Christopher goes on to explain how his crew being disturbed by the danger
of the mission wished to return to Marseilles and how
he altered the compass making them believe that they were returning home,
when, in fact , as he relates, he continued on to his mission off of the Cape of Carthage ..... ....

Christopher relates this intriqueing tale with no time reference, except in his words; " King Rene .....sent me to Tunis....." This tale can best be set in a time frame only by knowing more of the events in the life and times of his younger days.

There is no true mystery about the birth, family or race of Christopher Columbus. ~~~ He was born in the ancient city of Genoa sometime between August 25 and the end of October, 1451, the son and grandson of woolen weavers who had lived in the Genoese Republic for at least three generations.
He was of tall stature, ruddy complexion,long faced and red haired, suggesting other than "Latin" blood in his ancestry. Christopher was conscious only of Genoese origin. ~~~ He considered himself a Genoese born Catholic Christian, steadfast in his faith and very proud of his native city.

When did Christopher first go to sea? In his own words " at a very tender age",
he wrote in 1501,
" I entered upon the sea sailing, and so have I continued to this day. That art of navigation inclines him who follows it to want to know the secrets of this world. Already 40 years have passed that I have been in this employment",. ( at the age of 10 ? ) . ~ In his journal for December 21, 1492, he remarks, " I have followed the sea for 23 years without leaving it for any time worth reckoning".
(making him age 18 in the year 1469 ).

Christopher was living in a small seafaring town where every young boy went fishing and took all the sailing he could get. His father dealt in wine and cheese in addition to his wool business and would sometimes send Christopher along the coast to purchase merchandise. There exists receipts for such signed by Christopher confirming this. Such youthful adventures as this would account for Christopher's memory of when "he first went to sea".

There are bills signed by Christopher for wine in Genoa up to October 31, 1470, and then he does not sign for another until March 20, 1472. Again there is no record of him being in Genoa between August 26, 1472, and August 7, 1473 . It was during this first interval of fifteen months that Christopher could have made a voyage aboard a Genoese armed ship in the Angevin service under the command of Rene d'Anjou, ~ le bon roi Rene

Rene did charter Genoese galleys during these times for the defense of province against the barbary corsairs. Up until 1472 he was supporting a Catalan rebellion against Juan II of Aragon and the name Fernandina of the galleass suggests that she was Aragonese. The one improbable circumstance is that of Columbus's claim to have been the captain at that time. No young lad of about twenty who had been carding and weaving wool most of his life would so quickly have risen to command.. Many believe it is more probable that Christopher was actually a foremast hand on Rene's ship and one of the seamen upon which the altered compass trick was played during the Tunis voyage. Such a ruse to continue this mission would have certainly been within Rene's adventurous nature. ~~ We still cannot ignore Christopher's claim, however improbable, of this command. Rene d'Anjou was now sixty two years old and could well appreciate the quests of his own youth. To bestow a ship's commission on someone of the same age as he himself was when he became a captain in the crusade to Orleans would have been well within the nature of Good King Rene.

Source material and addditional
reading on Christopher can be found at
"Preston's Bookstore"
within this website

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