The glow of the sea in 1492 is a glow of the sea of unknown origin, observed on October 11, 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus by some crew members of the ships " Santa Maria ", " Pinta " and, possibly, " Nina " shortly before arriving on the island of Guanahani . The glow is mentioned in the journal of Christopher Columbus, his biography, compiled by his son Ferdinand , court proceedings on the ownership of Veragua and some other sources [1] .
Columbus describes the light as “a small wax candle that emerges from the depths and rises, which to some extent seemed to be a sign of land” [2] . He received royal reward for reporting the glow [3] . His son Ferdinand also characterized him as a candle that rises up and down. Glow was observed at 10 pm at the first quarter of the moon [4] .
As a possible explanation of the glow, a version of artificial origin is proposed (for example, it could be the torches seen in the distance of the Indians living on Guanahani or the light from the more eastern island [5] ) and the version of observing the bioluminescence of protozoa. The latest version is criticized because of the pointiness of the described glow [6] . Despite the fact that females of the ringworm Odontosyllis enopla that lives in these waters are capable of emitting light for a short time, similar to that described by Columbus [7] , it was proved that the period of their luminescence is only a few days after the full moon [8] , which does not meet the conditions in which Columbus observed the glow.
See also
- Glow of the sea
Notes
- ↑ Columbus: The Light of 11 October, 1492 . The Islands' Sun (March – April 1990). Date of treatment May 24, 2010. Archived on September 7, 2008.
- ↑ Christopher Columbus, Journal (1492) . Swarthmore College. Date of appeal May 24, 2010.
- ↑ Washington Irving . The life and voyages of Christopher Columbus: together with the voyages of his companions, Volume 3 , Murray, 1849, p. 369
- ↑ Christopher Columbus, Sir Clement Robert Markham. The journal of Christopher Columbus: (during his first voyage, 1492-93) , Ayer Publishing, 1972, p. 36
- ↑ Pickering, Keith A. (1994). Columbus's Plana Landfall . Dio 4: 1, 14-23
- ↑ The Light of October 11 . Columbus Navigation. Date of treatment May 24, 2010. Archived October 14, 2009.
- ↑ Crawshay, LR (1935). Possible bearing of a luminous syllid on the question of the landfall of Columbus. Nature 136: 559-560.
- ↑ Gaston, Gary, and Jennifer Hall (2000). Lunar periodicity and bioluminescence of swarming Odonotsyllis luminosa (Polychaeta: syllidae) in Belize. Gulf and Caribbean Research 12: 47-51.