From them he took a living crab, whose unintentional voyage eastward was a great encouragement to the bolder adventurer westward.

Columbus kept the crab, saying that such were never found eighty leagues from land.

In fact this poor crab was at least nine hundred and seventy leagues from the Bahamas, as this same journal proves.

On the eighteenth the Pinta ran ahead of the other vessels, Martin Alonso was so sure that he should reach land that night.

But it was not to come so soon.
Columbus every day announced to his crew a less distance as the result of the day than they had really sailed.