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).