It’s October 1492. Christopher Columbus and his little fleet of three ships left the Canary Islands 36 days ago. Columbus had expected to reach Asia by now.
He’s been misleading his crew about how far they’ve sailed each day, so they won’t think he’s made a mistake and demand to go back to Spain. In September, one sailor saw the first sign that land was near: a bird that’s never seen more than 75 miles from land. But that was weeks ago, and the crew is restless. Finally, at two in the morning on October 12, a sailor calls out that he sees land!
