The Admiral's Signature

By Ashton Lackey

Dr. Pedro Calderon has a secret that has been guarded in his family for five-hundred years - the Will of Christopher Columbus. It contains the Navigator's enigmatic signature. A former professor of his, Dr. Emilio Caravel demands that he give him the Will, because the signature indicates the location of fabulous gold and Columbus' own tomb. With the aid of Nick Spear, a seasoned Coast Guard Officer, Adela, a female Archeology graduate student from Spain, and Dr. Calderon's own daughter, Maria, the signature is deciphered into a map. But their problems have already begun as Dr. Caravel tracks them from Pennsylvania to the Dominican Republic to find the treasure before they do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ashton Lackey
• Release date: Apr 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215528280

Ashton Lackey

Ashton Lackey (Harrington A. Lackey) has been a Spanish instructor, translator, tutor and writer for the past 30 years. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish and Anthropology from Eckerd College, a Master of Arts degree in Hispanic Literature from Auburn University, PhD candidate in Hispanic Literature at the University of Kentucky, and an Associate of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Nashville State Technical Institute. Ashton has taught Spanish classes at Auburn University, Louisiana State University, University of Kentucky, Columbia State Community College, and Belmont University. He started a successful tutoring business- "Learning Strategies," but is now retired.Ashton has completed 10 years of studying French from grammar school to high school. Also, he completed a semester of advanced French in Angers, France at the l’Université Catholique de l’Ouest.He has written three novels, based on historical fiction: "Rare Gold," "Disciple's Curse," and "The Admiral's Signature." He has also published over 150 articles on various subjects and short stories. Ashton is now retired and currently lives in Bluffton, SC with his wife, Diana, and one furry daughter.Ashton has translated over 10 novels from Spanish to English, ("La Celestina", "Lazarillo de Tormes") and from English to Spanish: ("The Healing Of Gala"). I have recently been translating into English: "La Primera Catedral", "Surreal (Y otros relatos), and "MainCastle: La leyenda del caballero blanco".His hobbies are: collecting coins, comic books, books and metal detecting.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Egypt

West Bank of the Nile River July 12, 1461

The sun reached its zenith above the hot sands of the Valley of the Kings. The pyramids which surrounded the area dwarfed twenty dark-skinned men, wearing white garments made of light fabric. They were frantically digging beneath the sands to find what secret they were unearthing.

Domenico Columbus walked toward the area where the Egyptians were excavating. He examined an immense hole they had been digging over the last several days. Domenico was pleased to see that the hole was very large – 40 meters in length times 10 meters in width. He had paid them well to unearth any tombs, or other large objects. It seemed he was getting his money’s worth.

The men had uncovered long slabs of ancient wood which surrounded them like the sides of a pool. Large planks of wood lay horizontally at the bottom, which were connected to long perpendicular slabs. Domenico ordered the men to stop laboring. He jumped down from the sand above into the excavated site. As he walked the length of the planks on the bottom, he realized that he was inside an ancient boat.

It seemed the moment his son Christopher was born, his father began teaching him the mysteries and histories ofother cultures. When he was very young, his father told him about their family heritage as Italian Knights Templars who had traveled from the Western Europe to fight the followers of Mohammed, prophet of the Muslims. Domenico had been an Italian Templar Master, possibly one of the last from centuries of the Roman Catholic Church’s conquest in ridding the Holy Lands of Muslims who had overtaken many revered Judaic and Christian shrines. Muslims had occupied the minds of the Templars; if they had not come to this land to protect Christian shrines, they surely had seen untold wealth, especially spiritually valued Christian relics, which the land had supposedly preserved.

Domenico owned maps which showed there was more land to be rediscovered. Yet, the land was called Terra Incognita or Undiscovered Land. He knew this was the land conquered by Alexander the Great, famous ruler of the Greek Empire.

Domenico taught his young son, Christopher, about the pyramids in Egypt and stories of untold wealth the ancient Egyptians placed in the desert sands and tombs. He read tales about their people from classical sources of ancient Greek philosophers and conquerors. He told Christopher about these lands that lay East of Europe: Japan, China, India and Egypt where his father owned a piece of land in an area called the Valley of the Kings. Young Christopher was amazed by his father’s description of majestic pyramids which stuck out of the endless desert landscape like primitive cathedrals made of stone, as if they were grown by the hot sand itself. Surely, these strange edifices held deep secrets that told the history of such ancient people.

When Christopher turned ten years old, his father told him about the famous travels to exotic lands like India, Japan and China made by their countryman, Marco Polo, a few centuries before.

I have another present for you, Christopher…Come outside. Christopher immediately ran outside.

Back here, son.

Christopher ran behind their medieval house and gasped when he saw the ancient boat his father had discovered in Egypt.

How do you like it? he asked Christopher.

Christopher didn’t say anything. He just stared at it as if it were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Since then, the course of his life would take him out to sea to find new lands.

Chapter 1

Palos, Spain October 6, 1500

The jingle of chains and the swift sound of shuffling bare feet on hard cold stone, echoed outside the cell chamber. Then came the harsh jangle of large keys, unlocking the prison door. A gaunt man with white, disheveled hair and filthy gray clothes, gazed at the floor of the dark, gloomy dungeon. Shackles were fastened to his hands and feet. He ached from arthritis that had crippled his body. His eyes were ravaged with ophthalmia which limited his vision and his heart felt weak.

The former navigator looked up at the small, open window with bars perpendicular to the cell wall corners. He closed his eyes, recalling the shape of the three caravels that guided him and his crew to a new world, undiscovered by other Europeans.

Christopher Columbus’ most glorious moment arrived as he kissed the sands of the tropical virgin island while priests sang, Ave Maria. A standard bearer stabbed the sand with the flag of Spain.

The Admiral wore a white shirt and black pants as he dug his hands into the sand, lifting it slowly to his face. He smelled the fresh sand and let it fall slowly from his hands. He lifted his face up to the blue heavens and spread his arms in praise of God who had helped him and his crew endure a long three month journey in their three caravels: the Pinta, Niña and Santa Maria.

Nude natives were staring at the odd-looking Europeans, covered in clothes they had never seen before. Columbus and his crew were just as shocked when naked natives slowly crept out from the jungle.

Columbus’ translator, Luis de Torres tried to communicate in many languages to the natives who didn’t understand, because they had never heard these languages before. Nevertheless, the native men and women called to their scared children in a language, which didn’t make sense to de Torres since he had never heard their language before. Yet, they seemed friendly and brought gifts which they exchanged humbly with Columbus and his men.

But Christopher Columbus was a harsh diplomat. Although his signature included in the last line the word Xpoferens, meaning Christ bearer, he was much more of a demon than a servant of God. He became disillusioned by his voyages, which he thought would bring him gold, silk and spices.

The more voyages he made to the newly discovered islands, the more frustrated and angrier he became. He never reached the lands he sought, and he didn’t uncover as much gold as he wished. Natives were taken as slaves and were frequently tortured. Ultimately, Columbus’ murdering spree was widely witnessed by numerous Spanish administrators, who described their tales of horror to the King and Queen of Spain.

He needed to send a message to them. Columbus asked the guards for a quill and paper, which they reluctantly gave him.

He wrote:

It is now seventeen years since I came to serve these princes with the Enterprise of the Indies. They made me pass eight of them in discussion, and at the end rejected it as a thing of jest. Nevertheless, I persisted therein...

Over there I have placed under their sovereignty more land than there is in Africa and Europe, and more than 1,700 islands... In seven years I, by the Divine Will, made that conquest. At a time when I was entitled to expect rewards and retirement, I was incontinently arrested and sent home loaded with chains to my great dishonor...

The accusation was brought out of malice on the basis of charges made by civilians who had revolted and wished to take possession on the land....

I have lost in this enterprise my youth, my proper share in these things, and my honor; but my deeds will not be judged outside Castille…

I beg your graces, with the zeal of faithful Christians in whom their Highnesses have confidence, to read all my papers, and to consider how I, who came from so far to serve these princes... now at the end of my days have been despoiled of my honor and my property without cause, wherein is neither justice nor mercy.

Eight years had passed and his fame had diminished until Columbus was judged for crimes against the natives from the lands he had discovered. His trial seemed unjust; members of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella’s court hardly paid attention to him, laughing at him at times. Even the Admiral’s friends turned against him, naming the atrocities which had occurred under his command of the islands’ expeditions.

What the Admiral didn’t know was that he had discovered a new continent that would be named by another Italian explorer – Amerigo Vespucci. It would be called America.

CHAPTER 2

Rome, Italy October 11, 2010

Father Paolo Donovani walked hastily into one of Rome’s oldest churches – the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, to meet with a parishioner who wanted to confess her sins. Late again for poor Signora Benassi! he thought as he quickly marched down the Cathedral’s right aisle.

He reflected on the church’s 1,500-year history of saints, popes, and millions of pilgrims who had graced the church with their presence.

Many more souls to go! he pondered as he approached the confession booth.

His attention was narrowly drawn to a young female tour guide, who was speaking in passable English at Salus Populi Romani, one of the oldest chapels dedicated to the Virgin Mary: This golden icon of Virgin Mary is oldest and has been carbon dated to 2000 years…It is said Saint Luke created it…

With his peripheral left vision, he noticed the chapel lit up with roughly ten long rows of small devotional candles. Several older women, dressed in black, were kneeling in front of them. The only element that seemed new was a five- tiered wooden scaffold that stood almost as tall as the ceiling.

Hmmm...repairs to the church? I wasn’t told of any new modifications, he mused.

His attention was now focused on the small door of the confession booth as he approached it. He opened it, sat down and slid the small window door open to his left, where Signora Benassi was crying.

Oh boy! This will take a long time, he mumbled.

When was your last confession, my child? he asked her in a low voice.

He spent an hour listening to her whine about her role as a wife to an unfaithful husband and mother of nine spoiled children. Father Donovani began to doze between sobs and talk about her life until the woman said, Padre?...padre?

He woke up. Absolution?

Si, say…ten Hail Mary’s…In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I absolve you.

Grazie, padre.

After she left, Donovani began to lose consciousness as he nodded off to sleep.

He woke up later to the sound of screaming. He collected himself and quickly opened the door of the confession booth. He looked to his right and saw women running down the aisles, then turned his head farther to the right and saw the entire scaffold consumed by fire.

Dios mio! he yelled, shaking the last sleepiness out of his system. He ran as fast as he could out the doors of the basilica yelling, Encendo!...Encendo!

Father Donovani’s shouts caused a stir among a group of foreign exchange students across the street who didn’t understand the word Encendo. They looked at each other, realizing there was a dire situation occurring at the padre’s church. As they ran over to help Donovani, a few Romans were drawn to the fact there was a fire in their beloved basilica.

Within six minutes, a fire truck roared around an intersection and drove furiously down the road toward the enormous church where Donovani was still shouting. He waved his hands wildly in the air. The fire truck stopped and several firemen jumped off the back, collecting hoses that stretched endlessly from the truck as they ran frantically into the basilica.

The fire had spread from the scaffold to the beautiful ceiling. Water