ABSTRACT
As the tiny fleet heads west into the known portion of the Ocean Sea, spirits are high, yet Columbus decides to keep a separate account of miles covered from the one he provides to his pilots. By September 17, 1492, his pilots notice a problem with the magnetic compass, worrying the crew that an accurate course could not be set. During the next few days, the fleet reaches the Atlantic Ocean frontier, a zone approximately just past 330 degrees of global longitude, where few, if any, Europeans had previously sailed.
