At dawn on October 19, Columbus left Island III in search of an island called Samoet. He had heard of this island from his native guides, and they had told him that it was very large, and was the home of a king who had gold. But the exact direction to the island was apparently not well understood by Columbus, because he split his fleet: Niña sailed south-southeast, Santa Maria sailed southeast, and Pinta sailed east at first, then turned southeast.
This gives us, by implication, another detail about Island III. After finding the coast running east-west, Columbus turned ESE in heavy weather during the night, and returned to the coast of Island III the following morning, anchoring at a cape. This cape must have been somewhere south of the east-west coastline, but where? The courses of the ships tell us that there must have been clear water to the east, southeast, and SSE from this anchorage. That in turn implies that this anchorage must have been south of the initial cape Columbus came to on the evening of the 16th.
The fleet weighed anchor at dawn, and after three hours sighted land to the east. All three ships arrived at the northern end of this new island at noon. Columbus named this island (Island IV) "Isabela" after the Spanish queen.
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