Da Gama’s small fleet had been out of sight of land an astounding ninety-five days; by contrast, Columbus’s transit during his first voyage from the Canaries to the Bahamas took thirty-six. So great was da Gama’s navigational skill that his measured latitudes were never off by more than two degrees. Columbus, by contrast, was notorious for his navigational inaccuracy, placing, for example, Cuba at forty-two degrees north latitude —that is, even with Boston.
