Part 12

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.

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]