Columbus and the Little Wax Candle

October 11, 1492 — It was around 10pm on this night that Christopher Columbus and others aboard the Niña and Pinta spotted something odd on the horizon. It was a flickering light. Columbus made a note in the Santa Maria’s log:

"Perceived it once or twice, appearing like the light of a wax candle moving up and down".

Many of the crew were convinced that it was a sign of land, but Columbus wasn’t sure. They had been at sea for 2 months and 8 days, and maybe their eyes were playing tricks on them.

At sunrise the next morning, the lookout on the Pinta spotted land! It was an island the indigenous people called Guanahani, and that would be where Columbus made his historic landing in the Americas.

Columbus would rename the place he made landfall as San Salvador, which is an island in the present-day Bahamas.

So did the light from the night before come from the Bahamas? Some geographers/scientists are skeptical. The prevailing theory is that what Columbus actually saw was a sea worm emitting a glowing green slime during a mating ritual. Crazy right?

It’s called the Bermuda fireworm (Odontosyllis enopla), and these worms emit their phosphorescent ooze for a few hours after the full moon, which lines up perfectly with the timing of the log entry by Columbus.