Today is Columbus Day in the United States.  Celebrating Columbus began in 1792 in New York City and became an annual tradition.  As a result of 11 Italian immigrants being murdered by a mob in New Orleans in 1892, President Benjamin Harrison declared Columbus Day as a one-time national celebration. This was also part of a wider effort to ease tensions and to placate Italian Americans and Italy, which had expressed official dismay at the murders.

Italian Americans began using Columbus Day to not only celebrate Columbus but their heritage as well. Serious lobbying was undertaken to enshrine the holiday in states and ultimately the federal government. Colorado proclaimed it a holiday in 1905 and made it an official holiday in 1907. In 1934 after lobbying from the Knights of Columbus and New York City Italian leader Generoso Pope, Congress passed a statute requiring the president to proclaim October 12 as Columbus Day each year and asked Americans to observe it with “appropriated ceremonies” in schools, churches, and other places.

However, it was a not yet a federal holiday. The effort to make it a federal holiday began in 1966 when the National Columbus Day Committee lobbied to make it a federal holiday. This was achieved in 1968 and has been a federal holiday since then. Like most federal holidays, it is often celebrated on a Monday of the week the date it falls on. The exception being if falls on a Saturday, it would be celebrated on Friday.

Columbus is recognized for his discovery of the New World. He, like many, were eager to discover the riches of Cathay, India, and Japan. Since the Ottoman Empire closed off using Egypt and the Red Sea to Europeans (land routes were closed as well), European explorers were eager to find a sea route. Columbus (and he was not the only one) held the belief that by sailing west they would be able to get to the Indies. While many educated Europeans (like Columbus) believed the Earth was round, they had no concept of how it big it really was. Thus, they thought East Asia was closer than it was.

After securing financing from the Spanish monarchy, Columbus set sail on 3 August 1492 with three ships-Santa Maria, the Pinta and the Nina–from Palos, Spain. On 12 October 1492 land was sighted. They would find Cuba later and Columbus thought it was Japan. They landed on Hispaniola in December and left a small colony behind. Returning to Spain in 1493, he was received with high honors by the Spanish court.

Columbus would lead four expeditions to the New World exploring the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and South and Central American mainland. His original goal of finding a western ocean route to Asia was never accomplished. And he likely never truly understood the full scope of what he had accomplished. The New World–North America, the Caribbean, Central and South America–would open new opportunities for exploration and wealth. Spain would become one of the wealthiest and powerful nations on Earth as a result.

Sea travel of great distances in the 15^th century was quite a challenge, fraught with all kinds of uncertainty and dangers. They had to depend on the wind, current and favorable weather, and the stars. The sextant had not been invented yet, so they used a procedure called Dead Reckoning. This required the use of simple arithmetic and process to determine their location. A long rope was used, a piece of wood, an hourglass, and a compass. The navigator would record in a logbook the daily speed and direction. The rope was knotted every four to six feet along its length.

Arithmetic tells us that distance traveled in a single direction can be measured by multiplying the speed with the time. You might have done some of this in grade school. A car traveling at 30 miles per hour for two hours would travel 60 miles (speed x 2). A navigator would log the speed, direction, and time in the log. In this way they could measure the distance traveled to and from where they departed from. Changes in wind speed and other things would be recorded as well. Columbus used his own version, gained from experience sailing, of determining the speed and direction to enter in his log. He could feel the keel moving through the water and with his sense of the wind, knew what the speed of his ship was.

It was a remarkable and historic undertaking. Long sea voyages were often avoided because you were away for years at a time and dependent a great deal on nature to survive. And there was the terrible specter of scurvy. Many would die on long sea voyages from this scourge, which came from the lack of vitamin c in the diet. Fresh water in kegs often wet bad after a month, so beer and spirits (often rum), was where you got water from. Fruits and vegetables would only last so long, and meat had to be cured for long term use. So, food was rationed carefully. Later when it was realized that having citrus would alleviate this condition, sailors would get lime or lemon juice as part of their daily food ration. It became so common on British Royal Navy ships the sailors were called Limeys.

Italians and Spanish are rightly proud of his accomplishment. Others had touched upon America (the Vikings for one) prior to Columbus but none had opened the door as he did to a new part of the world that had been undiscovered. Like all our accomplished heroes of the past, he had his faults. In fact, not one hero you can point to doesn’t have faults. The ancient Greeks knew this and what defined a hero was someone who rose above them to do something extraordinary. The Greek hero Heracles (Hercules in Latin) had all kinds of faults but did things that rose above them. Columbus should be remembered for the courage, bravery, and fortitude to sail over the horizon to see what lay beyond. It would change the world and end the Venetian and Ottoman control of trade to the East forever.

Columbus died on 20 May 1506. Gout was considered the cause of his death, but doctors today believe it was reactive arthritis.

Sources

Flint, Valerie I.J. “Christopher Columbus | Biography, Nationality, Voyages, Ships, Route, & Facts.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Last modified October 7, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Columbus.

———. “Christopher Columbus – Facts, Voyage & Discovery | HISTORY.” HISTORY, August 11, 2023. https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/christopher-columbus.

“Christopher Columbus – Ages of Exploration.” Ages of Exploration. Last modified August 9, 2024. https://exploration.marinersmuseum.org/subject/christopher-columbus/.

The Coast Guard hearings on the Titan submersible tragedy began last week. We learned last week from a former employee of concerns about the structural integrity of the submersible.  Here are more news and videos to watch about the hearings. So far, the picture of the company is not a good one.

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Lepore, Stephen M. “OceanGate Co-founder Reveals Truth About Sub Disaster That Killed Five.” Mail Online. Last modified September 24, 2024. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13884119/OceanGate-founder-reveals-sad-truth-Titan-sub-disaster-killed-five-excursion-Titanic.html.

The man who co-founded OceanGate with Stockton Rush has revealed the answers to what really went wrong on the Titanic excursion may never be known.  Guillermo Sohnlein told a Coast Guard panel Monday that he can’t say what exactly led to the submersible implosion in June 2023 that killed five people.  “I don’t know what happened. I don’t know who made what decision when and based on what information,’ he said. ‘And honestly, I don’t know if any of us will ever know this, despite all of your team’s investigative efforts.’ Sohnlein could only say that the incident, which claimed the lives of adventurer Hamish Harding, father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood and Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet, ‘was not supposed to happen.’

Key points

• Testified that OceanGate was planning on building 8 such submersibles and would not use a mothership to cut costs.
• Contradicted testimony of former employee David Lochridge, who alleged OceanGate was all about profit. Said company was not driven by the idea of tourism or Titanic, which had already been explored.
• Said Rush Stockton, who died in the implosion, was confident in the submersible.
• Coast Guard released a 2018 redacted transcript between Stockton and Lochridge. Stockton insists he listened to his criticisms and that Lochridge was unhappy with the results. Stockton insisted the submersible was safe.

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6abc Philadelphia. “Footage Shows ROV Trying to Salvage Titan Submersible Wreckage.” Video. YouTube, September 23, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-RC9HZPlGM.

The Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) releases remotely operated vehicle footage of the Titan submersible’s salvage from June 26, 2023, for the Titan MBI hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina, Sept. 23, 2024. As part of the investigation, the wreckage was recovered and transported to a secure facility for detailed analysis. (Video courtesy of Pelagic Research Services)

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“Titan Company Co-founder Says Goal Was to Create Fleet of Subs, ‘Give Humanity Greater Access to the Ocean.’” CBS News. Last modified September 23, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/titan-sub-oceangate-cofounder-goal-fleet-submersibles-guillermo-sohnlein/.

Businessman Guillermo Sohnlein, who helped found OceanGate with Stockton Rush, said the original vision was to create a fleet of four or five deep-diving submersibles capable of carrying five people to 6,500 yards deep. The plan for the company was to have no dedicated mothership.

“We wanted to give humanity greater access to the ocean, specifically the deep ocean,” Sohnlein said. Sohnlein ultimately left the company before the Titan disaster in June 2023. Rush was among the five people who died when the submersible imploded. Though Sohnlein left the Washington company years ago, he defended its efforts in the aftermath of the submersible’s implosion.

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Sanchez, Ray, and Graham Hurley. “A Haunting Final Message and Other Takeaways From the Coast Guard Inquiry Into the Titan Submersible Implosion.” CNN, September 22, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/22/us/titan-submersible-hearing-takeaways/index.html.

More than a year after the Titan submersible imploded, killing all five voyagers on board, the story of the ill-fated expedition to the Titanic has taken the form of a modern-day Greek tragedy overflowing with mortal pride and heedlessness. Testimony during the first week of a hearing by a US Coast Guard panel probing the disaster has painted a damning portrait of the Washington-based company that developed and operated the 23,000-pound submersible as well as its founder – who charged deep-pocketed passengers about $250,000 per dive. “What this really comes down to is hubris and greed,” Peter Girguis, a Harvard University professor and oceanographer who has been monitoring the hearing, told CNN. “It’s both tragic and ironic that this example of hubris occurred within a few 100 meters or yards of another example of hubris, which is the Titanic,” he added, referring to another infamous maritime disaster involving what was the largest passenger ship in service and considered “unsinkable” when it struck an iceberg in 1912.

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“Passenger on a Previous Titan Sub Dive Says His Mission Was Aborted Due to Apparent Malfunction.” Reviewonline.Com, September 20, 2024. https://www.reviewonline.com/uncategorized/2024/09/passenger-on-a-previous-titan-sub-dive-says-his-mission-was-aborted-due-to-apparent-malfunction/.

The Titan appeared to be off course on its way to the Titanic, so the crew decided to use thrusters so the submersible could make its way to the wreck, Hagen said. The starboard thruster failed to activate, he said. “We realized that all it could do was spin around in circles, making right turns,” Hagen said. “At this juncture, we obviously weren’t going to be able to navigate to the Titanic.” Hagen said the Titan dropped weights, resurfaced and the mission was scrapped. He said he was aware of the potentially unsafe nature of getting in the experimental submersible. “Anyone that wanted to go was either delusional if they didn’t think that it was dangerous, or they were embracing the risk,” he said.

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WFAA. “VIDEO: OceanGate Titan Submersible Hull Wreckage Found at Bottom of the Ocean.” Video. YouTube, September 18, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSJek-AKNMM.

The U.S. Coast Guard released new footage of the doomed OceanGate Titan submersible’s hull filmed via a remotely operated vehicle at the bottom of the ocean.

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