Our best record of the twelve days Columbus spent in the Bahamas is in a document commonly known as The Diario, an abstract of Columbus' log by Las Casas. Not only do we have to deal with the possibility of errors in copying the original, there is the additional question of translating the work from 15th century Spanish to 20th (or 21st) century English.

The Diario, provides a colorful and accurate record of the first recorded cruise through the Bahamas. This log is rarely read by those contemplating a crusie through the Bahamas, yet has much to offer. The Diario offers a great deal of information about anchorages, the weather encountered, the fish, the flora, the fauna, and hospitality of the local people.

There has been a great deal of controversy about Columbus’s first landfall and consequently his subsequent landfalls, during his twelve days in the Bahamas; nevertheless sailors contemplating a cruise through the Bahamas might learn a great deal by studying his log.  Those who have cruised these waters could add a wealth of information to the unsolved mysteries surrounding his cruise.  

During the past three hundred and fifty years, several sites have been proposed for the first landfall. Cat Island seemed unchallenged as the accepted site of the first landfall until 1793.

In 1828, Washington Irving helped gain popular support for the Cat Island theory, about the same time Juan Bautista Munoz identified Watling Island as the landfall candidate of choice.

Gustavus Fox, who had been the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Abraham Lincoln, concluded in the early 1880’s that Samana Cay was the site of first landfall.

The Chicago Herald became the champion of the Watling Island theory in 1893.

In 1926 Watling Island and Cat Island engaged in a legal battle for the official right to use the name “San Salvador”.  The Bahamian Parliament settled that dispute in favor of Watling Island, apparently more of a political decision than one based upon any real academic debate.  Thus the question remained open in the minds of many scholars, until the well known Harvard historian Samuel Morison published his Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Columbus.  Morison seemed to have settled what the Bahamian Parliament had not.  Watling Island was widely accepted as the site of the first landfall and went virtually unchallenged for forty years.

In 1986, National Geographic placed their considerable esteem and reputation on the line behind the theory of their Senior Editor, Joseph Judge.  Their support of the Samana theory sought to go beyond simply opening for public review the inconsistencies of the Watlin Island/ Morison theory; but sought to prove that the Morison theory was wrong, and that the evidence pointed conclusively to Samana Cay.  They probably fell far short of their goal, but the academic world will be forever indebted, for they opened the debate for a new generation of scholars, hopefully a generation, in Judge’s words “without axes to grind”. 

An informal group of Columbus scholars, called The Columbus Round Robin shared ideas on all manner of Columbus topics for several years.  This group shared letters by snail mail and disbanded in 1996.  Some have said the group disbanded because there was simply no longer any Watling Island scholars willing to continue advocacy for that theory.  At least one of the Watling Island scholars, says he simply had other things to do.  It has been suggested that the group fell apart because the league vs. miles debate was finally settled, effectively ending the viability of the Watling Island theory.  Still another suggestion, has been that new information regarding the Juan de La Cosa map was introduced which  favored the more northern landfall candidates.  As just an “observer”, I had noticed that some of the letters had begun to take on more a tone of personal attack, than a scholastic debate.  This happened just about the time that the internet was becoming a powerful communication tool.  I for one would love to see those Round Robin letters  (well most of them) on the internet, indexed, searchable, and available to the widest possible audience, but particularly those who have a special interest in, or knowledge of the Bahamas.  

There are many controversies that surround Columbus.

Some have debated whether he was a “saint or a sinner”, since some of his treatment of the Native Americans is inconsistent with today’s understandings of human rights. 

Some have objected to the description of his voyage as having “discovered” America, since these lands were already “discovered” by the Native Americans living here. 

When others have described his voyage as simply the first European to explore the New World, and “introduce” the two cultures, even this drew criticism.  Indeed, the sailors from Northern Europe were crossing vast expanses of the North Atlantic, visiting at least islands of the New World long before Columbus.  There is some evidence that Columbus actually sailed with some of these Northern Europeans, gaining knowledge from their experience.  Thus he actually knew of the “New World” before he “discovered” it.

Many believe that Columbus possessed information obtained from a Portuguese sailor and perhaps a “secret map”, although Judge critically discounts this.

	What was the length of the league, which Columbus used in his log?
	Did Columbus navigate by dead reckoning, or was he a latitude sailor?