Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus
by Samuel Eliot Morison
680 pages (1942) Pulitzer Prize Winner
Samuel Eliot Morison wrote this biography of Christopher Columbus after he took two sailing ships and retraced Columbus’ four voyages to the New World in 1939-1940; this book remains one of the seminal volumes about Columbus as an explorer. Dr. Morison was a professor at Harvard who specialized in naval history, and his expertise in navigation and sailing issues can be found throughout the book. There is no doubt that Morison is a fan of Columbus’ accomplishments in finding and exploring the New World, but Morison is also an objective historian who does not shy away from some of the less flattering facts about Columbus’ actions, including how he turned to slavery as a revenue source when his quest for gold in the Caribbean had little success (something that did not meet with the approval of Queen Isabella).
What was especially interesting was how Columbus always made special provisions for his voyages to include priests for conversion of the Indians. Columbus also kept a Book of the Hours in his cabin, followed it scrupulously, and had the crew sing “Salve Regina” every night. Time and time again, Columbus named his discoveries for the particular Saint who was being honored during the day of discovery, or for a favored Saint of Ferdinand and Isabella.
At the end of the book, one realizes how incredibly brave – and very fortunate – Columbus was on that first voyage. He managed to catch the westerly winds at just the right time, did not get hit by a hurricane during the height of the season, and managed feats of navigational dead reckoning with a simple compass and rudimentary map which I doubt few could accomplish today, given our dependence on Mapquest and GPS. Columbus was also quite persistent: he was rejected twice by João II of Portugal and three times by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain before finally getting the approval and financing of his first voyage. Although sometimes a little dry, I would recommend this book to anyone seeking a thorough and balanced discussion of Columbus’ four voyages.
Incidentally, in the future I will be reviewing the “Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies”, written by Las Casas, who is believed to be the first priest ordained in the New World. Las Casas has received the ire of many Columbus supporters for his outspoken and perhaps overzealous criticisms of the colonists in their cruel treatment towards the Indians; however, his timely writings have remained a source of primary information regarding the colonization of the New World, and Las Casas’ works were among the original sources relied upon by Morison in this book.
Book Review by Mark Stuckey