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“And the sea will grant each man new hope . . . “

“ . . . his sleep brings dreams of home.”—Christopher Columbus

On August 3, 1492 Christopher Columbus set sail on his first voyage.

Christopher Columbus was born in the seaport town of Genoa, Italy circa 1451. He developed a love for the sea at an early age and eventually settled in Lisbon, Portugal. While searching for an easy route to the East Indies, he was certain that he could reach India and the Spice Islands by sailing westward. After seven years of struggling to win support for his plan, he and a crew of ninety set sail on August 3, 1492 aboard three ships—the “Nina, the “Pinta,” and Columbus himself in command of the flagship “Santa Maria.” After several mishaps and many hardships, they reached the island of San Salvador on October 12, 1492.

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Sources consulted:

Stamp Design Files, Scott Specialized Catalogue 2005, A1972-A1975, April 24, 1992, #2620-2623 (entitled “First Voyage of Christopher Columbus”).

The Story of Columbus on Stamps by George J. Lofts – HE6183 C72L82 1944 NPM. Columbus by Dr. J.H. Van Peursem; translated by J.H. Brinkman – HE6183 C63P51 NPM

—Beverly Coward

5 Comments

  1. Two more interesting items about C. Columbus:
    He became a sailor when he was fifteen years old.
    The year 1992 was the five hundredth anniversary of Columbus’s discovery of America.

  2. Smithsonian Libraries

    Thanks for tracking that down, tnm. here is Sean Connery saying the attributed quote in the movie.

  3. Chris Colo

    Recent Smithsonian Libraries scholarship has revealed that upon seeing the New World for the first time, Columbus exclaimed, “INSTAGRAM DAT JOINT!”

  4. Mitch

    I heard Ramius quote Christopher Columbus at the end of “Red October” and said to myself, “That doesn’t quite sound like Old Chris to me….”

    And so, apparently, Chris Columbus said no such thing.

    Is it really just Hollywood, at it again? Why did they think they needed to cheapen a really fine movie by adding a pseudo-poetic quotation — easily fact-checked — at the end of the film?

    A four-star movie drops to 3 stars.

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