Christopher Columbus? Larry Ferguson? John McTiernan?
Question for Quote Investigator: “The Hunt for Red October” was a popular action-adventure movie featuring submarine warfare released in 1990. The movie ends with a poignant quotation attributed to Christopher Columbus that was delivered by the movie star Sean Connery. Captain Marko Ramius played by Connery was about to start a life in a new country, and he said:
And the sea will grant each man new hope, as sleep brings dreams of home: Christopher Columbus.
This quotation and attribution are listed in several online databases. T-shirts and mugs are emblazoned with the statement. However, I have looked through many of the original Columbus documents online in English and in Spanish, and I cannot find this saying. Would you please investigate whether Columbus really said or wrote these words?
Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence that Christopher Columbus created this quotation. The earliest match found by QI appeared in the monologue of Sean Connery in the movie “The Hunt for Red October”.
The director John McTiernan has revealed that the quotation was concocted for the movie. The Special Collector’s Edition DVD of the movie contained an extra audio commentary track by McTiernan, and in his comments he referred to Larry Ferguson who was the screenwriter of the film.
The crucial revelatory comment by McTiernan was synchronized with the final scene of the movie during which Connery delivered the lines that he attributed to Christopher Columbus:1
McTiernan: Larry Ferguson and I worked for quite a while to come up with this.
McTiernan: Larry wrote the poem that Sean quotes at the end.
McTiernan: Obviously, Christopher Columbus never wrote anything like that, but the gimmick works.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to European History” was published in 2006 and it contained part of the full quotation followed by an ellipsis and an attribution to Columbus:2
“And the sea will grant each man new hope …”
–Christopher Columbus
The ThinkExist website has a version of the full quotation in its database and it is credited to Columbus:3
“And the sea will grant each man new hope . . . his sleep brings dreams of home.”
One piece of evidence that the quotation was not really crafted by Columbus is found at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) website. Many movies on IMDB have companion web pages that list sundry facts under the heading “Trivia”. Here is the relevant claim:4
At the end of the film, Ramius quotes a poem that is attributed to Christopher Columbus. According to director John McTiernan the poem was actually written for the film by screenwriter Larry Ferguson.
The piece of trivia above did not state the source of its provocative claim, but QI was able to trace the information to the Special Collector’s Edition DVD of the movie.
In conclusion, this quotation was crafted by screenwriter Larry Ferguson and not Christopher Columbus. The words were designed for distribution via a Hollywood movie for the purpose of entertainment.
Acknowledgement: Many thanks to M. Mahaffey whose email provided inspiration for this question and investigation.
Update History: On August 20, 2024 the format of the bibliographical notes was updated. Also, the article was partially rewritten.
- The Hunt for Red October 1990 (Special Collector’s Edition), DVD, Includes audio commentary track by director John McTiernan, Studio: Paramount. ↩︎
- 2006, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to European History by Nathan Barber, Page 98, Penguin Group, New York. (Google Books preview) link ↩︎
- ThinkExist website, Quote attributed to Christopher Columbus, “And the sea will grant each man new hope”, Accessed 2010 September 3. link ↩︎
- Internet Movie Database IMDB website, Trivia for The Hunt for Red October (1990), Accessed 2010 September 3. link ↩︎
Lied to by Hollywood! Whatever has the world come to? 😉 Thanks!