Latin American Saga: Columbus’s 39 Abandoned Sailors Revisited

A new trilogy by Spanish novelist José Luis Muñoz delves into the extraordinary saga of the 39 mariners left behind by Christopher Columbus in La Española. Through historical fiction, Muñoz seeks to illuminate this lesser-known chapter of early transatlantic exploration.

Reliving a Forgotten Chapter

For most readers, the story of Christopher Columbus evokes images of three ships—the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María—boldly crossing the Atlantic in 1492. Yet, as Spanish writer José Luis Muñoz highlights in his new trilogy, La pérdida del paraíso (The Loss of Paradise), the real drama began when one of those ships ran aground on the island of La Española, forcing Columbus to make a fateful decision. Out of necessity, he left 39 men behind, promising he would soon return from Spain with reinforcements and supplies.

During an interview with EFE, Muñoz discussed why he found the abandoned sailors interesting. He stated, “People often do not read about the men.” He continued, “People understand they vanished prior to Columbus’ return trip, yet their final story is not known.” Columbus’ journals mention the problem facing the left-behind sailors. Not one record from that time indicates what occurred to them. “It’s the kind of unknown that begs for fiction,” Muñoz added.

He chose to center his historical narrative on two characters: Martín de Urtubia, a scribe loyal to the Spanish Crown, and Juan de la Plaza, whose contrasting personality and skeptical outlook generate tension. “They develop a strange sort of friendship,” Muñoz stated. “Both are disturbed by their precarious circumstance, yet they are connected by survival drives.” The trilogy covers three books. It follows their relationships with Indigenous people, the increasing disagreements inside their group, and their final recognition of the hard truth of desertion.

Muñoz underscores that he adhered closely to historical context whenever possible. “I made sure every named character corresponds to a real crew member,” he explained to EFE. “But since there are no detailed records of their experiences, I had the creative freedom to imagine plausible scenarios.” This combination of research and invention positions La pérdida del paraíso as a balanced retelling of one of Columbus’s least-explored ventures.

A Fictional Lens on Discovery and Clash

While the trilogy chronicles the fate of Columbus’s abandoned sailors, it also devotes considerable attention to the cultural encounter between the Spaniards and the local inhabitants. Muñoz felt compelled to unpack how drastically these European newcomers differed from the island communities they encountered. “Most of the crew saw the local culture as strange, even inferior,” he noted. “But Martín de Urtubia, in particular, becomes fascinated by the worldview and daily customs of the Indigenous people.”

According to Muñoz, the tension between “civilization” as defined by 15th-century European standards and the rich, unfamiliar world of La Española lies at the heart of the story. “In many ways, these Indigenous groups lived in what the Spaniards might have considered an idyllic paradise—plentiful food, harmonious social structures, abundant natural resources,” he said. “And yet the notion of paradise was shattered almost as soon as Columbus returned to Europe, leaving the mariners to fend for themselves.”

This view aligns with Muñoz’s sense that the early phase of European colonization in the Americas remains underexplored. “We see plenty of Western frontier stories from the United States,” he commented. “But the earliest forays into the New World—particularly Columbus’s repeated voyages and the first attempts at settling—receive far less attention in historical fiction.” By focusing on the 39 sailors, the author believes he can shine a light on a microcosm of tragedy, curiosity, and cultural exchange that foreshadowed centuries of upheaval in the region.

The trilogy considers additional topics after the crew’s difficult situation is set up. It explores reactions to disruption, how new environments change a person’s beliefs, and how seeking control or continued living causes sacrifices of ethics. It addresses these conflicts. As Muñoz told EFE, “I wanted readers to ask themselves: if you were stranded in an uncharted land, unsure whether rescue would ever arrive, how far would you go to forge a new life?”

Bringing the Story to Television

While writing the trilogy, Muñoz never imagined that his depiction of Columbus’s lost men would eventually leap off the page and onto the screen. Yet that is precisely what has happened with Los 39, a television series based on the events recounted in La pérdida del paraíso. Muñoz said the Spanish public broadcaster TVE obtained rights to a six-episode production. The production has completed filming, but it needs a schedule. For Muñoz, this situation is what all authors want. To see his writing changed into a visual medium offers a surreal and exciting feeling.

Featuring a cast of Spanish, Colombian, and Mexican actors, the series aims to capture both the grandeur of New World landscapes and the claustrophobic intensity of a group cut off from their homeland. “They stuck closely to the spirit of the novels,” Muñoz said, “using actual diaries as reference for the era’s language and beliefs, but also diving into the interpersonal dramas that form the heart of the trilogy.”

Muñoz further noted that the production design re-creates period-accurate costumes, naval interiors, and Indigenous settings in ways he never imagined while drafting the novels. “Film can achieve immersive visuals that let viewers see the coastline, huts, and jungle paths in incredible detail,” he explained. “And because there’s still so much historical ambiguity, the series can creatively reconstruct how events might have played out, similar to what I did in my writing.”

Now, the author awaits the official broadcast of Los 39, hopeful that audiences will connect with this rarely told story of survival. “It’s not just about Columbus,” he emphasized. “This is about the men he left behind—ordinary sailors thrust into an extraordinary situation, bridging two worlds that scarcely understood each other.”

If Muñoz’s trilogy and the upcoming television series resonate, they may well reshape our collective memory of an epoch overshadowed by more famous conquests and bigger personalities. The books plus series focus on what happened to deserted sailors. They cause readers and viewers to think about subtle aspects of exploration besides settlement. They act as reminders that large historical accounts frequently result from the actions of people. Such people became stuck amid aspirations, setbacks along with a desire to learn.

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In the end, Muñoz hopes La pérdida del paraíso can serve as both adventure and cautionary tale. “So many details from this era remain murky,” he told EFE, “but one fact is certain: what happened to those 39 men demonstrates how fragile an expedition can become when the promise of rescue is lost.”