The admiral departed from the camp of St Faith in the month of January 1492 on his intended journey; and on the same day Lewis de Santangel, formerly mentioned, who was exceedingly anxious to forward his project, obtained an audience of the queen of Castile, and used every argument he could devise to persuade her to adopt the undertaking and to comply with the terms required. He expressed his astonishment that she, who had always evinced much greatness of soul in all important matters, should now want spirit to venture upon an undertaking where so little was to be risked, and which might redound so highly to the glory of God and the propagation of the faith, not without great benefit and honour to her kingdoms and dominions. That, should any other prince accept the offer of Columbus, the injury which her crown would sustain was very obvious; and that then she would justly incur much blame from her friends and servants, and would be reproached by her enemies, and all the world would say that she deserved the misfortune and disappointment; and, although she might never be sensible of the evil consequences of her refusal, her successors must. That, since the proposal seemed well grounded in reason and sound argument, and was made by a man of wisdom and knowledge, who demanded no other reward but what might arise from his discoveries, and who was willing to bear a proportion of the charges, and to adventure his own personal safety on the event, her majesty ought certainly to make the attempt. That she ought not to believe the undertaking was such an impossibility as had been alleged by those learned men to whom the proposal had been referred, neither to consider its possible failure as any reflection upon her wisdom; for in his opinion it would be universally looked upon as a mark of generous magnanimity to attempt discovering the secret wonders of the world, as had been done by other monarchs to their great honour and advantage. That, however uncertain the event might be, even a considerable sum of money would be well employed in the endeavour to ascertain the certainty of so very important an affair; whereas the admiral only required 2500 crowns to fit out a fleet for the discovery; and that therefore she ought not to allow it to be said hereafter that the fear of losing so small a sum had kept her from patronizing the enterprise.

The queen was much impressed by these representations of Santangel, of whose sincere attachment to her service and honour she was extremely sensible. She thanked him for his good counsel, and said that she was willing to accede to the proposed enterprise, providing that the execution were delayed until she might have a little time to recruit her finances after the conclusion of the present war. Yet, if he thought it necessary to proceed immediately, she was willing that the requisite funds should be borrowed on the credit of her jewels. Upon this condescension to his advice which she had refused to all other persons, Santangel immediately replied, that there was no necessity to pawn her jewels on the occasion, as he would readily advance his own money to do such a service to her majesty. Upon this resolution, the queen immediately sent an officer to bring the admiral back, who had already reached the bridge of Pinos, two leagues from Granada. Though much mortified at the difficulties and delays he had met with hitherto, yet, on receiving intimation of the queens willingness to comply with his proposals, he returned immediately to the camp of St Faith, where he was honourably received by their majesties. The dispatch of the articles of agreement was commited to John Coloma the secretary, and every thing which he had demanded, as has been mentioned before, without alteration or diminution, was granted under the hands and seals of their Catholic majesties.

All the conditions which the admiral demanded being conceded by their Catholic majesties, he set out from Granada on the 21st May 1492 for Palos, where he was to fit out the ships for his intended expedition. That town was bound to serve the crown for three months with two caravels, which were ordered to be given to Columbus; and he fitted out these and a third vessel with all care and diligence. The ship in which he personally embarked was called the St Mary; the second vessel named the Pinta, was commanded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon; and the third named the Nina, which had square sails, was under the command of Vincent Yanez Pinzon, the brother of Alonzo, both of whom were inhabitants of Palos. Being furnished with all necessaries, and having 90 men to navigate the three vessels, Columbus set sail from Palos on the 3d of August 1492, shaping his course directly for the Canaries.

During this voyage, and indeed in all the four voyages which he made from Spain to the West Indies, the admiral was very careful to keep an exact journal of every occurrence which took place; always specifying what winds blew, how far he sailed with each particular wind, what currents were found, and every thing that was seen by the way, whether birds, fishes, or any other thing. Although to note all these particulars with a minute relation of every thing that happened, shewing what impressions and effects answered to the course and aspect of the stars, and the differences between the seas which he sailed and those of our countries, might all be useful; yet as I conceive that the relation of these particulars might now be tiresome to the reader, I shall only give an account of what appears to me necessary and convenient to be known.

On Saturday the 4th of August, the next day after sailing from Palos, the rudder of the Pinta broke loose. The admiral strongly suspected that this was occasioned by the contrivance of the master on purpose to avoid proceeding on the voyage, which he had endeavoured to do before they left Spain, and he therefore ranged up along side of the disabled vessel to give every assistance in his power, but the wind blew so hard that he was unable to afford any aid. Pinzon, however, being an experienced seamen, soon made a temporary repair by means of ropes, and they proceeded on their voyage. But on the following Tuesday, the weather becoming rough and boisterous, the fastenings gave way, and the squadron was obliged to lay to for some time to renew the repairs. From this misfortune of twice breaking the rudder, a superstitious person might have foreboded the future disobedience of Pinzon to the admiral; as through his malice the Pinta twice separated from the squadron, as shall be afterwards related. Having applied the best remedy they could to the disabled state of the rudder, the squadron continued its voyage, and came in sight of the Canaries at daybreak of Thursday the 9th of August; but, owing to contrary winds, they were unable to come to anchor at Gran Canaria until the 12th. The admiral left Pinzon at Gran Canaria to endeavour to procure another vessel instead of that which was disabled, and went himself with the Nina on the same errand to Gomera.

The admiral arrived at Gomera on Sunday the 12th of August, and sent a boat on shore to inquire if any vessel could be procured there for his purpose. The boat returned next morning, and brought intelligence that no vessel was then at that island, but that Donna Beatrix de Bobadilla, the propriatrix of the island, was then at Gran Canaria in a hired vessel of 40 tons belonging to one Gradeuna of Seville, which would probably suit his purpose and might perhaps be got. He therefore determined to await the arrival of that vessel at Gomera, believing that Pinzon might have secured a vessel for himself at Gran Canaria, if he had not been able to repair his own. After waiting two days, he dispatched one of his people in a bark which was bound from Gomera to Gran Canaria, to acquaint Pinzon where he lay, and to assist him in repairing and fixing the rudder.