The Pinzón Brothers

Spanish explorers

• Martín Alonso Pinzón
• Born: 1441
• Birthplace: Palos (now in Spain)
• Died: March 20, 1493
• Place of death: Palos (now in Spain)

• Vicente Yáñez Pinzón
• Born: c. 1462
• Birthplace: Palos (now in Spain)
• Died: c. 1523
• Place of death: Probably Spain

The two Pinzón brothers provided crucial assistance for Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to the New World. The brothers helped Columbus obtain and outfit his three ships and served as captains of the Pinta and the Niña.

Early Lives

Martín Alonso (mahr-TEEN ah-LAWN-soh) and Vicente Yáñez Pinzón (bee-SAYN-tay YAHN-yays peen-SAWN) were brothers in a family of wealthy shipowners and navigators in the Spanish port city of Palos. Martín, the elder of the two men, had spent most of his life since the age of fifteen at sea. He had sailed throughout the Mediterranean and along the northwest coast of Africa, serving Spain in a war against Portugal. He was widely recognized as an expert seaman, navigator, and captain. His younger brother, Vicente, about whom less is known, also spent most of his life at sea, learning the practical arts of seamanship and navigation.

The Pinzón family was one of the three leading shipping families in the important port city of Palos, on Spain’s southwest coast. The enthusiastic support of the Pinzóns for Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to the New World greatly helped Columbus to secure the skilled seamen, ships, material, and leaders necessary for success. In the summer of 1491, Columbus arrived in Palos to consult with a Franciscan friar and astronomer who supported his claims of the possibility of a trans-Atlantic trade route to Asia. This friar, Fray Antonio de Marchena, introduced Columbus to the leading families of Palos, including Martín Alonso of the Pinzóns.

Following the initial visit of Columbus, de Marchena and others communicated their support to the Spanish royal court. Columbus was then called to meet with Queen Isabella. When she decided to support Columbus’s voyage, Martín Alonso Pinzón and his family in Palos helped Columbus to obtain the use of two ships, the Pinta and the Niña, for the voyage. Martín Pinzón also assisted Columbus in recruiting the necessary skilled hands for the expedition’s three vessels, helped to calm fears of a voyage into the unknown, and offered his services and that of his brother as captains of the two ships provided by the city of Palos. Columbus himself captained the third ship, the Santa Maria. By the late summer of 1492, the small fleet had finished preparations for the historic journey.

Lives’ Work

On Friday, August 3, 1492, the three ships departed Palos, heading south toward the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa. The fleet left the Canaries in early September and set a course due west in search of a trade route to Asia. Columbus had chosen a more southern course to avoid difficult and heavy seas in the North Atlantic. He hoped to find the mythical island of Antilla halfway to Japan where he could restock his ships with water, and possibly food. Martín and Vicente Pinzón, captains of the Pinta and the Niña, followed this course diligently. The fleet made more than 1,100 miles in its first nine days, pushed onward by easterly winds.

In the last week of September, the fleet made less than 400 miles. Columbus never found the island of Antilla, and the ships’ water began to go bad. Under this stress, the crews of all three ships began to grumble. No man in any crew had been so distant from land before. Grievances formed, fights had to be broken up, and the men began to fear for their lives. There were rumors of mutiny. Then, in October, things turned better for Columbus and the Pinzóns. Rainstorms replenished the ships’ water supplies, and the wind increased. By October 6, the fleet had traveled more than 2,400 miles. That day, Martín Pinzón told Columbus that the ships should alter their course to the southwest, because he feared that they had missed Japan. Columbus, though, held true to his westerly course.

The next day, great flocks of birds passed over the ships, heading to the southwest. Columbus decided to follow Martín Pinzón’s advice and changed course. This was fortunate for the fleet, because this was the shortest course to the nearest land. Yet mutiny reared its head again, as the crewmen began to once more question Columbus; they had sailed much farther west than anyone had expected. Columbus’s resolve was heartened by the complete support of both Martín and Vicente Pinzón. On October 11, signs of land began to appear, as tree branches and flowers drifted by on the ocean. The mutterings of mutiny died away as all expected a quick landfall.

At two o’clock in the morning of October 12, a lookout on the Pinta spotted what looked like white cliffs shining in the moonlight. Martín Pinzón checked and verified the landfall, firing a gun as the agreed signal. Columbus, in the Santa Maria, caught up to Pinzón and shouted across the water that he would pay a large bonus to his captain. The fleet had found one of the islands of the Bahamas in the Caribbean Sea. The next afternoon, the expedition found a shallow bay and anchored offshore. Columbus and the Pinzóns went ashore, and Columbus gave the island the name San Salvador, or “holy savior.”

In the next month, the fleet cruised about the eastern Caribbean Sea, exploring about the Bahamas and discovering Cuba and the island of Hispaniola. Columbus found fine harbors, beautiful beaches, and virgin forests, excellent for the construction of ships, but there was no gold. He could not find Japan or China either. The fever for gold was so great that Martín Pinzón left the fleet on November 21 and sailed for the mythical island of Babeque without asking Columbus for permission. The Santa Maria and Niña, captained by the more loyal Vicente Pinzón, continued on without him. They found generally friendly Indians, ripe for exploitation, as Columbus wrote in his journal.

Very early on December 25, 1492, disaster struck. The Santa Maria ran into a coral reef off the north coast of the island of Hispaniola. Despite Columbus’s best efforts, the ship’s hull filled with water, and the Santa Maria had to be abandoned. Columbus and his crew moved to join Vicente Pinzón on the Niña. On January 2, 1493, the Niña departed for home. Sixteen men were left behind to build a fort, look for gold, and explore the area. Two days later, Columbus sighted the Pinta. Martín Pinzón explained his six-week absence as a successful one of both exploration and a search for gold. Columbus, glad to have company on the long voyage back to Spain, decided to forgive Martín Pinzón.

The return trip was rough, as the two ships ran into contrary winds and made little headway eastward. In mid-February, the Pinta and the Niña encountered a tremendous storm that almost sank both vessels. The two ships were separated sometime during the night of February 13-14, and the Niña’ crew almost gave up hope on Valentine’s Day. Fearing that both ships would be lost, Columbus threw a summary of his journey overboard in a bottle. The Niña survived and finally beat its way back to Spain after surviving another great tempest that almost drove the ship onto Portugal’s rocky western coast.

On March 15, 1493, the Niña reached Palos. Finally back home, Columbus discovered that the Pinta had survived and that Martín Pinzón had sent a message to Queen Isabella announcing his arrival. Pinzón had reached Spain’s northwest coast in February. He had then begged for permission to tell the Spanish queen about the voyage, but she told him to wait. The Pinta arrived in Palos shortly after Columbus on March 15. Martín Pinzón, older than Columbus, exhausted from his journey and snubbed by the Spanish royalty, went directly to his home near Palos and died there on March 20.

Vicente Pinzón made important discoveries on his own after his return with Columbus in 1493. In late 1499, he sailed from Spain and discovered South America on February 7, 1500, three months before the first Portuguese discovery. He also discovered the Amazon River and continued northwest along the South American coast at least as far north as present-day Costa Rica. In 1507, he returned again to explore the coast of Central America. Two years later, Vicente Pinzón explored southward along the Argentinean coast. All traces of Vicente Pinzón’s life after 1523 are lost.

Significance

While the support of the Pinzóns and other families in Palos proved critical to the successes of Columbus’s voyage, the exploration could most likely have continued without their support, if necessary. It is quite possible, however, that without the assistance of the Pinzóns, Columbus first voyage would not have been as successful as it was.

The loyalty and material assistance provided by the Pinzóns allowed Columbus to proceed with his first voyage as planned. Despite Martín’s insubordination in November and his attempt to steal Columbus’s glory on his return to Spain in 1493, Martín’s assistance greatly helped the expedition. His suggestion to change to a southwesterly course on October 6 allowed Columbus to make a landfall earlier than expected and may have helped to avert further difficulties with their crews. His death on March 20, 1493, was a major loss to history, for there has never been a reliable account of the first voyage other than that of Columbus.

Vicente Pinzón’s role in history is also nearly forgotten. His primary importance to the early exploration of the New World lies with his discovery of South America and with his explorations in Central America and of the Amazon River. Unfortunately for Vicente, the Portuguese explorer Pedro Cabral, who actually arrived in South America later, has been given historical credit for the European discovery of the continent.

While it would be a historical fallacy to claim that the assistance of the Pinzóns ensured Columbus’s successes, their importance should be neither overlooked nor forgotten. Men such as the Pinzóns provided the foundation for the accomplishments of explorers such as Christopher Columbus.

Bibliography

Bradford, Ernie. Christopher Columbus. New York: Viking Press, 1973. Gives the best explanation of how Columbus first encountered Martín Pinzón but does not provide much biographical information on the two brothers. Surpassed by Samuel Eliot Morison’s work on Columbus.

Collis, John Stewart. Christopher Columbus. New York: Stein & Day, 1976. This biography includes good information on preparations and plans for the voyage, as well as some brief background on the two Pinzóns.

De Madariaga, Salvador. Christopher Columbus. Reprint. New York: Frederick Unger, 1967. An outdated and overly enthusiastic endorsement of Columbus and his historical role; however, this book does provide one of the best biographical outlines of Martín Alonso’s early life.

Fernadez-Armesio, Felipe. Columbus. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. An excellent overview of Columbus’s life, with an especially good treatment of the role of both Pinzóns in the first voyage. The work is rather broad in its scope, however, and it dedicates less than thirty pages to the first voyage.

Fyre, John. Los Otros: Columbus and the Three Who Made His Enterprise of the Indies Succeed. Lewiston, N.Y.: Mellen Press, 1992. The only biography that provides a detailed history of the Pinzóns. A short but accurate work that summarizes what is known about Martín Alonso and Vicente Yáñez Pinzón.

Heat-Moon, William Least. Columbus in the Americas. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley, 2002. Careful reappraisal of Columbus as explorer, colonizer, and man, by a best-selling Native American author. Heat-Moon uses many quotations from Columbus’s journals to provide insight into the thoughts and motives of the explorer. Includes maps.

McKee, Alexander. A World Too Vast: The Four Voyages of Columbus. London: Souvenir Press, 1990. A well-written and thorough summary of Columbus’s voyages that, however, contains little biographical material on either Pinzón.

Morison, Samuel Eliot. Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus. Rev. ed. New York: Book-of-the-Month Club, 1992. One of the best biographies of Columbus, with new illustrations by Joan Paterson Kerr. The tenth chapter, on officers and men, contains brief but useful biographical information on both Pinzóns.

Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Great Explorers: The European Discovery of America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. Morison is one of the greatest of maritime historians, and his chapters on Columbus’s voyage and the roles of Martín Alonso and Vicente Yáñez Pinzón are unmatched.