Chapter 9

The next morning, I was awake by dawn because I had not been able to sleep well. I had dreamt of being at sea again, but I had also dreamt of venturing to the lands of the New World and of returning with a ship laden with the strange fruit that the French visitors had described. My plan had been to remain in Hondarribia helping Juan with his tavern and possibly taking charge of it when Juan had become so infirm that he was incapable of managing his affairs. A tavern such as Juan’s was guaranteed to produce a steady income for the owner, and I could see myself retiring from the life of a seafarer and settling down. However, such thoughts were banished on hearing the proposal of the representatives of the merchants of Bordeaux. Now, I was eager to know whether they considered me sufficiently skilled to lead their expedition to the New World, which now appealed to me in spite of my doubts of the previous night.

I busied myself with sweeping the sawdust from the floor of the tavern and replacing it with a fresh supply ready to absorb the drinks that would surely be spilled as the night progressed. Before noon, I had already looked out of the tavern door a dozen times to see if I could catch a glimpse of the group of Frenchmen. But I looked in vain. The only sights were women hurrying to and from the market, fishermen going to the ships anchored in the port, and the carts laden with freshly caught fish being trundled through the streets on the way to the market.

Then, when I had almost given up hope of ever seeing the Frenchmen again, the door of the tavern opened, and the four men entered. By then, Juan had joined me in arranging the tavern in readiness for the customers who would appear later.

“Good morning, gentlemen. I trust you slept well,” Gaston greeted us. Juan and I replied that we had indeed slept well, although in my case this was untrue.

“What would you like to drink?” Juan asked, and we both retreated behind the bar to find the wine that the four men had ordered. We brought the drinks to the table where they had sat down and sitting down with them, we waited patiently to hear the verdict on whether they considered me capable of undertaking the voyage they had proposed.

However, instead of telling us what he thought, Gaston remarked on the fact that neither Juan nor I had a drink. “It is not fitting for us to be the only men with a drink. Captain Juan and Juan Sebastian, you must both join us in a toast.”

I leapt to my feet at the sound of the word “toast” as I knew that this meant I would be asked to assume command of the proposed voyage. I hurriedly filled two drinking mugs with local cider and returned to the group where I handed one to Juan before sitting in my place again.

Gaston smiled and raised his drink. “Gentlemen, a toast! To the success of our venture under the command of Captain Juan Sebastian!”

The other Frenchmen at the table and Juan echoed the toast and all drank to my appointment and success. I raised my mug and thanking Gaston for the news, I drank deeply to try to hide my satisfaction at having been given the news I had hoped I would hear.

For the next few hours, we discussed the terms of the offer. This included my remuneration for successfully returning with agreed amounts of the strange fruits, and also in the event of not being able to find the place where this fruit grew. It also included who would select the crew, what provisions we would need for the voyage, when we could expect to sail, and many other details of this new voyage. In addition, I insisted that the merchants pay for someone to help Juan with the work of the tavern since I would no longer be available as planned.

When the main details of our agreement had been settled, Gaston informed me that the purpose of the voyage had to remain secret even from the crew who would be eventually hired. To that end, he said that instead of becoming the captain of a French ship, the merchants had decided that it would be more discrete to use a Spanish ship as this would arouse few questions now that Spanish ships were following the example of Columbus and seeking to explore the New World.

The merchants had investigated the best port in the north of Spain to commission the building of a ship, and also one that could build it quickly and with the lowest cost. They had found that Cristobal de Artadi of Zumaia could build a suitable nao, which was the common name for small ships, for the sum of 200,000 maravedis. If they could reach agreement, the construction could be completed in 5 months by the master builder and his team of 10 men.

When I heard that the nao could be built in Zumaia, I was happy as this town was close to Getaria and I knew that I could recruit an experienced crew from my home town near to the time to sail for the New World. This would reduce the possibility of word of the voyage becoming common knowledge because I knew that Basque sailors were usually superstitious and believed that it was bad luck to talk much about a voyage before setting sail.

We shook hands on the deal and a few days later, Gaston and his companions returned to Bordeaux. Not long after, a messenger arrived in Hondarribia with a contract which was already signed by the group of merchants from Bordeaux which set out my duties and remuneration. I discussed its contents with Juan, and we were both satisfied that there were no hidden details that might prevent me from receiving the compensation I had discussed with Gaston on successful completion of the voyage. Therefore, I signed two copies of the contract, and the messenger returned to Bordeaux bearing one while I kept the other safely.

Shortly after that, early in the new year of 1511, I received word that I should travel to Zumaia to discuss the construction of a nao with Cristobal de Artadi. The messenger who brought this instruction also gave me a purse containing 40,000 maravedis. This money was to be paid as a deposit to allow the construction of the nao to begin. I was also instructed to inform the master shipbuilder that he would be paid 40,000 maravedis every month provided that the construction of the nao was proceeding according to schedule. This meant that I would have to travel to Zumaia to negotiate the contract to build the nao, and also to inspect the work every month.

I left Hondarribia three days later after I had found a young man who would help Juan with the many tasks that were required to attract customers to the tavern and to keep the business profitable. The journey to Zumaia was not long as I had chosen to travel on horseback. Although I was a sailor by choice, I had also learned to ride a horse when I was younger and also when I was in Naples. I rented a horse from a local stable and was assured that the animal had a docile temperament and would not attempt to unseat me. The weather was fine, although there was always a chance of rain, the rain that constantly swept in from the Atlantic Ocean and made the whole north coast of Spain from the Basque country to Galicia green and fertile. However, as the road between Hondarribia and Zumaia hugged the coast, I was never far from the sight of the sea, and the salt air that was carried on the light breeze from the ocean made me long for the voyage to begin. However, first I had to find the master shipbuilder in the port of Zumaia.