In early August 1492, everything was ready to go to sea.

One of the most famous fleets to sail on the ocean is anchored in Porto Palos, a small seaport in southwest Spain.

It included Columbus's flagship, the Santa María, and two caravels, the Pinta and the Nina (la Pinta, la Ni?0?9a y la Santa María).

The three ships were of different sizes and were equipped with cannons, items traded with the local indigenous people, and six months of grain and other food.

The flagship "Santa Maria" weighs 130 tons, is about 35 meters long, has a deck length of 18 meters, has 3 masts, and is equipped with corner sails. Columbus is the captain.

The second ship was the Pinta, captained by Martin Binson. It weighed 90 tons, was fast, and its hull length was only half the length of the flagship.

The third Nina, weighing about 60 tons, was captained by Martin's brother Vicente Binson.

The Binson brothers also participated in this expedition as investors, and their success was closely related to their vital interests.

The most difficult task was to recruit sailors, many of whom were Columbus's friends, servants, and curious officials.

A considerable number were prisoners who were pardoned on the condition of this voyage.

This made up 88 people, including a linguist who knew Arabic.

This was because at that time it was believed that the mother tongue of all languages ??was Arabic, so the linguist was intended to act as an interpreter when meeting the Chinese Khan.

On August 3, 1492, Columbus led the fleet to weigh anchor and set out to sea.

There was no wind at that time, the sails hung limply, and the fleet slowly sailed out along the Tinto River at low tide.

On August 12, the fleet sailed to the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa.

After replenishing firewood and supplies, the fleet left the Canary Islands on September 6. Since all the crew were in good spirits, no one escaped.

The fleet sailed due west on the northeast wind that often rises near the Canary Islands. According to Columbus's experience in sailing in this area a few years ago, this northeast wind is the best wind direction for sailing across the ocean to Japan.

The fleet sailed day and night with the easterly wind, and sometimes could sail more than 150 miles westward in a day and night.

But day after day, the empty sea surface is always displayed in front of people.

The crew lived a monotonous life at sea.

From morning to night, the boat boy reports the time according to the hourglass every 30 minutes.

The crew changes shifts every four hours. Since on small ships in the late 15th century, only the captain and one or two senior officials had the right to enjoy comfortable cabins and sleeping berths, the crew who were not on duty could only lie lazily on the deck.

Chat, or curl up in the shade for a good night's sleep.

Columbus had a very happy time at the beginning of the voyage. The fresh morning air, the warm afternoon and the tranquil sea brought him great joy.

The only thing that made him anxious was the anxiety of the sailors.

Columbus prepared two logbooks at the beginning.

One book records his estimate of the actual distance covered each day, which is kept secret; the other records the voyage, which is much smaller than the actual distance, and is made public so that the crew will not panic when the voyage is prolonged.

And lose confidence.

But because Columbus always overestimated his speed, his fake log was closer to the actual situation.

Although two weeks later, due to a change in wind direction, the fleet began to sail against the wind, but this comforted Columbus.

He wrote in his diary: "I need this headwind, because the crew is worried that there will never be a suitable wind direction in this area to send them back to Spain." Soon, they found tufts of green seaweed floating

On the sea, they had sailed to the Sargasso Sea in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, which was covered by large amounts of floating sargassum.

After they successfully passed, they realized that their initial worry that the ship would hit the reef or become entangled in the surrounding seaweed was unnecessary.

Later, a sailor found a sea crab attached to seaweed. Columbus believed that this was a sign that land was approaching, because in his opinion, crabs could not be found more than 80 miles away from land.

In fact, this is just a small crab that thrives everywhere in the Sargasso Sea.

On the evening of September 25, the ship of the Pinta shouted that it had arrived on land, and the crew members on the ship also climbed up the mast. An island was vaguely visible where the sea and the sky met.

Columbus was so excited that he knelt on the ground to thank God and ordered the entire crew to sing praises to God.

But the island they discovered disappeared the next day.

This had happened before and would happen again, and they mistook the low-hanging thunderclouds for land.

In October, the fleet had been drifting on the ocean in isolation for three weeks, but the shadow of the land was still invisible.

The sailors, whose faces were covered with stubble and whose clothes were caked with sweat from the seawater, began to complain openly. They said that this voyage was a stupid voyage. Some sailors wanted to throw Columbus into the sea and then return.

However, Columbus remained unwavering and continued to sail westward.

On October 7, they saw a small bird, certainly not a seabird, flying overhead to the southwest.

This is the climax of the migration of large numbers of migratory birds from North America to the Caribbean islands and South America for the winter.

Therefore, Columbus led the entire fleet to sail west-southwest, using migratory birds as navigation marks.