Now, with deepest respect to Ignatius, things were far from being as simple as that. It is surprising that he did not at least mention a detail recorded by both Füssli and Hagen. No sooner did the pilgrims, crowded in the bows of the ship, sight the coast of Palestine than they joyfully burst into the Te Deum and the Salve Regina. The Salve had long been adopted as the special hymn of mariners and other sea-faring folk. The sailors on the Santa María of Columbus sang it lustily when the New World first dawned on their sight. It was indeed their customary prayer and the prayer of all sailing men when the shades of night began to close in on their little ships, isolated in the vast, unpredictable sea. –‘St Ignatius of Loyola: The Pilgrim Years’ by James Brodrick, S.J.