter to Ovando giving an account of this voyage." In 1508 preparations for another expedition on an extensive scale were in progress. Juan de la Cosa, Amerigo Vespucci, Juan ' Documentos in^ditos, XXXI. p. 337. ' Documentos in^ditos, 2d? Serie, 7, p. 270. ' Herrera, Dec. I. lib. vi. cap. 17. * Las Casas, lib. II. cap. xxxix. 5 De rebus oceanicis, II. vii. ^ Documentos in^ditos, 2da Serie, 7, p. 203. 24 Vicente Anes Pincon Diaz de Solis and Vicente Aftes Pinion were summoned to Court in February or March of that year and the two last-named Captains obtained permission from King Ferdinand to take two caravels across the Atlantic towards the North-West. They returned from Burgos, where the King then was, to Seville about the end of March, bringing with them a letter from the King to the Officers of the Casa de Contratacion de las Indias and a second list of articles to be obtained for the equipment of two vessels. Everything was to be in readiness for the voyage not later than the month of May. This memorandum was dated the 22nd of March and was succeeded on the following day by a formal Contract, the contracting parties being, on the one hand, the King, and on the other hand, the two captains. It was agreed that Juan Diaz de Solis was to determine the course to be followed and to communicate it to Vicente Anes and to the pilots and masters at the time of sailing. Detailed instructions follow regarding signals, such as showing a light from the ship commanded by De Solis, and respecting the territories of the King of Portugal and the capture of foreign vessels navigating in Hispano- American waters and barter with natives. It is distinctly stated in the Agreement that the main object of the voyage was to find a strait or passage which would enable vessels to pass from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, for as yet the Pacific Ocean had not been discovered and it was not known that that vast ocean lay between the Indian Ocean and America.^ Before the expedition sailed certain important appointments were 'made. It was considered necessary that Vespucci should remain at Seville with the duty of superintending the drafting of charts. He received the title of Pilot Major with a salary of fifty thousand maravedis annually which was afterwards increased to one hundred and twenty thousand maravedis and Juan Diaz de Solis and Vicente Anes Pingon were appointed royal pilots at the same salary ^ Appendix N, Vicente Anes Pinqon 25 as Vespucci. At the request of the Bishop of Palencia and the Commendador Lope de Conchillas, Pedro de Ledesima or Ledesma was engaged as a pilot on one of the vessels. The expedition sailed from Seville to the Cape Verde Islands and shaped thence a course to Cape St. Augustine. Thence they coasted southwards, landing in various places and erecting crosses wherever they landed. They attained the relatively high latitude of about 40° S. without, it would appear, entering the Rio de la Plata, the discovery of which is generally attributed to Juan Diaz de Solis on the occasion of a later voyage in 1 5 1 2 in which he was not accompanied by Vicente Anes Pingon.i The exact date of their return is not known but it must have been prior to the 14th of November, 1509. There had been dissensions between the two commanders ; the officials of the Casa de Contratacion de las Indias were greatly dissatisfied with the meagre results which had been obtained by the expedition. They were doubtless disappointed that an expedition which had been sent out with the express object of finding a strait had found no strait and they laid the blame upon De Solis who had had charge of the naviga- tion whilst Vicente Anes had only been appointed to have charge on shore. The unfortunate De Solis was sentenced to be incarcerated in the state prison. De Solis made another voyage to the east coast of South America in 15 12 and his last voyage was in 15 15 and 15 16; he was killed in the course of it by the natives of the banks of the River Plate. The King wrote to Miguel de Passamonte, Treasurer-General of the Indies on the 14th of November, 1509, to the following effect: — ' I have learnt that Vicente Yanez Pinzon and Juan Diaz de Solis were bringing certain interpreters from the country which they went to discover and it is said that the Comendador Major who was our Governor ^ would not allow them to bring them ; I therefore command ' Herrera, Dec. I. cap. ix. ' Niculas de Ovando, Commendador de Lares of the Order of Alcantara. 26 Vicente Anes Pinqon you to send me speedily a full and complete statement of the reason on account of which the aforesaid Comendador Major would not allow them to bring the interpreters and what objects Vicente Yaflez Pingon and Diaz de Solis brought on their return from their voyage.' ^ And at the same date the King wrote to the officers of the Casa de Contratacion, ' After I had written the letter which accompanies this one, I received your letter of the 27th of October, together with the packages which came from the Indies and with the other manuscripts which you sent and I acknowledge the diligence and care which you have exercised in all and in the matter of the guanine which Vicente Yaflez Pinzon and Juan de Solis brought from their voyage. It is well that you have had it melted and as I wish to see what the afore- said guanine and objects which they brought resemble, I command you to send me some specimens speedily of what has not yet been melted.' ^ In 1 5 14 Vicente Aftes Pinion, dying, rested from his labours. Oviedo expresses his regret in these few felicitously chosen words. ' He had the reputation of being the most skilful of the pilots of the King and of that time. I knew him and liked him ; he was as fair- spoken as any seafaring man I have ever seen and one of those who best understand their art' ^ The opinion of Gomara is also worthy of being quoted. ' The Pin§ones ', he writes, ' were very great dis- coverers and went many times on voyages of discovery and navigated much in these parts. ... I believe that he [Amerigo Vespucci] navigated much but yet it is known that Vicente Yanez Pingon and Juan Diez de Solis navigated more than he when they went to discover the Indies.'* In the Diccionario Enciclopedico Hispano- Americano it is stated that ten years after the last voyage of Vicente Yanez his family was ennobled and obtained armorial bearings. Letters-patent granting • Documentos ineditos, XXXI. pp. 516-7. 2 Documentos inWitos, XXXI. pp. 506-7. * Oviedo, lib. XXIV. cap. ii. ■• Gomara, cap. 88. (Madrid, 1749, p. So.) Vicente Anes Pingon 27 armorial bearings to the Pincones were found in a Nobiliario belonging to Don Vicente Pinzon, Military Governor of Cartagena and were copied by Don Fulgencio Garcia, the Secretary of his Military Council, on the 2Sth of August, 1797. No mention of the ennoblement of the family is to be found in several Spanish Nobiliarios which have been consulted. In the Nobleza de Andalusia of Gon^alo Argote de Molina (1588), the family is not mentioned nor in the Nobiliario de los Reims y Sefiorias de Espana of F. Pferrer (1857-66) nor yet in the Diccionario historico-genealogico y heraldico de las familias ilustres de la monarquia espafiol (i860). In the Nobiliario de Con- quistadores de India edited by Antonio Paz y Melia (1892) however, we find the letters-patent (pp. 3-5) and they are also to be found in the Viages of Navarrete, III. pp. 14S-6 and in Docuinentos ineditos, XXXIX, pp. ^10 et seq. The explanation may be found herein, — that the Pingones were raised to the rank of ' Caballeros ' but not to that of Nobles. The Letters-patent run thus : — ' Don Carlos, by the grace of God, King of the Romans, ever august Emperor : Dofla Juana, his Mother and the aforesaid Don Carlos by the same grace of God, King and Queen of Castile, Leon, Aragon, the Two Sicilies, Jerusalem, Navarre, Granada, Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, Majorca, Seville, Sardinia, Murcia, Jaen, the Algarves, Algeciras, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands and the Indies, the Islands and Continent of the Oceanic Sea, Archduke and Archduchess of Austria, Duke and Duchess of Burgundy and Brabant, Count and Countess of Barcelona, Flanders and Tyrol, Seigniors of Biscaya and of Molina, Duke and Duchess of Athens and of Neopatria, Count and Countess of Barcelona and Sardinia, Marquis and Marchioness of Oristan and of Goziano, etc. ' Inasmuch as it was made known to us by you Juan Rodriguez Mafra, our pilot and Gines Murio, Our Chaplain and Diego Martin Pinzon and Alvaro Alfonso Nortes and Juan Pinzon and Alonso Gonzalez, residents in and natives of the town of Palos that Martin 28 Vicente Anes Pinqon Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Yanez Pinzon and Andres Gonzalez Pinzon and Diego de Lepe and Miguel Alonso, captains, your grandfathers and fathers and uncles and brothers, went upon a certain voyage and journey and in a certain fleet which their Catholic Majesties, our Grandparents of glorious memory (may they attain everlasting glory) commanded to be sent upon a certain discovery, of which fleet it is said that Don Cristobal Col6n went as Captain-General and Admiral in order to discover the island of Espafiola and other islands and [that they] afterwards [went] upon a certain other discovery, namely to the Costa de las Perlas, by virtue of a certain Agreement which was concluded with them and with some of you by the Very Reverend Father in Christ Don Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, Archbishop of Rosano, Bishop of Burgos, Member of our Council, by order of their aforesaid Catholic Majesties, in which Agreement they offered to equip three ships at their own expense in order to go upon a certain discovery to Tierra Finne and [inasmuch as it was made known to us] that, in order to equip those ships, they sold and disposed of their landed properties and with these ships, it is said, discovered six hundred leagues of continental land and the great river and Brazil and returned with some Indians of the aforesaid Tierr'a Firme and with gold and pearls and inasmuch as we have been assured that the aforesaid three captains of your lineage and many more of your relatives died in the course of all these conquests and were killed in our service, the latter by poisoned arrows (' flecha con yerba ') which the Carib Indians of the aforesaid country shot at them and the former as the result of the aforesaid voyages and, besides this, that they served us on other occasions and helped to place all [that territory] under the yoke and dominion of our Royal Crown, risking and endangering their lives many times as you also have done, by which means We and our Royal Crown have been much benefitted, therefore, in acknowledgement of the aforesaid services and in order P^icente Anes Pinqon 29 that your aforesaid relatives and you yourselves may be held in ever- lasting remembrance and that you and your descendants and theirs may be held in greater honour, We, by these Presents, do show you favour and We desire that you may have and bear as your lawful armorial bearings three caravels al natural on the sea and from each of them a hand shall extend pointing to the land first seen and discovered upon an escutcheon similar to this one [Here follows the figure of the escutcheon.] and as orle of the aforesaid escutcheon you shall bear anchors and hearts. And We grant you the aforesaid escutcheon as your escutcheon recognised as such and duly assigned to you and it is our desire and in accordance with our good pleasure that you and your children and descendants and those of the aforesaid captains, your relatives, who were present at the aforesaid discovery and their children and descendants shall have and keep these armorial bearings as your and as their lawful armorial bearings and as such that you and they may use them on your reposteros and in your houses — in those of each of your aforesaid children and descendants and relatives to the third degree and also their children and descendants in such other places as shall seem good to you. And by these our letters-patent and the copy of them, signed by a notary public, We command the Most Illustrious the Infantes, our very dear and much beloved sons and brothers and the Infantes, Dukes, Marquises, etc., etc., etc., etc. Given under our hand at Barcelona, this twenty-third day of the month of September in the year one thousand five hundred and nineteen of our Lord Jesus Christ — El Rey — I, Francisco de los Cobo.s, Secretary of their Imperial Catholic Majesties, have had this written by their command.' Another attempt to restore the descendants of the Pingones to a condition of affluence and to make good the losses of their progenitors in the King's service was made by Juan de Vitoria. Sefior Duro has rendered a service to biographical literature by publishing two memorials addressed by Juan de Vitoria probably to Philip II. in the 30 Vicente Anes Pingon name of and as the representative of the descendants of the brothers of Vicente Afles. They are undated and are contained in the portfolio of the Archivo de Indias relating to the year 1578. The first memorial is to the following effect : — ' Very Potent Sire, I, Juan de Vitoria, in the name of the Pinzones residing in the towns of Palos and Moguer, hereby affirm that in the name of my clients I presented a petition to His Majesty praying him to be pleased to show favour to them in recognition of the services which their fathers and progenitors rendered in the discovery of the Indies at their own charges, whence it arose that my clients are now so poor that they have not sufficient to keep themselves in ,food because their fathers and progenitors spent all their revenues and patrimonies on the squadrons which they equipped and on the new discovery which they made as I have proved to your Highness by the records and papers which I have presented and when His Majesty was in Seville, Marina Alonso, la Pinzona, daughter of Francisco Martin Pinzon, one of the aforesaid discoverers, adducing the services of their fathers and predecessors, begged him to show favour to her and to the others who were in necessitous circumstances, seeing that until the present they have not been remunerated nor received any thanks, whereupon His Majesty commanded them to repair to this Court, because, as he was here, he would show them favour, in consequence of which, I, in their name, presented memorials to His Majesty, reminding him of that which I have mentioned and he always commanded me to wait and promised to show them favour and he sent the aforesaid memorials to your most illustrious President ^ in order that he might show me favour ; therefore I pray and beg that Your Highness will be pleased to command favour to be shown to me, in order that abundant favour may be shown to my aforesaid clients, as the services of their fathers and progenitors merit, for I may shortly lose all hope, seeing that I have now waited at Court for seven months in all on various occasions, ' i.e. The President of the Council of the Indies. Vicente Anes Pingon 31 spending my money and hoping for the favour which Your Highness is to command to be shown to me and I pray for justice in this matter, etc., Juan de Vitoria.' The second memorial is as follows : — ' I, Juan de Vitoria, in the name of the Pinzones and as one of them, hereby affirm that I lately presented a petition to Your Highness containing an account of other petitions which I had given into His Majesty's royal hands, praying him to show favour in consideration of the services which the afore- said Pinzones had rendered to Your Highness in discovering the new kingdom of the Indies and as His Majesty on three or four occasions did me the honour to tell me that he would command that my request should be attended to and afterwards, in order to obviate delay, by ordinance and command of youT most illustrious President I presented a petition praying that favour would be shown to us to which a reply has been given, as is well known to Your Highness, and inasmuch as I have need of the petition for the despatch of the matter and also of the other papers and reports and of the legal grant received from Their Catholic Majesties of glorious memory which I presented before the Council, because it related to the aforesaid Pinzones and the privileges which Their aforesaid Majesties conceded to them and [inasmuch as] the Secretary who has charge of this matter, when I demanded these writings, papers and petitions, told me that he could not give them up without the express command of Your Highness and, seeing that I have to account for the writings which were delivered to me, as is right and reasonable, I therefore beg and pray Your Highness to command the aforesaid Secretary to give them all to me forthwith and to command that not one shall be awanting and I pray that I may have justice in this matter, etc., Juan de Vitoria.' ^ It would appear that these earnest and reiterated efforts on behalf of the descendants of the discoverers met with the success which they ' C. F. Duro, Pinzon en el Descubrimiento de las Indisis, pp. 138-141. 32 Vicente Anes Pinqon deserved. We learn from the Diccionario Enciclopedico Hispano- Aniericano that two branches of the Pin9on family exist at the present day in Huelva and in Moguer. These are probably descended from Martin Alonso and Maria Alvarez Pingon who had a son named Juan Martin, born in or about the year 1475 and alive in 153S ^ and from Diego Martin Pinion of whose sons Arias Perez Pinion and Diego Ferrandez Pingon we have already heard and who had a third son called Bartolome Martin.^ Admiral Luis Fernandez Pinzon, who died in 1891, was a descendant of the father of the discoverers. We have briefly passed in review the principal voyages in which Vicente Afles is known to have been engaged. But he doubtless sailed in other voyages of which there is no, or hardly any, record. There was that in which he saw enough of Cuba to ascertain that it was an island and not an extension of the mainland as Columbus always believed it to be. Pietro Martyre refers to this voyage in these words : — ' Hie Vicentius Annez meridionale Cubas latus vniuersam ab Oriente perlustrauit ad Occidentem & Cubam, a multis ad ea vsque tepora, ob suam longitudine, continentem putatem circuiuit. Itidem & alij plures se fecisse aiunt. Vicentius Annez cognito iam experimento patent! Cubam esse insulam, processit vlterius & terras alias ad Occidentem Cubse offendit : sed tactus prius ab Almiranto.' ^ Several witnesses at the lawsuit of Diego Colon against the Crown testified that they had seen a chart of the discoveries made by Vicente Anes and Juan Diaz de Solis. Alonso de Hojeda testified that he had seen the draft of the country which they had discovered and that it was distinct from that which had been discovered by the Admiral.* Anton Garcia also testified that he had seen a hydrographic chart of these discoveries and Nicolas Perez ' C. F. Duro, Colon y Pinzon, p. 207, p. 230. " Documentos ineditos, 2da Serie, 7, p. 370. ' De rebus oceanicis, II. vii. " Documentos ineditos, ada Serie, 7, p. 208. Vicente Aiies Pinqon 33 testified in 15 13 that Columbus discovered the coast as far as Cape Gracias d Dios, that all that had been hitherto discovered beyond Cape Gracias d Dios had been discovered by Vicente Anes and Juan Diaz de Solis and that he knew this to be the case because he had seen the chart which these navigators had brought with them and that all those who went to those regions used that chart as a guide.^ ' Documentos in^ditos, 2