Customer Reviews

The Last Voyage of Columbus: Being the Epic Tale of the Great Captain's Fourth Expedition, Including Accounts of Swordfight, Mutiny, Shipwreck, Gold, War, Hurricane, and Discovery

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Martin Dugard knows how to write well. This is a gift not all historians have. The notes section is helpfull to readers who are interested in further study. Dugard has traveled to the obscure regions he descibes. I only gave it four stars because I would have loved to see pictures of the sites he descibes (although I am aware that would have raised the cost). I knew some facts about Columbus. His religious zeal. His son's first hand account. I have seen Ridley Scott's "1492" (which I enjoyed). However I did not know anything about this "Fourth Expedition". I have read Manchester's account of Magellan, which I found very interesting (and I intend to read Bergreen's Bio of Magellan next) however this tale is simply amazing. The title says it all. Amazing tales of storm and divine retribution (I won't give it away). Such was the strain of the mission that heroes became conspirators (these were no "Conquistadors"..for that, see Gov. Ovando). I will always remember the name of Diego Mendez (somebody I had never heard of until now). The fate of the convoy of Bobadilla is a tale you have to read to believe. I am going to hunt down Dugard's book "Into Africa" and his work on Captain Cook. I cannot recommend this book more highly.

Wow. I learned so much from this book and enjoyed every page of it. If I were in the movie business, I'm be optioning the rights on this puppy for a movie with Harrison Ford as Columbus in a heartbeat.

Yes, so we all know the general outline of the 1492 story. And we know some vague details that Columbus never found the western route to the orient. But Dugard brings this to life and puts in fascinating details about life at sea, the struggles Columbus and the crew faced, and just what really did happen to bring an end to Columbus' great career.

Dugard's writing style is fantastic as is his approach. He doesn't try to mis-apply 20th (or 21st) century morality onto Columbus' actions, he's good at interpreting Columbus behavior in the right temporal light. He doesn't seek to justify or crucify Columbus, just to tell a great adventure story. The best fiction writers would have a hard time beating the twists of fate, politics, action, and tension of this real life drama.

I also found this book especially interesting having recently read James Reston's excellent "Dogs of God." Dogs of God sets the stage very nicely to better understand Spain's politcal and religious climate at the time as well as the events leading up to Columbus' first voyage.

Having read this, I'm anxious to read some of Dugard's other writing, possibly his "Surviving the Toughest Race on Earth" next.

Dugard avoided innumerable potential tangents to give us the benefit of his research into this last voyage.

I learned that info and mis-info about CC is not just a modern phenomenon. CC had a lot of enemies, and Dugard outlines a few, who benefited from having chaos surround his name. Dugard gives us facts.

You can certainly conclude that CC's skills as a mariner are unparralled for his time. His land administration skills, seemingly leave a lot be be desired, but his peers failed as well.

I lost count, but after the battles with native people, low supplies and the civil war of his crew, he still had 100 of the orginal 140 crew alive. This in itself is a pretty heady accomplishment.

He must have been a total optimist in his expectation that help would arrive in Jamaica. I would have lost faith after not too many months, but he was right.

There are many heroes here who certainly deserve treatment of their own. One very intriguing character is Mendez. His stealth capture of the native king is amazing as his rowing to Santo Domingo, particularly in light of how badly the mutineers failed in an identical mission.

This book is divided into two parts, the first deals with Columbus, his time spent getting some one (anyone) to back him finacially on a hairbrain scheme to get to China/India by sailing West, and his first three voyages and their results. The second deals with the Fourth Voyage (which he calls his "High Voyage) it's triumph(s), tragedies and their aftermath.

But what makes this book worth reading is what it really deals with, and that when a man's dreams come true they are not always what he expected nor what he wanted in the first place (or thought he did). Columbus wanted to sail west, discover a way to the Orient, make himself a fortune, be showered with lands medals and titles and leave a great legacy for his children and posterity.

Because of his political naivete, what he got was short term acclaim, then humiliation and banishment, the smugness and pettiness of syncophants and courtiers, privation and deprivation, and lastly he almost lost credit for discovering the "New World" to a man (Amerigo Vespucci) who might never have actually commanded a ship of discovery. Keep in mind that the two continents are called America not Columbia (or Colonia, or Colomboia).

Dugard does a marvellous job of bringing out the personalities of all the people involved, from Ferdinand (miser and ingrate) and Isabella (friend and admirer), to his schizophrenic crews (who could never make up their minds on whose side they were on), the indigenous people (some who fought him and others that saved him from starvation); to the man himself who thought that he was protected by God, and never lost his belief in the miraculous help of prayer.

The Last Voyage of Columbus is an eye-opener. Remember what you learned in school? "Columbus sailed the ocean blue.... the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria... 1492... it wasn't India..." etcetera. These are the things we learned in school. What we DIDN"T learn were the trials and tribulations Columbus, his brother, and his sons went through. And I DO mean "tribulations," as in "1. Great affliction, trial, or distress; suffering. 2. An experience that tests one's endurance, patience, or faith" (thank you thefreedictionary).

Multiple, life-threatening mutinies. Imprisonment, with chains. Loss of all titles and properties. Shipwrecked for a year. And yet Columbus bounced back after each calamity.

Martin Dugard briefly reviews the life of Columbus, the Spanish politics of the time, and his first three voyages, along with voyages to the New World of his competitors. The fourth voyage begins with Columbus determined to find the missing passage to India. Of course, he doesn't find it, and he loses all four ships, and a quarter of his crew. This is the latter half of this book.

Dugard writes well, and I felt engaged throughout. Columbus WAS larger, and more influential, that I had expected. I realize he wasn't a saint (as if there were ANY during that period of human history), but he certainly wasn't the worst of the New World explorers.

This is a great book for seventh graders and above.

Martin Dugard's riveting account of Christopher Columbus's last voyage in the New World is not without its flaws. Though the book is very compelling and a great read it suffers a bit from a jumping narrative in the first section to a lack of citations regarding sources throughout.

The second part of the work, from the beginning of Columbus's fourth voyage to the end of the book, is great. It is a highly engrossing read with short chapters that practically drag the reader from chapter to chapter just to see what happens next. However, the first section of the book is not like this at all. Though the chapters are of similar length the opening meanders through the events that led up to Columbus's fourth voyage. I found myself somewhat confused by the large cast of characters both important and not. Though Dugard does provide some interesting overviews of Columbus's nature and his relationship with Queen Isabella of Spain.

The worst shortcoming of the book though is its lack of citations. Often I found myself asking "Where did he dig that up?" Unfortunately, Dugard only provides a selected bibliography, while extensive; it does not point the reader to a direct source for some of his more interesting comments and sentences. While historians I'm sure would rip Dugard a new one for this lapse I can forgive as the general subject matter and crisp narrative make for a very good read.

Highly recommended and easy to read. The writer worked hard to maintain a smooth narrative flow. You will meet some formerly unknown characters who round out the story well.

This book makes you appreciate what Columbus accomplished in his voyages, but also makes you cringe at his treatment of the "native" people. However, Degard helps put Columbus' treatment in perspective by discussing the genocide carried out by his contemporary, Don Nicolas Ovando.

Finally, you must read this book if for nothing else than the discussion of the origin of the nautical phrase "poop" deck.

Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this delightful book!

Whereas the first half of this book is a summary of Columbus' prior three voyages and the Spanish political arena of those days, along with tales of other adventurous voyagers scouting the New World, the remaining half of the book plunges into an exciting examination of his fourth and final voyage.
There was an obvious animosity thread towards Columbus, possibly starting at the top with King Ferdinand and permeating downward throughout every walk of life, including the men he commanded.
Ultimately convincing the Royal Court of a fourth voyage to the New World for further exploration, this expedition was jarred by every imaginable misfortune one could envision.
Hurricanes, shipworms, shipwreck, ship-loss, castaway, mutiny, native hostilities, not to mention the living conditions these men endured.
Columbus has always been a debatable character and Dugard exercises equity to this courageous soul.
A thrilling and educational read.

I read a lot of historical accounts of seagoing journeys, but was not very excited about the subject matter when I picked this one up. How much more Columbus do we need?

But I must say Dugard has turned in a quick, fascinating account of the politics, intrigue, war, death, and discovery of Columbus last 10 years and in particular his last, somewhat disastrous journey of discovery. I found his writing style to be very effective for books of this kind, as it reads in a clean narrative fashion, with definable characters, story arcs, and resolutions. My only quibble is with the limited sourcing, and the woeful absence of maps or illustrations. But these are minor points in what is a very enjoyable, educational, and interesting tale.

"The only certainty about Columbus is that, for better or worse, he chose to live a bold life rather than settle for mediocrity." (p. 268)

That is how Dugard ends a lively and informative biography of Christopher Columbus. As the title indicates, Dugard focuses on the fourth voyage of Columbus and its successes and mishaps. In order to properly place this voyage in its correct context, he uses the first half of the book to give the reader a fairly comprehensive biography of Columbus, as well as a thorough look at the politics of the day and other voyages of exploration, especially those of the Spanish and Portugese.

Columbus has been a whipping boy for the politically correct crowd for decades now. Dugard does a solid job of putting Columbus's actions in their proper context without becoming an apologist for his actions. Dugard is unabashadly admiring of Columbus's skills as a navigator and his bravery, but he's quite critical of his abilities as a colonial administrator. His narrative would be a wonderful movie except for two things: #1) Columbus is still radioactively politically incorrect; #2) No one would believe it.

It is a fascinating story and I highly recommend this read. However, I cannot give it 5 stars because Dugard does the unthinkable for a writer of any history - he fails to provide any sort of footnotes or endnotes. None. He does provide an extensive bibliography, but that is not good enough. I require my high school students to provide footnotes or endnotes. Dugard should do the same thing.