Mystified by the Moon

Mystified by the Moon

Mark Twain used this ignorance of eclipses as an element of the plot in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The hero of the novel, Hank Morgan, is mysteriously transported backward in time to Medieval England. He finds himself about to be burned at the stake on a day when he knows a solar eclipse will occur. He "foretells" the event, claiming to have magical powers over the Sun. "The rim of black spread slowly into the Sun's disk, ... the multitude groaned with horror to feel the cold uncanny night breezes ... and see the stars come out ..." Morgan promises to restore the daylight in exchange for his freedom. King Arthur agrees and, of course, the Sun returns. Twain gives the date of the eclipse as June 21, 528; this, however, is literary fiction. No such eclipse took place on or near that date.

A similar sort of deception was actually used by Christopher Columbus during his fourth voyage to the Americas. In 1503, he found himself stranded on the island of Jamaica, his ships damaged beyond repair and his provisions running low. At first he and his crew were able to get food from the natives in trade for baubles and trinkets. But as months passed without rescue, the Jamaicans finally refused to supply any more food. Faced with the prospect of starvation, the great Spanish admiral conceived an ingenious plan.

Columbus knew from his navigational tables that a total eclipse of the Moon would occur on February 29, 1504. He arranged a meeting with the natives that evening to coincide with the beginning of the eclipse. He announced that because God didn't like the way the natives were treating him and his crew, the Almighty had decided to remove the Moon as a sign of his displeasure! Columbus timed his theatrics precisely; no sooner had he proclaimed the Moon's disappearance than the Earth's shadow began to steal across the face of the full Moon.

The natives were terrified. As the light of the Moon faded they pleaded with Columbus to restore it; they would give him all the food he wanted if he would bring back the Moon. Columbus told them he wold have to retire to confer with God, which in this case was an hourglass timing the eclipse. Just before the end of the total phase he announced that God had pardoned them and would allow the Moon to return to its place in the sky. And as Columbus knew it would, the Moon reappeared. The grateful natives resumed the supply of food, and Columbus and his crew were eventually rescued and they returned to Europe.

** Material adapted from ECLIPSE by Bryan Brewer ($14.95 plus S&H). ECLIPSE Book Order Form. **

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