La Salle History Professor Says Columbus Was a Great Sailor, But a Terrible Administrator and One of His Crews Mutinied

Christopher Columbus was a fearless sailor, a great navigator and a terrible administrator, which is why he returned from one trip to the New World in chains, says Br. Edward Sheehy, a La Salle University history professor and maritime scholar.

“His voyages weren’t organized. His sailors in the new world thought so poorly of his leadership and inability to get them riches that they mutinied and sent him back in chains,” said Sheehy.

Sheehy contends Columbus was a genius at certain things and a flawed human being, an interesting take on the man who didn’t really know where he was going. One his first trip to the New World in 1492, Columbus made good use of the newly invented compass, said Sheehy. He also kept a log – one of the first in history that survived a long ocean voyage – and was adept at “dead reckoning,” a process of estimating one's current position based upon a previously determined position.

“He had the guts to do this. No one knew how far it would be because no one tried,” said Sheehy, The French and Portuguese turned down his initial overtures because they believed they had a better grasp on the distance (to reach Asia) than Columbus, Sheehy said. “Columbus had it at around 2,000 miles, while they (French and Portuguese) had it at 12,000 miles,” said Sheehy, who added that Columbus sailed to Iceland for one journey.

Columbus kept trying and found his eventual sponsors, King Fernidand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Sheehy notes that the Spanish monarchs had just unified Spain by driving out the Moors from the south and were eager to expand their sphere of influence. They outfitted Columbus with three ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, and he set sail in the name of “God, gold and glory” for Spain.

While he opened up the New World to Spanish rule, the conquests of gold and other valuables were later accomplished by Spanish explorers, Pizzaro and Cortez. Columbus fell out of favor over the course of the subsequent three journeys because they were expensive and not enough riches were coming back. “The money had to go where it would do the best. He didn’t bring back the money,” said Sheehy.

---Rob Fierro