Chapter VI: Part 6

Authorities widely differ as to the number of men who embarked. Sernigi (p. 124) says there were only 118, of whom 55 died during the voyage and only 63 returned. Galvão says there were 120, besides the men in the store-ship. Castanheda and Goes raise the number to 148, of whom only 55 returned, many of them broken in health. Faria y Sousa and San Ramon say there were 160, and the latter adds that 93 of these died during the voyage, thus confirming a statement made by King Manuel in his letter of February 20th, 1504, to the effect that less than one-half returned.[419] According to Barros there were 170 men, including soldiers and sailors. Correa raises the number to 260, for he says that in each of the three ships there were 80 officers and men, including servants, besides six convicts and two priests.[420] He says nothing of the store-ship. By the time Vasco da Gama had reached the Rio da Misericordia only 150 out of this number are said to have been alive.

Correa, no doubt, exaggerates. On the other hand, Sernigi’s numbers seem to us to err quite as much on the other side. It is quite true that a Mediterranean merchantman of 100 tons, in the sixteenth century, was manned by 12 able and 8 ordinary seamen;[421] but in the case of an expedition sent forth for a number of years and to unknown dangers, this number would no doubt have been increased. We are, therefore, inclined to believe that the number given by De Barros—namely, 170—may be nearer the truth, namely 70 men in the flag-ship, 50 in the _S. Raphael_, 30 in the caravel, and 20 in the store-ship. The men in the flag-ship may have included 1 captain, 1 master, 1 pilot, 1 assistant pilot, 1 mate (contramestre), 1 boatswain (guardião), 20 able seamen (marinheiros), 10 ordinary seamen (grumetes), 2 boys (pagens), 1 chief gunner or constable, 8 bombardiers, 4 trumpeters, 1 clerk or purser (escrivão), 1 storekeeper (dispenseiro), 1 officer of justice (meirinho), 1 barber-surgeon, 2 interpreters, 1 chaplain, 6 artificers (ropemaker, carpenter, calker, cooper, armourer and cook), and 10 servants. One or more of these servants may have been negro slaves. The “Degradados”, or convicts on board, to be “adventured on land” (p. 48), are included in the total. Whether private gentlemen were permitted to join this expedition as volunteers history doth not record.

The following “muster-roll” contains short notices of all those who are stated to have embarked at Lisbon in Vasco da Gama’s fleet, or who subsequently joined it, either voluntarily or upon compulsion.

Apart from natives, thirty-one persons are mentioned, and with respect to twenty-six of these no reasonable doubt can be entertained that they were actually members of the ships’ companies.

Those among them whose names appear in the “Journal” are distinguished by an asterisk.[422]

CAPTAINS.

*_Vasco da Gama_, Captain-Major in the _S. Gabriel_.

*_Paulo da Gama_, his brother, commanding the _S. Raphael_.

*_Nicolau Coelho_, Captain of the _Berrio_ or _S. Miguel_. He subsequently went out to India with Cabral (1500), and for a third time with Francisco d’Albuquerque, in 1503.

On February 24, 1500, the King granted him a pension of 70,000 reis. He also received a coat-of-arms, viz.: a field _gules_, charged with a lion rampant between two pillars (_padrãos_), _silver_, standing upon hillocks by the sea _vert_; and two small escutcheons charged with five _bezants_ (Severim de Faria, _Noticias de Portugal_, Disc. 3, § 15). He seems to have been dead in 1522, for on December 19 of that year, his son, Francisco, begged the King to transfer the pension of his late father to himself.—(Cunha Rivara, _Arch. Port. Oriental_, fasc. v, p. 254; and Texeira de Aragão, _Boletim_, 1886, p. 573.)

_Gonçalo Nunes_, Captain of the store-ship (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 279; Castanheda, I, p. 7). Castanheda, 1st edition, erroneously calls him Gonçalo Gomez. He was a retainer of Vasco da Gama.

PILOTS AND MASTERS.

*_Pero d’Alenquer_, pilot of the _S. Gabriel_ (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 279; Castanheda, I, p. 7; Goes, I, 69; Faria y Sousa, p. 29). He had been with Dias in the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, and with the Congo mission in 1490.

*_João de Coimbra_, pilot of the _S. Raphael_ (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 279). A negro slave belonging to him deserted at Moçambique (see p. 30).

_Pero Escolar_, pilot of the _Berrio_ (Barros, _ib._; Faria y Sousa, p. 29). On February 18, 1500, the King granted him a pension of 4,000 reis. He went as pilot with Cabral.

_Gonçalo Alvares_, master of the _S. Gabriel_ (Barros, _ib._). He subsequently held the office of pilot-major of India (Correa, _Lendas_, I, p. 570). On January 26, 1504, the King granted him a pension of 6,000 reis (Texeira de Aragão, _Boletim_, 1886, p. 674).

_André Gonçalves._ According to Correa (_Lendas_, I, p. 148), he had been with Vasco da Gama, whose interest had procured him an appointment in Cabral’s fleet. The same untrustworthy author states (p. 152) that Cabral sent him back from Brazil with the news of his discovery, and that the King, immediately after his arrival, fitted out a fleet to continue the explorations in the New World. Barros (I, pt. 1, p. 384) and Castanheda (I, p. 97) state that Cabral sent back Gaspar de Lemos. Neither they, nor, as far as I am aware, any other authority, mention an André Gonçalves in connection with Gama’s or Cabral’s expeditions.

PURSERS OR CLERKS.

*_Diogo Dias_, clerk of the _S. Gabriel_ (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 279; Castanheda, I, pp. 54, 80; Goes, I, p. 90; Faria y Sousa, I, p. 29). He was a brother of Bartholomeu Dias, the discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope.

_João de Sá_, clerk of the _S. Raphael_ (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 370; Castanheda, Goes, Faria y Sousa). He again went to India with Cabral (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 403), and subsequently became treasurer of the India House (Castanheda, I, p. 54).

_Alvaro de Braga_, clerk of the _Berrio_ (Barros, Castanheda, Goes). Vasco appointed him head of the factory at Calecut. Correa (_Lendas_, I, pp. 89-91) erroneously calls him Pedro de Braga. He was rewarded by the King, February 1, 1501 (_Boletim_, 1886, p. 675).

INTERPRETERS.

*_Martim Affonso_ (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 289; Castanheda, I, p. 15; Goes, I, p. 74; Faria y Sousa, p. 29). He had lived in Congo.

_Fernão Martins_ (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 290; Castanheda, I, pp. 51, 54; Goes, I, p. 89). Vasco sent him to the King of Calecut, and he was present at the audience which Vasco had of the King (Goes, I, p. 95). Subsequently he filled several positions of trust in India. He is the “African slave” who spoke Arabic, referred to by Correa (Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, pp. 76, 203).

_João Martins_, see João Nunez, _infra_.

PRIESTS.

_Pedro de Covilhã_, called Pero de Cobillones by Faria y Sousa (I, p. 29), who refers to ancient documents and the assertion of F. Christoval Osorio, of the Order of Trinity, as his authorities. He was Prior of a monastery of the Order of the Trinity at Lisbon, and went out as Chaplain of the Fleet and Father Confessor. According to Francisco de Sousa’s _Oriente Conquistado_, I, p. 477, he died a martyr on July 7, 1498, and this statement is accepted by P. Francisco de S. Maria (_Anno historico_, II, Lisbon, 1794, p. 323). Fr. Jeronymo de São Jose (_Historia chronologica da Ordem da S. Trindade_, Lisbon, 1789-94) enlarges upon this by stating that this apocryphal “protomartyr” of India “was speared whilst expounding the doctrines of the Trinity”. At the date of his alleged death, Vasco da Gama was still at Calecut. He may have died of disease. Neither Barros, Castanheda, nor Correa mentions the name of this priest.

_João Figueiro._ Correa claims to have derived much information from a diary kept by this priest, of which only fragments appear to have come into his possession. Other authors ignore the name (see Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, pp. ii, vi, 260).

SAILORS AND SOLDIERS.

_João d’Ameixoeira_ or _Dameiroeiro_. According to Correa (I, p. 136), he was one of the mutineers who returned to Portugal. No other writer mentions him.

_Pedro de Faria e Figueiredo_, died at Cabo das Correntes (Faria y Sousa, I, p. 29).

_Francisco de Faria e Figueiredo_, brother of the preceding. He wrote Latin verses. He, too, died at Cabo das Correntes (Faria y Sousa, I, p. 29).

*_Sancho Mexia_, incidentally mentioned in the _Roteiro_ (see p. 6).

_João Palha_, one of the thirteen who attended Vasco da Gama to Calecut (Correa, I, p. 96).

_Gonçalo Pirez_, a mariner and retainer of Vasco da Gama (Castanheda, I, p. 54). On May 31, 1497, he had been appointed master of a caravel recently built at Oporto (Texeira de Aragão, _Boletim_, 1886, p. 563).

_Leonardo Ribeyro._ According to Manuel Correa’s commentary on the _Obras do grande Camões_, Lisbon, 1720, this, on the authority of the poet himself, is the full name of the “Leonardo” mentioned in Canto VI, stanza 40. Faria y Sousa (_Asia Portuguesa_, I, p. 29) identified this “Leonardo” with Francisco de Faria e Figueredo, but subsequently (_Commentos aos Lusiadas_, 1639) he gave up the point.

_João de Setubal_, according to Correa (I, pp. 96, 104, 107), was one of the thirteen who accompanied Vasco da Gama to Calecut (see Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, pp. 119, 213).

_Alvaro Velho_, a soldier (Castanheda, I, p. 54; Goes, I, p. 90; Faria y Sousa). Perhaps this is the Alvaro Velho de Barreyro mentioned by Valentin Ferdinand (Valentino de Moravia or Alemão), in his _Description of Africa_ (1507), as having resided eight years at Sierra Leone (see Kunstmann, in _Abhdlgn. d. bayer. Ak. d. W., Cl. iij_, t. IX, Abt. 1).

*_Fernão Veloso_, a soldier (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 283-6; Castanheda, I, p. 9; Goes, I, p. 71; Faria y Sousa; Camoens, Canto VI, stanza 41).

CONVICTS OR BANISHED MEN (DEGRADADOS).

_Pedro Dias_, nicknamed “Northeasterling”. Correa (_Lendas_, I, p. 46) says that Vasco da Gama left him behind at Moçambique, and that subsequently he came to India (compare Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, p. 106).

_Pero Esteves._ Correa (_Lendas_, I, p. 236) says that Vasco da Gama left him behind at Quiloa, and that when J. da Nova reached that port in 1501, he came out to meet him. Barros (I, pt. 1, p. 467) says that the convict who met J. da Nova had been landed by Cabral, and that his name was Antonio Fernandez.

_João Machado_, according to Correa (_Lendas_, I, pp. 41, 160), was left behind by Vasco da Gama at Moçambique, but according to Barros (I, pt. 1, p. 406) it was Cabral who left him at Melinde, with instructions to make inquiries about Prester John. Cabral may have transferred him from Moçambique to the more northern port. He subsequently did good service, and Affonso de Albuquerque appointed him alcaide mór of Goa. He was slain in battle, 1515 (see Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, pp. 93-5).

_Damião Rodriguez_ was a friend of João Machado, and a seaman on board the _S. Gabriel_, from which vessel he deserted at the shoals of S. Raphael. When Cabral came to Moçambique, his grave was pointed out. All this is stated on the sole authority of Correa (_Lendas_, I, p. 160). Compare Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, p. 94.

_João Nunez_, a “new” Christian (_i.e._, a converted Jew), who knew a little Arabic and Hebrew, and was landed at Calecut. In the Portuguese edition of Correa (I, p. 78) he is erroneously called João Martins (see Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, pp. 159, 180, 206).

NATIVES AND OTHERS EMBARKED IN THE EAST.

*_Gaspar da Gama._ This is the “Moor”, or renegade, who joined Vasco da Gama at Anjediva Island. Our anonymous author describes him as about forty years of age, and as being able to speak “Venetian” well. He claimed to have come to India in early youth, and was at the time in the service of the Governor of Goa. Vasco da Gama carried him to Portugal, where he was baptized and received the name of Gaspar da Gama. In the _Commentaries of Afonso Dalboquerque_ (Hakluyt Society, 1884) he is frequently referred to as Gaspar da India. Correa (_Lendas da India_) usually refers to him as Gaspar da Gama, but also calls him Gaspar de las Indias, or Gaspar d’Almeida. King Manuel, in his letter to the Cardinal Protector, calls him a “Jew, who turned Christian, a merchant and lapidary”. Sernigi (see p. 136) held a conversation with him at Lisbon. He speaks of him as a Sclavonian Jew, born at Alexandria.

According to the information given by Barros and Goes, the parents of Gaspar fled from Posen, in Poland, at the time when King Casimir cruelly persecuted the Jews (about 1456). After a short residence in Palestine they removed to Alexandria, where Gaspar was born (Barros, I, pt. 1, pp. 364-5; Goes, pt. 1, c. 44).

He accompanied Cabral as interpreter. Vespucci met him on his homeward voyage at Cape Verde, and in his letter of June 4, 1501, published by Baldelli (_Il Milione_, 1827), he speaks highly of Gaspar’s linguistic attainments, and refers to his extensive travels in Asia.

Gaspar repeatedly accompanied Portuguese expeditions to India, and was last heard of in 1510. Goes (_loc. cit._) says that King Manuel liked him, and appointed him a cavalier of his household.

Correa (Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, p. 247) describes this Gaspar as a Jew, who, “at the taking of Granada was a very young man; and who, having been driven from his country, passed through many lands ... on to India”. But, as Granada was only taken in 1492, this is absurd.

Lunardo da Chá Masser, who came to Lisbon in 1504 as ambassador of the Signoria, in a letter written about 1506 and first published in the _Archivio Storico Italiano_ (Florence, 1846), says that Gaspar married a Portuguese lady,[423] and was granted a pension of 170 ducats annually, in recognition of the valuable information which he furnished respecting the Oriental trade.

*_Monçaide_, who came on board Vasco da Gama’s vessel at Calecut, is stated by Barros (I, pt. 1, pp. 330 _et seq._) and Goes (I, p. 98) to have been a native of Tunis, who, in the time of King John II had done business with the Portuguese at Oran, and spoke Castilian. He accompanied Vasco da Gama to Portugal and was baptised. In King Manuel’s letter to the Cardinal Protector he is referred to as a “Moor of Tunis”. The author of the _Roteiro_ calls him a “Moor of Tunis” whom the Moors of Calecut suspected of being a Christian and emissary of the King of Portugal (p. 75).

Correa (Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, pp. 162-5, 221) says that he was a native of Seville, who, having been captured when five years old, turned Moslem, although “in his soul he was still a Christian”. He generally refers to this man as “the Castilian”, and says that his true name was Alonso Perez.

Castanheda (I, p. 50) tells us that the Portuguese corrupted Monçaide into Bontaibo, a combination of the Portuguese _bom_, “good”, and the Arabic _tayyib_, having the same meaning. Monçaide is probably a corruption of El Masud, the “happy-one” (Burton’s _Camoens_, iv, p. 432).

*_Malemo Canaqua_, or _Cana_, the pilot who guided Vasco da Gama from Melinde to Calecut. He was a native of Gujarat (Barros, I, pt. 1, pp. 319, 328, 330; Goes, I, c. 38; Castanheda, I, p. 41). Malemo stands for “muallim” or “mallim”, “master” or “teacher”, the usual native designation of the skipper of a vessel, whilst “Kanaka” designates the pilot’s caste.

_Davane_, of Cambay, said to have been taken out of a dhau to the south of Moçambique, to have agreed to accompany Vasco da Gama to Calecut as broker, and to have been ultimately discharged with good testimonials in November 1498 at Cananor, is only mentioned by Correa (Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, pp. 79, 84, 113, 128, 235). No other historian knows anything about this mythical personage.

*_Baltasar_, and the four other Moors, forcibly carried away from Calecut (see pp. 73, 75, and 79, and King Manuel’s letter to the Cardinal Protector, p. 115) were taken back by Cabral, as was also the Ambassador of the King of Melinde (_Alguns Documentos do Archivo nacional_, 1892, p. 97).

Vasco da Gama originally detained eighteen “Moors”. He is stated in the “Journal” to have subsequently liberated six, and to have sent one with a letter to the Zamorin. This would leave eleven, not five. The number of those liberated must, therefore, have been twelve, and not six.

APPENDIX F.

(_From a Sketch by Mr. Herbert Johnson._)]

THE VOYAGE.

The King was at Montemór o novo[424] when he despatched Vasco da Gama and his fellow-commanders upon the momentous expedition which was to place Portugal for a time in the forefront of maritime and commercial powers. It was summer, and His Majesty did not, therefore, desert the beautiful hills of Monfurado for the stifling heat of the capital, in order that he might witness the embarkation of his “loyal vassal” whom, on account of his proved valour and past services he had deemed worthy of the honourable distinction of being entrusted with the conduct of so important an enterprise.[425] Vasco da Gama and his officers, the night before their departure, kept vigil in the chapel of Our Lady of Belem, which was not then a stately pile such as that which now occupies the site of the original unostentatious _ermida_ founded by Prince Henry for the convenience of mariners.

On the following morning, which was Saturday, the 8th of July, 1497,[426] Vasco da Gama and his companions were escorted to the beach by a procession of priests and friars. They all carried lighted tapers, and an excited crowd muttered responses to the litany which was being intoned by the priests. On reaching the place of embarkation, the vicar of the chapel celebrated mass and received a general confession; after which, in virtue of a Bull published by Pope Nicholas V in 1452, he absolved the departing adventurers of their sins. And thus they left on their errand with the blessings of the Church, in the favour of their King, and amidst the acclamations of a sympathising people.

_Lisbon to the Cape Verde Islands._

Winds and currents being favourable, the voyage to the Cape Verde Islands was accomplished in good time, and the flag-ship, notwithstanding some delay caused by a dense fog on the Saharan coast, reached the Ilha do Sal, 1,590 miles from Lisbon, in the course of fourteen days, if not earlier, and on July 27th the little armada lay snugly in the harbour of São Thiago.

_The Voyage across the Southern Atlantic._

The accounts of Vasco da Gama’s remarkable voyage across the Southern Atlantic are of so scanty a nature that it is quite impossible to lay down his track with certainty. What we learn from the “Journal” may be condensed into a few words. The little armada left São Thiago on August 3rd, _going east_! On the 18th of that month, when 200 leagues (680 miles) out at sea, the main-yard of the flagship sprung in a squall, and this necessitated laying to for a couple of days and a night. On the 22nd of October,[427] when 800 leagues (2,700 miles) out at sea, going S. by W.,[428] large birds were seen flying to the S.S.E. as if making for the land, as also a whale.[429] On October 27th more whales were seen, besides seals. On November 4th, at 9 A.M., the main land was sighted, probably about 150 miles to the north of St. Helena Bay (30° S.).

In these days of hydrographic offices and sailing directories we know how a sailing vessel desirous of proceeding from the Cape Verde Islands to the Cape would shape her course. She would endeavour to cross the equator about long. 22° W., pass to the leeward of Trinidad Island (20° S.), and then, gradually gaining a higher latitude, trust to the “brave” westerly winds carrying her beyond Tristão da Cunha to the Cape, or beyond.[430]

But Vasco da Gama had none of this information to guide him in shaping his course. He was informed, as a matter of course, about the winds and currents prevailing off the Guinea coast, but of what might be experienced in the open sea beyond he knew nothing.

It is just possible that he may have considered the possibility of reaching the Cape by a direct course of 3,770 miles, and he may even have attempted to carry out such a scheme. In the end, however, he would never have been able to work down against the strong S.E. “trades” and northern currents, for his ships could not be laid nearer than six points to the wind, and even then they would have made considerable leeway.

His actual course, in any case, must have been a circuitous one, and we may suppose it to have been as follows:—Having left São Thiago in an easterly direction,[431] he kept in the direction of the coast for a considerable distance, but when he came within the influence of the dreaded _doldrums_ he met with unpleasant weather in the shape of calms, baffling winds, and squalls, which prevail more especially during the months of June, July, and August. One of these squalls sprung the mainyard of the flagship, and heaving up a new yard necessitated a delay of two days and a night. When attempting to make southing he was driven to the westward, but managed to cross the equator in about 19° west.

Thence he followed a circuitous course, which brought him within 600 miles of the coast of Brazil. The northern part of this assumed course lies to the west of a track recommended by Captain Horsburgh as being most favourable for vessels proceeding between April and October from the Cape Verdes to St. Helena, whilst its southern part lies to the west of the usual track of sailing vessels going from Ascension to the Cape. In this manner we suppose Vasco da Gama to have reached lat. 30° S. long. 15° W., by October 22nd. This point lies about 800 leagues, or 2,700 miles, in a direct line from São Thiago; but by the track assumed by us the distance is 1,030 leagues, or 3,480 miles. As Vasco da Gama spent eighty days in making this distance, including the time lost in repairing his yard, his daily run only amounted to 44 miles.

It was here that Vasco da Gama saw birds flying to the S.S.E. They were no doubt making for Tristão da Cunha, which lies at a distance of about 400 miles in that direction. He also saw a whale, a very common sight in these latitudes.[432]

Thus far the course followed had been more or less southerly, but Vasco da Gama had now passed beyond the S.E. “trades”, and found himself under the welcome influence of “brave” west winds and of an eastern current, running at the rate of a knot in the hour. This speeded him on his course, and he covered the 500 leagues, or 1,700 miles, which still separated him from the west coast of Africa, in the course of thirteen days, making his first landfall on November 4th in about 30° S. His average daily run on this course must, therefore, have amounted to 131 miles.[433]

This may seem a high rate, but it is by no means an exceptional one. Vasco himself made at least 114 miles daily during his passage from Lisbon to the Cape Verdes, and 125 between the Cape and the Guinea coast when homeward bound. Columbus, during his first voyage, averaged 84 miles[434] daily between Gomera and Guanahani, but on nine days his daily run exceeded 150 miles, and on one day—the 4th of September—he actually covered 210 miles, although he had to take into account the bad sailing qualities of one of his vessels, the _Niña_.

We have laid down Vasco da Gama’s hypothetical track with a considerable amount of diffidence. The passage might, of course, have been effected in various other ways.[435] When Cabral started for India in 1500 he was instructed by Vasco da Gama himself to sail southward from the Cape Verde Islands, until he should have reached the latitude of the Cape, and then to head to the east. Cabral, however, was carried by winds and currents towards Brazil, which he made in lat. 17° 20´ S., and thence followed a track which took him past Trinidad and Fernão Vaz,[436] and does not differ much from that now recommended to sailing vessels.

João da Nova, who left for India in March 1501, did not follow the route of his predecessor, perhaps on account of the terrible disaster which overtook Cabral when in the vicinity of Tristão da Cunha. Nova seems to have attempted a direct passage; for following perhaps the eastern route recommended to a later generation by Laurie’s _Sailing Directory for the Ethiopic Ocean_ (4th edition, by A. G. Finlay, p. 74), he discovered the island of Ascension on the outward voyage, and is generally credited with having reached the Cape without coming within sight of the coast of Brazil.[437]

Vasco da Gama, during his second voyage in 1502, seems to have seen no land from the time he left Cape Verde until he arrived at Sofala, that is, during ninety-nine days, viz., from March 7th to June 14th: a remarkably quick passage. He seems on that occasion to have given the Cape of Good Hope a wide berth.

His nephew, Estevão da Gama, who left Lisbon on April 1st, took the western route. He passed the Cape Verde Islands on April 15th, Trinidad,[438] in the Southern Atlantic, on May 18th, doubled the Cape about the beginning of June, and first made land, on July 11th, at the Cabo Primeiro, on the coast of Natal, one hundred and two days after his departure from Lisbon.

When Affonso de Albuquerque reached Cape Verde on his voyage to India, in 1503, he took counsel with his pilots whether to follow the “usual route” along the coast of Africa, or to make boldly for mid-ocean. The latter course was decided upon. After a voyage of twenty-eight days, the Island of Ascension[439] was reached, at an estimated distance of 750 to 800 leagues from the Cape. Subsequently de Albuquerque touched the coast of Brazil, and then stood across the Atlantic for the Cape of Good Hope, which he made on July 6th, having thus accomplished the passage from Lisbon in the course of ninety-one days.

Duarte Pacheco, who wrote his _Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis_ in 1505, recommends vessels to go south from Cape Verde for 600 leagues, to lat. 19° S., and thence to make for a point 40 leagues to the S.W. of the Cape of Good Hope, in lat. 37° S. Such a course would take a vessel to the windward of Trinidad.

These notes prove that the Portuguese, in the course of a few years, must have acquired a remarkably correct knowledge of the winds and currents of the Southern Atlantic; for the tracks laid down and followed by their pilots in the beginning of the sixteenth century differ but little, if at all, from those recommended in our modern sailing directories.

_Doubling the Cape_.

Three days after his landfall we find Vasco da Gama in the Bay of St. Helena, where he careened his ships, took in a fresh supply of water, and observed the latitude.[440]

He left this anchorage on November 16th. Two days afterwards he sighted the Cape, but the wind being from the S.S.W. he was obliged to stand off and on until the 22nd, when he succeeded in getting beyond it “without encountering the storms and perils expected by the mariners”; and following the coast he cast anchor in the Bay of S. Braz on the 25th, and there set up his first padrão. In that run he must have been favoured by the wind, which along the coast and in November blows generally from the S.E., although westerly winds and even gales are not infrequent.

Barros, Castanheda, and Goes give the same account of the doubling of the Cape, but Correa would have us believe that Vasco da Gama, after having made a landfall to the north of the Cape, stood out for the open sea for a month, until there were scarcely six hours of sunlight in the day; and that, even after that, and after he had once more failed to reach the southern extremity of Africa, he continued south for two more months. Then at last he turned again to the east, and found that he had doubled the Cape. Beyond it he discovered lofty mountains and many rivers, one of which was ascended by Coelho for twenty leagues.[441] The utter absurdity of this account is evident, and it is surprising that it should have been accepted by serious historians. A day of six hours may be experienced in lat. 58° 30´ S. in mid-winter—that is in June—but nowhere in the southern hemisphere during summer. In November the duration of daylight in that latitude is about sixteen hours, and to talk about “darkness” under these circumstances seems absurd. It would, moreover, have been impossible to reach so high a latitude without coming amidst masses of drift-ice, which surely would have proved a stranger experience to Vasco’s companions than “tremendous seas” and “high winds”, and better worth recording.

_Along the East Coast of Africa._

On December 8th Vasco left the Bay of S. Braz, and four days afterwards experienced a heavy westerly gale (p. 18).

Barros, Goes, and Castanheda refer to this gale, but Correa, not content with a gale, conjures up a succession of storms, continuing for days, so that the crews clamoured to be taken back to Portugal. The men in Coelho’s ships are actually said to have conspired to mutiny at the earliest opportunity. Their intention, we are expected to believe, was made known to the captain-major by a mysteriously-worded message shouted from ship to ship by Coelho. Vasco at once summoned his people, declared to them that “if the bad weather came again he had determined to put back; but to disculpate himself with the King it was necessary for some among them to sign a document giving the reasons for putting back.” Having invited on this pretence his pilot, his master and three leading seamen into his cabin, he treacherously put them in irons, and, flinging all the instruments necessary for navigating the ship into the sea, declared that God would henceforth be their master and pilot. The men were released on reaching the River of Mercy, but on their return to Portugal they were ironed once more, to be presented in that degrading state to their King![442]

Osorio[443] likewise gives an account of a mutiny, but says that it occurred before the Cape was doubled. He differs in other respects from Correa, stating, for instance, that “_all_ the pilots were put in chains.” As Osorio’s book was published in 1571, whilst Correa’s MS., although written in 1561, only reached Lisbon in 1583, it is not probable that the former borrowed from the latter. They may both have derived their information from the same impure source, and accepted an idle tradition as the record of a fact. That there may have been some discontent among the men is quite possible, but we cannot believe that the pilots intended to head a mutiny. We quite agree with Professor Kopke,[444] when he prefers the authority of Barros, Goes, and Castanheda, and of the author of this “Journal”, to that of Osorio. This applies with still greater force to the absurdly elaborate account of Correa. Professor A. Herculano, in the second edition of the _Roteiro_ (p. viii), discredits Professor Kopke’s notes on the insufficient ground that the eminent authorities referred to above refrained from every allusion to a mutiny from a “fear of tarnishing the fame of Vasco da Gama’s companions.” But Herculano believed in Correa—we do not.

Early on December 15th, Vasco once more made for the land, and found himself abreast, the Ilhéos Chãos (Bird islands) in Algoa Bay, having thus covered only a couple of hundred miles in the course of seven days. Fair progress was made for a couple of days after this. The vessels kept near the coast, and being favoured by the wind, and also by an inshore counter-current, were able to pass beyond the pillar set up by Dias and the furthest point reached by that navigator. But on December 17th the wind sprang round to the east. Vasco da Gama stood out to sea, and was thus made to experience the full force of the Agulhas current, which here runs at a distance of about ten miles from the land. He was unable to make head against the combined forces of wind and current, and when, on December 20th, he again approached the land he found himself at the Ilhéo da Cruz, 27 miles to the westward of the group of islets from which he had started on the 15th (see p. 15).

Henceforth, for a number of days, the wind proved propitious, and by December 25th our voyagers, clinging all the while to the coast, had proceeded 240 miles beyond the furthest point reached by Dias (as estimated by the pilots); and three days afterwards they cast anchor and took a quantity of fish. This locality we identify with Durnford Point—the Ponta da Pescaria of the old charts—300 miles beyond the Rio de Infante (which was Dias’s furthest), and 370 miles beyond the Ilhéo da Cruz. The daily run since December 20th had thus averaged 46 miles.

Vasco da Gama then stood off the land, for reasons not given by any of the historians. Whether it was from fear of being driven upon a lee-shore by a strong easterly wind, or the hope of being able to shorten his passage by a more direct north-easterly course, we are unable to tell. However that may be, a fortnight passed before the vessels returned to the land, so that drinking-water began to fail, and the men had to be put on short rations. It was on the 11th of January that Vasco da Gama found himself off the mouth of a small river, the Rio do Cobre, where he established friendly relations with the “good people” of a country ruled by petty chiefs.[445] The distance of this river from the “Fishing Point” is only 315 miles, and contrary winds must therefore have driven the little flotilla far out of its direct course, but not as far as the neighbourhood of Madagascar, for southerly winds would have been picked up there, which would have carried it more speedily towards its destination than was possible in the face of the south-easterly winds prevailing along the coast of Africa.

After a stay of five days, Vasco da Gama left the Rio do Cobre on January 16th, and without further incident, and leaving Sofala far to the west, he arrived off the mouth of the Rio dos Bons Signaes (Kilimani) on January 24th, having thus accomplished a distance of 480 miles in eight days. Coelho’s caravel at once crossed the bar to take soundings, and the two ships followed on the next day. In this river Vasco da Gama stayed 31 days, careening his vessels, refreshing his crews, and erecting a padrão dedicated to S. Raphael (see p. 19). It was here that he heard the glad tidings of more civilised regions in front of him.

On February 24th the vessels once more gained the open sea, and following the coast for six days arrived off Mozambique on March 2nd. During this voyage of 330 miles they kept outside the islands which here skirt the coast, and lay to at night, as usual, which accounts for the slow rate of progress made during this coasting voyage. Coelho, as before, led the way, and entered by the shallow southern channel, between the islands of S. Thiago and S. Jorge. The three vessels anchored in front of the town (see p. 23). Later on they removed to the island of S. Jorge, where mass was read on March 12th, after which the little flotilla set sail for the north. Two days afterwards, the Soriza Peaks rose in the distance. In the course of that day they were becalmed. A light easterly wind arose, and at night on the 14th they stood off shore; and when in the morning of the 15th they looked about them, they found that the Mozambique current, which here frequently runs at the rate of two to four knots to the southward, had swept them twelve miles abaft Mozambique. Sailing vessels are advised,[446] under such circumstances, to stand to the eastward for sixty miles or more, and regain their northing beyond the influence of the southerly current. Of course, Vasco da Gama knew nothing about all this. Fortunately, he was able to recover his old anchorage at the island of S. Jorge in the course of the afternoon.

A fresh start was made on March 29th. This time the wind was favourable. The Moorish pilot whom Vasco da Gama had on board took him past Kilwa, which the captain would have liked to have visited, and shaped a course outside Mafia, Zanzibar and the other islands lying off that coast. Early on April 7th the _S. Raphael_ ran aground near Mtangata, but was speedily got off; and on April 7th Vasco da Gama cast anchor in the outer road of Mombasa, the finest port on the whole coast of Eastern Africa. The distance thus accomplished in the course of nine days was 690 miles (see p. 34).

Sixty miles more brought the Portuguese to the roadstead of Melinde, where they cast anchor on April 14th, and remained until the 24th. This was the only town at which they met with a cordial reception (p. 40).

_Across the Arabian Gulf to Calecut._

On April 24th Vasco da Gama, who had secured the services of a Gujarati pilot, started for India. By that time the S.W. monsoon was blowing steadily, though not as yet very strongly. The African coast was kept in sight for a couple of days, after which the vessels stood boldly across the “Great Gulf.” They passed in all probability to the south of the _Baixos de Padua_. They had been twenty-one days at sea, and were still 24 miles from the land, when there rose in front of them a lofty wooded mountain. This was Mount Eli, 2,220 miles from Melinde, and the day on which India was first beheld by Europeans who had come direct from a European port was May 18th, a Friday (see p. 47).[447]

Galvão[448] is the only author who mentions the “Flats of Padua,”[449] as having been discovered by Vasco da Gama on his outward voyage, and we freely accept his statement, for the Portuguese must either have crossed the Laccadives or passed to the north of them. As these islands are very low, the author of the _Roteiro_ may not have thought it worth while to mention them. It is evident, however, from what Sernigi says (p. 134), as also from the evidence of the earliest maps illustrating this voyage, that the Portuguese learnt a good deal about them from the pilots whom they employed.

On the following day, having stood off during the night, the captain-major again approached the land, but the western Ghats were wrapped in clouds, and it rained heavily, so that the pilot failed to identify the locality. The day after, however, the 20th of May, having passed Monte Formosa (see p. 47, note 6), he recognised the lofty mountains above Calecut, and in the evening of that day the little fleet was riding at anchor about five miles off Capocate, or Capua, a small town only seven miles to the north of the much-desired city, which was pointed out to the expectant Portuguese (p. 48). Soon afterwards Vasco da Gama took up a position right in front of that city;[450] but on May 27th a pilot of the Zamorin guided him to an anchorage off Pandarani, thirteen miles to the north, on the ground of its greater safety, and at that anchorage the Portuguese remained no less than 88 days, until August 23rd, when Vasco da Gama once more took up a position four leagues to the leeward of Calecut. From that time to the day of his final departure, in the afternoon of August 30th, he hovered about that city, standing off and on, as the state of the weather or the exigencies of his relations with the Zamorin required.

_The Voyage Home._

In the afternoon of August 30th, a tornado carried Vasco da Gama out to sea (p. 77), and when making his way along the coast he was obliged to tack, depending for his progress upon land and sea breezes, and laying-to when becalmed. At Cananor he sent ashore one of his captives (p. 79), but held no communication with the town himself. On September 15th he landed on a small island, and erected the padrão dedicated to St. Mary (p. 80).[451]

On September 20th Vasco da Gama arrived at the Anjediva Islands, about 14° 45´ N., having thus spent twenty-one days in accomplishing 240 miles. He seems, first of all, to have anchored near the Oyster Rocks, off the Kalipadi river, but on September 24th he landed on the largest of these islands, where he remained until October 5th, waiting for a propitious wind, and availed himself of the enforced leisure to careen the flagship and the _Berrio_ (p. 83).

The passage across the gulf proved a fearful trial for the Portuguese. Foul winds and calms impeded their progress, whilst a renewed outbreak of scurvy carried off thirty victims and prostrated the remaining men, so that only seven or eight were fit to do duty in each vessel. Vasco da Gama had left Anjediva on October 5th (a Friday!), although the N.E. monsoon only sets in at the end of the month, and ninety days elapsed before the African coast came within sight, near Magadoxo, and five more before the hard-proved mariners once more found themselves with the friendly Sultan of Melinde (p. 89).

The remainder of the voyage home calls for little comment. Having left Melinde on January 11th, Vasco da Gama, passing between the mainland and Zanzibar, stopped for a fortnight at the “baixos” upon which the _S. Raphael_ had run in the outward voyage, and there that doomed ship was set on fire, as there were no men left to sail her. Late on February 1st the remaining two vessels hove to in front of S. Jorge Island, where a padrão was erected on the following morning in drenching rain. The voyage was continued without communicating with the town of Moçambique, and on March 3rd Vasco once more found himself in the Bay of S. Braz.

The Cape was doubled on March 20th. The wind proved fair during twenty-seven days—that is, to April 16th or 17th—but after came calms and foul winds; and on April 25th, when the wearied mariners already believed themselves to be near S. Thiago, the pilots told them that they had only reached the shoals off the Rio Grande (p. 93).

Here the two consorts appear to have parted company, under circumstances not known; and whilst Vasco da Gama accompanied his dying brother to Terçeira, Coelho is said to have made straight for Lisbon, where he arrived, after a voyage of seventy-six days, on July 10th. The distance along the coast of Africa is only 1,900 miles, and that by way of the Azores, the only route at all suitable for sailing vessels, is 2,920 miles. The passage ought certainly to have been accomplished in forty days.[452] What did he do during the remaining thirty-six days? We cannot suppose for one moment that an experienced sailor like Coelho would have faced the head-winds of the coast for the sake of shortening the distance to be run. Still, such things _have_ happened.

From the following statement of distances run it will be seen that from July 8th, 1497, the day of Vasco da Gama’s departure from Lisbon to the return of Coelho on July 10th, 1499, there elapsed 732 days, or two years and two days. Of this time 316 days were expended before Calecut was reached, 102 at Calecut and in its vicinity, and 314 on the homeward passage.[453]

--------------------------------------------+-------+--------+--------+-------
| |Old Por-| |Average
Dates and Places. | Days. | tuguse |Nautical| Daily
| |Leagues.| Miles. | Run,
| | (1) | | Miles.
--------------------------------------------+-------+--------+--------+-------
Lisbon to S. Thiago, July 8 to 27, 1497 | 19 | 515 | 1740 | 90
S. Thiago to First Landfall, 30° S., Aug. 3 | 93 | 1533 | 5180 | 54
to Nov. 4 | | | |
To S. Helena Bay, Nov. 4 to 7 | 3 | 49 | 165 | 55
S. Helena Bay to Cape of Good Hope, | 6 | 34 | 115 | 19
Nov. 16 to 22 | | | |
Cape to Bay of S. Braz, Nov. 22 to 25 | 3 | 59 | 200 | 67
S. Braz to Rio do Cobre, Dec. 8 to Jan. | 34 | 259 | 875 | 26[454]
11, 1498 | | | |
Rio do Cobre to Rio dos Bons Signaes, | 8 | 1 | 480 | 60
Jan. 16 to 24 | | | |
Rio dos Bons Signaes to Moçambique, | 6 | 98 | 330 | 55
Feb 24 to March 2 | | | |
Moçambique to Mombaça, March 29 to | 9 | 204 | 690 | 77
April 7[455] | | | |
Mombaça to Melinde, April 12 to 14 | 2 | 18 | 60 | 30
Melinde to Mount Eli, April 24 to May 18 | 24 | 657 | 2220 | 93
Mount Eli to Capocate near Calecut, May | 2 | 16 | 53 | 26
18 to 20 +-------+--------+--------+-------
Total Outward Passage | 209 | 3584 | 12108 | 58
+-------+--------+--------+-------
| | | |
Calecut to Anjediva, Aug. 30 to Sept. 20, | 21 | 71 | 240 | 11
1498 | | | |
Anjediva to Melinde, Oct. 5 to Jan 7, 1499 | 94 | 710 | 2400 | 25
Melinde to Moçambique, Jan. 11 to Feb. 1 |21[456]| 219 | 740 | 35
Moçambique to S. Braz, Feb. 2 to March 3 | 30 | 500 | 1690 | 56
S. Braz to Cape, March 12 to 20 | 8 | 59 | 200 | 25
Cape to Rio Grande, March 20 to April 25 | 36 | 99 | 3360 | 93
Rio Grande to Lisbon (Coelho’s vessel), | 76 | 4 | 2920 | 25
April 25 to July 10, 1499 +-------+--------+--------+-------
Total Homeward Passage | 286 | 3417 | 11550 | 40
--------------------------------------------+-------+--------+--------+-------

APPENDIX G.

EARLY MAPS ILLUSTRATING VASCO DA GAMA’S FIRST VOYAGE.

It must ever be matter for regret that none of the sailing charts prepared by Vasco da Gama’s pilots should have reached us. In tracing the progress of his expedition with the aid of charts we are consequently dependent upon compilations which, although contemporary, embody also materials brought home by other navigators.

One great drawback of all the charts available for our purpose is their small scale.[457] This compelled their compilers to make a selection from the names which they found inserted upon the larger charts at their disposal, and this selection may not always have been a judicious one. The compilation of a map from discordant materials presents difficulties even in the present day, and these difficulties were much greater at a time when the compiler had not at his command trustworthy observations for latitude which would have enabled him to check the positions of intermediate places, and bring into agreement the records brought home by successive explorers. As an instance, we may mention that in the five maps which we shall bring more fully under notice, the latitude assigned to the Cape of Good Hope varies between 29° and 34° S., its true position being 34° 22´ S. As to longitudes, they had to be determined by dead reckoning, and it need not therefore surprise us if, on the maps referred to, the Cape is placed from 3° 50´ to 10° 20´ too far to the eastward. Nay, this near approach to the truth, in at least one instance, compels our recognition of the skill of the men who piloted the first ships around that long-sought _Cabo desejado_.

Another difficulty arises from the crabbed characters employed by the map draughtsmen of the early part of the sixteenth century: a difficulty all the more serious when these illegible characters had to be reproduced by Italians having no knowledge of the language of the documents they used, or the meaning of the uncouth names which they were called upon to copy. It is one of the great merits of Mercator to have caused these characters to be banished from the maps of his countrymen; but a second Mercator is still wanted to do the same good work for their printed books.

I now proceed to a consideration of the charts which illustrate more especially Vasco da Gama’s first voyage.

The first of these charts is by Henricus Martellus Germanus. It is one of many in a MS., _Insularium illustratum_, now in the British Museum (Add. MS. 15760). It is a map of the world, very roughly drawn and without a scale, and is dated 1489, that is almost immediately after the return of Dias in the December of the preceding year. The author, no doubt, was an Italian, and other maps by his skilful hand are known to exist.[458] Unfortunately for our purpose, the coast beyond the Cape is very incorrectly drawn, and there are but six names, viz., Golfo dentro delle serre (False Bay), Rio della vacche (Gouritz), Cavo dalhado (talhado, Seal Point), Golfo de Pastori (St. Francis Bay), Padrom de S. George (instead of Gregorio), and Ilha de fonte (instead of infante).[459]

The first map illustrating, or rather attempting to illustrate, Vasco da Gama’s voyage is that compiled by Juan de la Cosa, the famous pilot of Columbus, in 1500. The author was fairly well informed of the discoveries made by his own countrymen, but knew apparently but little about those of the Portuguese. Thus, although Vicente Yanez Pinzon only returned to Spain on September 30th, 1500, the coast explored by him to the westward of the Rostro hermoso (the Cabo de Agostinho of the Portuguese) is laid down properly; whilst Santa Cruz, discovered by Cabral in April 1500, is incorrectly indicated,[460] although Gaspar de Lemos, whom Cabral sent back with the news of his discovery, arrived in Portugal three months before the Spanish navigator. As to two groups of islands in the southern Atlantic, namely, “thebas, yslas tibras etiopicas yn mare oceanum austral” (lat 1° 40´ S.), and “Y. tausens, ylas tausens montises etiopicus oceanas” (lat. 15° S.), they seem to be quite imaginary, and I only refer to them here because they kept their place on later maps, and might be mistaken for the islands discovered by João da Nova in 1501-2. Of the results of Vasco da Gama’s expedition Juan de la Cosa must have been very ill-informed; among the many uncouth and incomprehensible names inserted by him along the Eastern coast of Africa there is not one which can be traced to Gama. Not even such places as Sofala, Quiloa, Moçambique and Mombaça can be identified, whilst Zanzibar and Madagascar lie far out in the Indian Ocean.[461]

The coastline of the Indian Ocean is Ptolemaic; there is no hint at the peninsular shape of India, the map being in that respect inferior to that of the Catalan, more than a hundred years older, and the only indication of Vasco da Gama’s visit to these seas is the name “Calicut”, placed on the south coast of Caramania (Kerman), with a legend to the east of it: “tierra descubierto por el rey dom Manuel rey de Portugal.”[462]

Our next chart shows a great advance upon the preceding. It was purchased at a sale in London, and is now the property of Dr. Hamy, who published a description of it, with facsimiles, in his _Études historiques et géographiques_, Paris, 1896. The author is not known. His chart places on record the discoveries made by Vicente Yanez Pinzon, Cabral, Sancho de Toar, and Cortereal, and by the expedition which King Manuel sent to Brazil in 1501, and which returned at the beginning of September, 1502.[463] This expedition, which was accompanied by Vespucci, explored the American coast as far as the Rio de Cananea, in lat. 25° 45´ S. The author knows nothing of the discoveries of João da Nova, who returned to Lisbon on September 11th, 1502. We may therefore safely date his map “1502”, as is done by Dr. Hamy.