ly-laden Venetian galleys were on their return voyage from
Flanders. The squadron lay in wait for them off the Portuguese coast,
between Lisbon and Cape Saint Vincent. A desperate engagement ensued;
the vessels grappled each other. That commanded by Columbus was engaged
with a huge Venetian galley. Hand-grenades and other fiery missiles
were thrown on board her, and the galley was wrapped in flames. So
closely were the vessels fastened together, that both were involved in
one conflagration. The crews threw themselves into the sea. Columbus
seized an oar, and being an expert swimmer, reached the shore, though
fully two leagues distant. On recovering he made his way to Lisbon.
Possibly he may have resided there previously; certain it is that he
there married a lady, the daughter of a distinguished navigator, from
whose widow he obtained much information regarding the voyages and
expeditions of her late husband, as well as from his papers, charts,
journals, and memoranda.

Having become naturalised in Portugal, he sailed occasionally on voyages
to the coast of Guinea, and when on shore supported his family by making
maps and charts, which in those days required a degree of knowledge and
experience sufficient to entitle the possessor to distinction.

He associated with various navigators, and he noted down all he heard.
It was said by some that islands had been seen far away to the west when
they had been driven in that direction. Whatever credit might have been
given to these reports by Columbus, he had far stronger reasons for
believing that, by sailing across the ocean to the west, he should reach
land. He was of opinion that about one-third of the circumference of
the earth was unknown and unexplored. A great portion of this might be
filled up by the eastern regions of Asia, while the tract of water
intervening between these countries might be less than at first
supposed.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, two great travellers, Marco
Polo and Sir John Mandeville, journeyed eastward over a large portion of
Asia, and had given vivid descriptions of the magnificence of its cities
and scenery. Marco Polo especially had described two large islands,
Ontilla and Cipango, the latter undoubtedly Japan, which it was expected
would be the first reached by a navigator sailing westward.

A Portuguese pilot, Martin Vicenti, after sailing four hundred and
fifty-two leagues to the west of Cape Saint Vincent, ha