Columbus Sails from Palos
On 3 August 1492 Columbus left Palos with three ships — the Santa María, Pinta and Niña. Sailing west by way of the Canary Islands, he went 33 days without sight of land.
Emanuel Leutze · Public domain · Source
The fleet was the flagship Santa María and the small, fast caravels Pinta and Niña, with some ninety men. The noted Palos captain Martín Alonso Pinzón and his brothers commanded ships and recruited the crews. After repairs and fresh water and food at La Gomera in the Canaries, they headed west on 6 September.
The easterly trade winds carried them fast, but a month passed without land. Columbus wrote in his log that he gave the crew shorter daily distances so they would not take fright. When the sailors demanded on 10 October that they turn back, he is said to have persuaded them to sail three more days. Before dawn on 12 October a lookout on the Pinta saw a white shore in the moonlight and cried "Land!"
