After initially welcoming Christopher Columbus and his crew to Jamaica and supplying them with food and supplies after he became shipwrecked in 1503, the Arawak Indians grew weary of Columbus’ men robbing and cheating them and subsequently halted all trade with their island guests

Without a significant source of food or means to leave, Columbus’ expedition was in serious trouble. Luckily for his crew, he had certain astronomical tables with him, including the Ephemeris compiled by the German astronomer Johannes Müller von Königsberg, better known today by his Latin name, Regiomontanus. In this almanac, Regiomontanus predicted there would be a total lunar eclipse on March 1, 1504. (For Columbus beginning on February 29, 1504 in the Americas.)

He also gave an estimation of what time it would occur, though this start time was based on Nuremberg, Germany time, so Columbus had to do a bit of guesstimating. Regiomontanus even included fairly accurate information as to how long the eclipse would last.

Armed with this knowledge, which Columbus was choosing to gamble would be extremely accurate, he called a meeting with the chiefs of the nearby tribes shortly before the eclipse was to take place. In this meeting, he told them his god was angry with them for ceasing to give him supplies.

As a result, his god would take away the moon as a sign of his anger and subsequently punish them for their actions.

Luckily for Columbus, the predicted lunar eclipse took place more or less on schedule and, according to Columbus’ son, Ferdinand, who was 13 and had made the voyage with his father:

The Indians observed this [the eclipse] and were so astonished and frightened that with great howling and lamentation they came running from every direction to the ships, laden with provisions, praying the Admiral to intercede by all means with God on their behalf; that he might not visit his wrath upon them… and promising they would diligently supply all their needs in the future.

Columbus agreed to take their case before his god and went into his cabin to “pray”.

What he actually did in there was watch an hour glass and use the time to attempt to calculate his longitude, which the lunar eclipse facilitated. (Though he would inexplicably be wildly incorrect on the figure he came up with.)

In any event, Columbus knew the moon would stay completely in the Earth’s shadow for around 48 minutes. Shortly before it would begin to emerge, he came back out and told the natives that he had asked his god to forgive them and god had acquiesced so long as the natives continued to cooperate with him.