Sailing northeast in the Atlantic, the Niña and Pinta were becalmed at about N 26⁰ W 63⁰, having coursed over five hundred miles from their last anchorage off the Samaná peninsula (Dominican Republic). Columbus was aboard the Niña, together with about two dozen Spanish sailors and ten Taínos.
Columbus recorded in his Journal that the Indians went swimming. Taínos typically bathed frequently, and they likely were surprised by the relative infrequency by which Spanish sailors then bathed.
To recap, one or two of the Taínos were representatives of Chief Guacanagarí, dispatched to meet Columbus’s “chiefs,” Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. The remainder were captives, three or four seized on Guanahaní in October 1492, one from Cuba in November 1492, and four from the Samaná peninsula in January 1493. They would travel with Columbus through Spain for six months, a Native American “discovery” of European civilization that followed Columbus’s voyage.
Based on primary sources—and as depicted in Encounters Unforeseen—all ten will survive the voyage to Spain, two will die in Seville from European diseases, six will be baptized by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in Barcelona, one will be ordered to remain to live at Isabella and Ferdinand’s court, and seven will reach Cádiz to embark with Columbus on his second voyage in September 1493, enslaved to assist in the Taíno homeland’s subjugation.