Fourth voyage of Columbus

The fourth voyage of Columbus was a Spanish maritime expedition in 1502–1504 to the western Caribbean Sea led by Christopher Columbus. The voyage, Columbus's last, failed to find a western maritime route to the Far East, returned relatively little profit, and resulted in the loss of many crew men, all the fleet's ships, and a year-long marooning in Jamaica. It is deemed the first non-Amerindian discovery of mainland Middle America, and one of the first non-Amerindian, non-Norse discoveries of continental North America.

Prelude
Upon being released from prison on 17 December 1500, Columbus set about planning what he deemed would be 'his most significant, most profitable expedition yet.' The 1497 discovery of an eastern maritime passage to 'the opulent East,' by Vasco de Gama, had steeled Columbus's determination to find a shorter, more direct western route. Consequently, on 26 February 1502, Columbus requested licence to sail on a fourth voyage. Passage to the East, he reasoned, might lay farther west than anyone had prior sailed. The project being deemed viable and desireable, the Catholic Monarchs granted authorisation on 14 March. The royal licence approved disbursement of ten thousand gold pesos for fitting out a fleet, appointed Francisco de Porras as comptroller of spoils, and Diego de Porras as auditor and Crown representative, and forbid the taking of slaves, among other terms and conditions. Columbus enlisted Diego Tristán to captain the flagship, La Capitana, Francisco de Porras for Santiago de Palos, Pedro de Terreros for El Gallego, and Bartolomeo Fieschi for Vizcaíno. One hundred and forty men and boys were reportedly recruited to man the fleet. By 28 April, when all preparations had been finalised, Columbus had spent 2,259,239 maravedis on wages, rent, equipment, and provisions.

Departure
The Columbian fleet set sail on 9 May 1502. After a brief detour to Arzila, Morocco, which Ferdinand II had requested, the fleet reached Hierro, Canary Islands, where they reprovisioned. The fleet reached Martinique in 21 days, the fastest Atlantic crossing of Columbus's career.

Antilles
Crew well-rested and ships repaired, the fleet departed the Lesser Antilles due west. Though his commission forbade landing at Hispaniola at this stage of the voyage, Columbus anchored just off the Ozama River by the end of June, as he wished to request permission to enter the port of Santo Domingo so as to shelter therein from a hurricane he feared was brewing. The petition was denied, but the Admiral was shortly proven right by the landing of a 'massive hurricane,' which the fleet weathered reasonably well, possibly off the Jaina River. After repairing the ships, the fleet set off downwind from Hispaniola on 15 July. After a brief stay at Isle of Pines, Cuba, the ships picked up stiff north-easterlies and set of due southwest.

Honduras
On 30 July, a crewmate sighted Bonacca. Notably, upon anchoring off the island, a richly-laden merchant's canoe approached the fleet. Noting their goods were 'all of a quality superior to what they had seen before,' the Spaniards forced a trade, buying ceramics, dyed cotton textiles, flint-edged swords, and copper hatchets with 'the usual baubles.' As the vessel is thought to have hailed from some nearby port in the Maya Lowlands, the event is deemed by some scholars the first instance of contact between Maya and non-Amerindian peoples.

After impressing the canoe's elderly skipper, the fleet anchored in the lee of Cape Honduras, 'where they made the first landing on the mainland of North America.' They next anchored off the Romano River, due east, where 'Columbus took formal possession' of the newly discovered lands on 17 August. The weather, which beset them with strong headwinds and fierce rain, prolonged the fleet's journey southeastwards to Cape Gracias a Dios, so christened because when they rounded it on 14 September, the weather improved noticeably.

Nicaragua
On 16 September, two days after having turned south at Cape Gracias a Dios, the fleet anchored just off a large estuary, 'probably [that of] the Rio Grande,' with surf so strong it swamped one of the boats, leading to the death by drowning of two crewmates.

Costa Rica
On 25 September, the fleet moored off Puerto Limón, where they attempted to trade with the Talamancan locals, two of whom were impressed to help with Castilian–Amerindian translation.

Panama
On 5 October, the fleet entered Almirante Bay, where Columbus 'found the first sign of fine gold, which an [Amerindian man] wore like a large medal on his breast.' They then anchored in the Chiriqui Lagoon, which the Talamancan interpreters informed was a nine-day's march from, a rich land which lay on another ocean. Columbus took Ciguare to mean Ciamba, but nonetheless seems to have given up his search for a maritime passage to the East, having had no luck so far, and instead focussed on trading for gold, fine specimens of which the new-found peoples had.

The ships put out on 17 October, due southeast where they sighted Veragua, a local village which Amerindian guides noted for its gold production. A storm then blew the ships east to Porto Bello, and farther east to Nombre de Dios, where the crew dropped anchors to repair the fleet. To their misfortune, the weather only worsened, tempestuous winds and currents battering the ships back and forth between Porto Bello and the Chagres River. Conditions finally improved on 3 January 1503, allowing the fleet to leave for the Belén River mouth, where they anchored some days later.

At this point, Columbus lead exploratory parties up the river, while his brother, Bartholomew, led parties up the Veragua River. In February, 'the Spanish put up ten or twelve houses on the west bank of the river [Belén],' thereby founding. This soon proved an unwelcome development among the locals, however, with whom relations quickly soured to the point of military engagement. Seeking to stave off an attack, Columbus authorised the abduction of the local cacique Quibián, and his family and principal subordinates. The pre-emptive strike, led by Bartholomew and eighty men, proved both successful and profitable, netting them 'a good deal of gold.' The cacique soon managed to escape however, and responded with a force of four hundred warriors. Though the crew managed to repel the attack, they suffered twelve fatal and several non-fatal casualties. Growing convinced of Santa María de Belén's untenable situation, Columbus deemed it prudent to abandon the colonial project. Consequently, on 16 April, all ships but El Gallego set sail due east, with Diego Méndez succeeding the recently deceased Diego Tristán as captain of the flagship. After scuttling the newly-unseaworthy Vizcaíno at Porto Bello, the now-halved fleet reached a headland, probably Punta de Mosquito, and set off northwards on 1 May.

Antilles
The fleet, reduced now to La Capitana and Santiago de Palos, both already in a sorry state, anchored at the Jardín de la Reina, Cuba, on 12 May. That week proved especially disastrous for the leaky ships, and taxing for the crew. With 'ships pierced by borers worse than a honeycomb, the people spiritless and desperate,' they carried on to Jamaica, reaching St Ann's Bay on 25 June. Columbus deeming the fleet unseaworthy, he had both ships run ashore and the 116 crew mates marooned for what would prove to be a year-long odyssey.

Columbus set about securing a vessel to send for rescue. That July, he enlisted his captains Méndez and Fieschi, twelve crew mates, and twenty Taino rowers to attempt the daring crossing of the Jamaica Channel aboard dugout canoes in two parties. In three days' time, both canoes reached Navassa Island, where several rowers died or fell very ill of dehydration. Despite these odds, the survivors made the rest of the crossing in one day's time. The captains were detained by the governor at Jaraguá, and did not reach Santo Domingo until March 1504. There, the governor denied them use of a small caravel to rescue their mates, further prolonging their marooning.

Meanwhile, back in Jamaica, the stranded crew's discontent festered until 2 January 1504, when Francisco and Diego de Porras led a mutiny of 48 men. The rebels fled ashore towards the eastern end of the island, to the great misfortune of Amerindian settlements they passed. Over the next month, they would attempt the Channel crossing twice, but fail both times, and so return to St Ann's Bay by the end of March, where, after a skirmish, the Porras brothers would be imprisoned, and their mutineers pardoned. Coincidentally, Amerindian attitudes towards the St Ann's party grew strained, leading to markedly fewer provisions. This trend the Admiral rather ingeniously reverted during the lunar eclipse of 29 February, which he convinced the caciques was a sign of divine disapproval of their recent reticence.

Finally, on 29 June, a rescue caravel from Santo Domingo arrived at St Ann's Bay. The rescued crew reached that port on 13 August.

Return
On 12 September, Columbus, his son, his brother, and 22 crew mates departed Santo Domingo for Sanlúcar de Barrameda, which they reached on 7 November 1504.

Aftermath
Columbus's hopes to the contrary, this expedition proved to be 'the least profitable and most dangerous of all his voyages,' the explorer having found no passage to the East, returned miserly profits to Castile, lost many men and all four ships, and suffered a year's stranding in Jamaica. The post-voyage debriefing of the Catholic Monarchs was precluded by the death of Isabella I on 26 November 1504. Instead, Columbus presented the voyage's negative results only to Ferdinand II that December in Segovia, with the latter proving less than thrilled, as Columbus reportedly 'received nothing' from the King.

In scholarship
First-hand accounts of the voyage by Columbus, his son Ferdinand, the Porras brothers, Pedro de Ledesma, and Diego Méndez remain extant. Sixteenth century second-hand accounts include one by Bartolomé de las Casas, and another by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo. The itineraries described in these sources, however, do not perfectly concur, resulting in discrepancies within the literature.

In culture
The Capitulations of Santa Fe secured for Columbus and his heirs a number of rights and privileges attaching to lands discovered and formally possessed by him. As Columbus discovered and formally possessed mainland territory during his fourth voyage, rather than insular lands, conflict arose regarding the extent of mainland to which the Capitulations rights and privileges attached. In 1508, this resulted in the protracted Pleitos Colombinos, wherein Columbus's heir, Diego Columbus, sued for recognition of his inherited rights and privileges over lands discovered and possessed, claiming rights and privileges over large tracts of the Central American subcontinent by dint of Columbus's discoveries and acts of formal possession during his fourth voyage.