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]

Dates and Places. Days. Old
Portuguse
Leagues.[453]
 Nautical
Miles.		 Average
Daily
Run,
Miles.

Lisbon to S. Thiago, July 8 to 27, 1497

 19515174090

S. Thiago to First Landfall, 30° S., Aug. 3 to Nov. 4

 931533518054

To S. Helena Bay, Nov. 4 to 7

 34916555

S. Helena Bay to Cape of Good Hope, Nov. 16 to 22

 63411519

Cape to Bay of S. Braz, Nov. 22 to 25

 35920067

S. Braz to Rio do Cobre, Dec. 8 to Jan. 11, 1498

 3425987526[454]

Rio do Cobre to Rio dos Bons Signaes, Jan. 16 to 24

 8148060

Rio dos Bons Signaes to Moçambique, Feb 24 to March 2

 69833055

Moçambique to Mombaça, March 29 to April 7[455]

 920469077

Mombaça to Melinde, April 12 to 14

 2186030

Melinde to Mount Eli, April 24 to May 18

 24657222093

Mount Eli to Capocate near Calecut, May 18 to 20

 2165326
Total Outward Passage 20935841210858

Calecut to Anjediva, Aug. 30 to Sept. 20, 1498

 217124011

Anjediva to Melinde, Oct. 5 to Jan 7, 1499

 94710240025

Melinde to Moçambique, Jan. 11 to Feb. 1

 21[456]21974035

Moçambique to S. Braz, Feb. 2 to March 3

 30500169056

S. Braz to Cape, March 12 to 20

 85920025

Cape to Rio Grande, March 20 to April 25

 3699336093

Rio Grande to Lisbon (Coelho’s vessel), April 25 to July 10, 1499

 764292025
Total Homeward Passage 28634171155040

Dates and Places.Days.Old
Portuguse
Leagues.[453]
Nautical
Miles.		Average
Daily
Run,
Miles.
Lisbon to S. Thiago, July 8 to 27, 149719515174090
S. Thiago to First Landfall, 30° S., Aug. 3 to Nov. 4931533518054
To S. Helena Bay, Nov. 4 to 734916555
S. Helena Bay to Cape of Good Hope, Nov. 16 to 2263411519
Cape to Bay of S. Braz, Nov. 22 to 2535920067
S. Braz to Rio do Cobre, Dec. 8 to Jan. 11, 14983425987526[454]
Rio do Cobre to Rio dos Bons Signaes, Jan. 16 to 248148060
Rio dos Bons Signaes to Moçambique, Feb 24 to March 269833055
Moçambique to Mombaça, March 29 to April 7[455]920469077
Mombaça to Melinde, April 12 to 142186030
Melinde to Mount Eli, April 24 to May 1824657222093
Mount Eli to Capocate near Calecut, May 18 to 202165326
Total Outward Passage20935841210858
Calecut to Anjediva, Aug. 30 to Sept. 20, 1498217124011
Anjediva to Melinde, Oct. 5 to Jan 7, 149994710240025
Melinde to Moçambique, Jan. 11 to Feb. 121[456]21974035
Moçambique to S. Braz, Feb. 2 to March 330500169056
S. Braz to Cape, March 12 to 2085920025
Cape to Rio Grande, March 20 to April 253699336093
Rio Grande to Lisbon (Coelho’s vessel), April 25 to July 10, 1499764292025
Total Homeward Passage28634171155040