A tornado of unexampled fury swept over the seas; and those on shore could judge of the fate that was likely to befall the unfortunate squadron, as many of the buildings and trees on the island were levelled with the ground by the force of the tempest.

Of all the ships, only one--and that the frailest of the fleet--was able to accomplish the voyage to Spain.

A few vessels managed to return, in dire distress, to the island; but by far the greater number foundered at sea.
The historians of the period do not fail to remark that, while the ship which reached Spain safely was the one carrying the admiral's property, a special providence decreed that his enemies--Bobadilla, Roldan, and their associates in cruelty and plunder--should perish with their ill-gotten gains.
Like Cassandra, Columbus witnessed the discomfiture of the disbelievers in his prophecy: like her he was denied the right of sanctuary upon the occurrence of the disaster which he had foretold.

Repulsed from port by Ovando, however, the admiral sailed along the coast, and succeeded in bringing his own ship under the lee of the land when the storm came on.
But the three other caravels were in no little danger (particularly the disabled one, which was commanded by the Adelantado), and some days elapsed before the little squadron was re-united in the port of Azua, to the west of San Domingo.
JAMIAICA PASSED.
Thence he proceeded to Jaquimo, on the extremity of the same coast, and after refitting his ships, set sail for Jamaica on the 14th of July, 1502.
Passing that island, he met with light and varying winds, and contrary currents, in the archipelago of reefs and keys which he had previously named the Queen's Garden.
INSUBORDINATION OF CREWS.
For about nine weeks he made so little progress that his crews began to clamour for the abandonment of the expedition.

The ships were worm-eaten and leaky.