After three perilous days, the violent storm began to abate on February 15. But the sea remained rough and, now alone, the Niña struggled for two days to make landfall on the southernmost island of the Azores, Santa María. After sunset on the 17th, Columbus anchored the ship off Santa María, but the anchor chain broke, and Columbus, crew, and the ten Taínos quartered at sea through the night until anchoring again at dawn on the 18th.
The Niña’s lost anchor now lies at the entrance to the Portuguese Maritime Museum in Lisbon:
