Last night's moon was really strange....a bottom cresent that was really bright and was in an unusual part of my view from my yard. So unusual that a neighbor, who didn't even recognize the moon through the bare, winter trees that obscured it somewhat, came over and asked me if someone put a tower in the woods up on the hill. The point here, is that the moon wasn't where it normally was, looking as it normally should....albiet, the spooky, dark woods played a part in it too. This caused concern.
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It is with this in mind that I read this story at Space.com about how a lunar eclipse saved Christopher Columbus and his crew who were starving at the time, stranded in Jamaica. Knowledge is a powerful thing. And Columbus had enough wits about him to use his knowledge.... in the form of an almanac of astrological tables.... to dupe the God Fearing natives into providing food for his men.
Columbus, of course, had a copy of the Almanac with him when he was stranded on
Jamaica. And he soon discovered from studying its tables that on the evening of
Thursday, Feb. 29, 1504, a total eclipse of the moon would take place soon after
the time of moonrise.
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Armed with this knowledge, three days before the eclipse, Columbus asked for a meeting with the natives Cacique ("chief") and announced to him that his Christian god was angry with his people for no longer supplying Columbus and his men with food. Therefore, he was about to provide a clear sign of his displeasure: Three nights hence, he would all but obliterate the rising full moon, making it appear "inflamed with wrath," which would signify the evils that would soon be inflicted upon all
of them.
The story gets even better as Columbus's God.... not only "follows through" with his sign, but on cue, returns the moon to normal afterward:
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"His god" was a sandglass that Columbus turned every half hour to time the
various stages of the eclipse, based on the calculations provided by
Regiomontanus' almanac.
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Just moments before the end of the total phase Columbus reappeared, announcing to the natives that his god had pardoned them and would now allow the moon to gradually return. And at that moment, true to Columbus' word, the moon slowly began to reappear and as it emerged from the Earth's shadow, the grateful
natives hurried away. They then kept Columbus and his men well supplied and well
fed until a relief caravel from Hispaniola finally arrived on June 29, 1504.
Columbus and his men returned to Spain on Nov. 7.
I call it a triumph of science.
1 comment:
I really loved this story. My favorite part, actually, is when the neighbor came over and asked if someone had put a tower in the woods up on the hill. I can hear the question being asked in that western Pennsylvania accent. Someone confused enough by this intruder in the sky to seek out answers. Something about that feels curious and nice. And like home.
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