His maritime ambition was no doubt stimulated at this time by witnessing
the departure of Ovando, in February 1502, with a fleet of thirty-five
ships and a company of 2500 people. It was not in the Admiral's nature
to look on without envy at an equipment the like of which he himself had
never been provided with, and he did not restrain his sarcasms at its
pomp and grandeur, nor at the ease with which men could follow a road
which had once been pointed out to them. Ovando had a great body-guard
such as Columbus had never had; and he also carried with him a great
number of picked married men with their families, all with knowledge of
some trade or craft, whose presence in the colony would be a guarantee
of permanence and steadiness. He perhaps remembered his own crowd of
ruffians and gaol-birds, and realised the bitterness of his own mistakes.
It was a very painful moment for him, and he was only partially
reconciled to it by the issue of a royal order to Ovando under which he
was required to see to the restoration of the Admiral's property. If it
had been devoted to public purposes it was to be repaid him from the
royal funds; but if it had been merely distributed among the colonists
Bobadilla was to be made responsible for it. The Admiral was also
allowed to send out an agent to represent him and look after his
interests; and he appointed Alonso de Carvajal to this office.


Ovando once gone, the Admiral could turn again to his own affairs.
It is true there were rumours that the whole fleet had perished, for it
encountered a gale very soon after leaving Cadiz, and a great quantity of
the deck hamper was thrown overboard and was washed on the shores of
Spain; and the Sovereigns were so bitterly distressed that, as it is
said, they shut them selves up for eight days. News eventually came,