The early records of the Santo Domingo cathedral were burnt at the time of Drake's invasion in 1586, and those since that year have been so damaged by the ravages of tropical insects that little is left of them. They make little and only passing reference to the tomb of Columbus, and mention no monument or inscription whatever. Juan de Castellanos, in his book "Varones Ilustres de Indias," printed in 1589, recites a Latin epitaph which he says appeared near the place where lay the body of Columbus in Seville, but pretty Latin epitaphs were Castellanos' weakness, and it is to be feared that this one, like others which he dedicated to American explorers, was nothing more than a figment of his poetic imagination. Two writers, Coleti and Alcedo, who almost two centuries later mentioned the same epitaph as marking the grave in Santo Domingo, must have copied from Castellanos.
Undoubtedly there was at first some inscription to mark the tomb, but in the course of the years any slabs with inscriptions were permitted to disappear entirely from the graves of Columbus, his son and grandson, and the very existence of their remains in the cathedral became a matter of tradition. It is possible that the epitaphs disappeared at some time when the pavement of the church was renewed, or when damages inflicted by earthquake shocks were repaired, or when changes were made in the windows and doors about the main altar, or when the higher altar platform was extended to reach the desks on which lie the Gospels and Epistles. At any such times the slabs over the burial vaults may have been broken or laid aside and never replaced. It is also possible that they were intentionally removed in order to guard against profanation of the tombs by enemies in time of war or by West Indian pirates, who captured and sacked stronger cities than Santo Domingo. In 1655 when an English fleet under Admiral William Penn appeared before the city and landed an army under General Venables, there was great excitement and fear in Santo Domingo, and the archbishop ordered that the sacred ornaments and vessels be hidden and that "the sepulchres be covered in order that no irreverence or profanation be committed against them by the heretics, and especially do I so request with reference to the sepulchre of the old Admiral which is on the gospel side of my holy church and sanctuary," That other tombs were hidden, whether at this time or another, was shown in 1879, when, on repairing the flooring in the chapel of the "stone bishop" in the cathedral, the slab indicating the grave of the Adelantado Rodrigo de Bastidas, the explorer, was found concealed under a stone, and it was discovered that the epitaph of Bastidas on a board which from time immemorial had hung on the wall of the chapel was an incorrect copy of the original graven on the burial slab. From the words of the archbishop it appears possible that the sepulchre of Columbus was marked in some way in 1655, although even then there may have been nothing, since the prelate saw fit to specify the point in the church where the tomb was situated.