David Voelker's Profile

Tuesday, 25 September. Very calm this day; afterwards the wind


rose. Continued their course west till night. The Admiral held


a conversation with Martin Alonzo Pinzon, captain of the Pinta,


respecting a chart which the Admiral had sent him three days


before, in which it appears he had marked down certain islands in


that sea; Martin Alonzo was of opinion that they were in their


neighborhood, and the Admiral replied that he thought the same,


but as they had not met with them, it must have been owing to the


currents which had carried them to the northeast and that they


had not made such progress as the pilots stated. The Admiral


directed him to return the chart, when he traced their course


upon it in presence of the pilot and sailors.

At sunset Martin Alonzo called out with great joy from his vessel


that he saw land, and demanded of the Admiral a reward for his


intelligence. The Admiral says, when he heard him declare this,


he fell on his knees and returned thanks to God, and Martin


Alonzo with his crew repeated Gloria in excelsis Deo, as did the


crew of the Admiral. Those on board the Nina ascended the


rigging, and all declared they saw land. The Admiral also


thought it was land, and about twenty-five leagues distant. They


remained all night repeating these affirmations, and the Admiral


ordered their course to be shifted from west to southwest where


the land appeared to lie. They sailed that day four leagues and


a half west and in the night seventeen leagues southwest, in all


twenty-one and a half: told the crew thirteen leagues, making it


a point to keep them from knowing how far they had sailed; in


this manner two reckonings were kept, the shorter one falsified,


and the other being the true account. The sea was very smooth


and many of the sailors went in it to bathe, saw many dories and


other fish.

Wednesday, 26 September. Continued their course west till the


afternoon, then southwest and discovered that what they had taken


for land was nothing but clouds. Sailed, day and night, thirty-


one leagues; reckoned to the crew twenty-four. The sea was like


a river, the air soft and mild.

Sunday, 30 September. Continued their course west and sailed day


and night in calms, fourteen leagues; reckoned eleven.--Four


tropic birds came to the ship, which is a very clear sign of


land, for so many birds of one sort together show that they are


not straying about, having lost themselves. Twice, saw two


pelicans; many weeds. The constellation called Las Gallardias,


which at evening appeared in a westerly direction, was seen in


the northeast the next morning, making no more progress in a


night of nine hours, this was the case every night, as says the


Admiral. At night the needles varied a point towards the


northwest, in the morning they were true, by which it appears


that the polar star moves, like the others, and the needles are


always right.

Monday, 1 October. Continued their course west and sailed


twenty-five leagues; reckoned to the crew twenty. Experienced a


heavy shower. The pilot of the Admiral began to fear this


morning that they were five hundred and seventy-eight leagues


west of the island of Ferro. The short reckoning which the


Admiral showed his crew gave five hundred and eighty-four, but


the true one which he kept to himself was seven hundred and seven


leagues.

Thursday, 11 October. Steered west-southwest; and encountered a


heavier sea than they had met with before in the whole voyage.


Saw pardelas and a green rush near the vessel. The crew of the


Pinta saw a cane and a log; they also picked up a stick which


appeared to have been carved with an iron tool, a piece of cane,


a plant which grows on land, and a board. The crew of the Nina


saw other signs of land, and a stalk loaded with rose berries.


These signs encouraged them, and they all grew cheerful. Sailed


this day till sunset, twenty-seven leagues.

After sunset steered their original course west and sailed twelve


miles an hour till two hours after midnight, going ninety miles,


which are twenty-two leagues and a half; and as the Pinta was the


swiftest sailer, and kept ahead of the Admiral, she discovered


land and made the signals which had been ordered.

It is supposed to be a principle of universal law, that, if an uninhabited country be
discovered by a number of individuals, who acknowledge no connexion with, and owe no allegiance
to, any government whatever, the country becomes the property of the discoverers, so far at least as
they can use it. They acquire a title in common. The title of the whole land is in the whole society.
It is to be divided and parcelled out according to the will of the society, expressed by the whole body,
or by that organ which is authorized by the whole to express it.

            If the discovery be made, and possession of the country be taken, under the authority of an
existing government, which is acknowledged by the emigrants, it is supposed to be equally well
settled, that the discovery is made for the whole nation, that the country becomes a part of the nation,
and that the vacant soil is to be disposed of by that organ of the government which has the
constitutional power to dispose of the national domains, by that organ in which all vacant territory
is vested by law.