Lost Fleet of Columbus

La Isabela
La Isabela

This is a 50 minute DVD that does not just deal with Columbus' ships but his colony of La Isabela. In 1494 Columbus sailed to the new world for the 2nd time, still thinking he was off the coast of Japan. Six ships he had were sunk in the very bay they thought would provide shelter.
This DVD deals with evidence, scant though it might be, that historians have, of a hurricane, crops that would not thrive and most of all Europeans that would not adapt to a new land. Much is a mystery and this film shows 2 teams, one in the bay and one on land investigating into what happened here. Some questions are answered but much mystery remains. The divers are hindered by silty waters and deep white mud that acts almost like wet cement dust. On land there is little evidence left and bones found do not reveal disease that hit their owners quickly.
There is interesting information and scenes for those who are fascinated by archeology, both on land and water. Reenactments...

Interesting -
Columbus returned to the New World in 1494 with numerous ships and a cast of about 1,000 - including some women and a few blacks. Horses, pigs, and rats also were brought with. The Spaniards founded a settlement named La Isabela in today's Dominican Republic. His fort of La Navidad, constructed during his first trip to search for gold, had been destroyed by native Tainos. Columbus hoped to find great amounts of gold, and later desperation over the paucity of the metal drove him and his men to abuse the natives - both imprisoning about 1,600 and taxing the remaining males. Some of the locals were sent back to Spain. Several years later, after losing at least six ships to hurricane storms and about 200 men to what researchers believe was mostly acute native diseases facilitated by starvation and scurvy, Columbus returned to Spain with the remnants of his men and ships. However, this was not before hunger and disease had led to the disillusion and mutiny by some of his men...



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