Part 11 (1/2)
The caravel continued her voyage, sorely buffeted by storms, during which one of her masts was sprung, he all the time lying prostrated by sickness in his cabin. It was not until the end of several weeks that the tempest-tossed barks anch.o.r.ed, on the 7th of November, in the harbour of San Lucar.
Thus ended the last voyage undertaken by the great navigator. From San Lucar he was conveyed to Seville, where he hoped to obtain rest after all his toils; but on arriving there he found his affairs in confusion, as they had been ever since his property had been seized by Bobadilla.
His great anxiety was to get to Court to defend himself from the malignant accusations of his enemies; but his patroness, the magnanimous Isabella, fell ill and died. Ferdinand, though he treated him with respect, made constant excuses for not attending to his requests.
At length King Philip with Juana arrived from Flanders to take possession of their throne of Castile, and the Admiral, trusting that in the daughter of Isabella he would once more find a patroness, being too ill to leave his bed, sent his brother the Adelantado to pet.i.tion for the restoration of his honours and estates.
It was the last time he was to see his gallant brother. Before the return of Don Bartholomew, feeling his end approaching, leaving his eldest son Don Diego his heir, he made his dying bequests in the presence of his faithful followers, Mendez and Fiesco, and on the 20th of May, 1506, at the age of seventy years, he yielded up his dauntless spirit to his Maker.
CHAPTER NINE.
VOYAGE OF VASCO DA GAMA, TO FIND A WAY TO INDIA BY SEA, AND TO DISCOVER THE KINGDOM OF PRESTER JOHN--A.D. 1497.
Early voyages of Portuguese to coast of Africa--Prince Henry of Portugal--Cape Bojador discovered--Madeira visited by Gonzales--Dom Joao the Second--Bartholomew Diaz discovers Cape of Storms, called by the King Cape of Good Hope--Envoys sent to Prester John--King Manuel fits out a squadron--Appoints Vasco da Gama to command them--Paulo da Gama-- Nicholas Coelho--Grand ceremony at leave-taking--Squadron sails--Meet at Cape de Verde Islands--Enter a bay on African coast--Intercourse with natives--Veloso nearly caught by them--s.h.i.+ps stand off the land--Terror of the crews--Wish to return--Da Gama refuses--The Cape of Good Hope doubled--s.h.i.+ps stand along south coast of Africa--No natives seen--A tremendous gale--Clamours to return--Mutiny suppressed by a device of Coelho's--Da Gama puts his pilots in irons.
Nearly a century before Vasco da Gama sailed on his renowned voyage, a spirit of discovery had been aroused in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the rulers of Portugal. Prince Enrique, who had accompanied his father, King Joao, on an expedition against Cueta in Africa, had obtained from several Moors much information concerning the coasts of that dark continent, which had fired his ambition to ascertain more about it. Hitherto Europeans had not ventured beyond the Cape, to which was given the name of Cabo Nao, signifying in Portuguese, No, or in other words, This cape is not to be pa.s.sed.
Prince Enrique, believing this idea to be a bugbear, fitted out two vessels in A.D. 1417, with orders to their commanders to push beyond the dreaded cape. This they succeeded in doing; but on finding the sea breaking furiously on another cape farther to the south, to which they gave the name of Bojador, they also turned back.
The next year the Prince sent a second expedition under Joao Gonzales.
Being driven off the African coast by a gale, the s.h.i.+ps put into the harbour of Porto Santo in a small island a little to the northward of Madeira, and then returned home. The Prince, on hearing of this, dispatched a s.h.i.+p carrying some colonists provided with agricultural instruments, plants, and seeds, as well as cattle and other animals.
Among the latter were a couple of rabbits, which increased so prodigiously, that the corn and plants of all descriptions were destroyed by them, and as they could not be got rid of, it became necessary to remove the human inhabitants.
The next year, by order of the Prince, Gonzales, again sailing, re-discovered the island of Madeira, at which the Englishman, Lionel Machin, with the hapless Arabella Darcy, two centuries before, had landed and died. The Portuguese gave to it the name of Madeira, which means Wood, in consequence of finding it overgrown with trees. To clear a part for settlement they set the wood on fire, but being of a dry character, the trees burned until the whole were destroyed.
Several years pa.s.sed, when Prince Enrique dispatched an experienced seaman, Captain Gilianez, charging him to pa.s.s the dreaded Cape of Bojador. Gilianez proceeded thirty leagues beyond it, but dreaded to go farther. He turned back, therefore, satisfied at having performed his commission. Next year he proceeded another twelve leagues to the south, to a part of the coast where a number of sea-wolves, or rather seals, were taken.
Thus, year by year, expeditions were sent out, each gaining, step by step, a knowledge of the African coast, until in the reign of Dom Joao the Second, in 1486, Bartholomew Diaz sailed with three s.h.i.+ps, resolved to proceed farther than any of his predecessors. Touching at several places on the coast, he at length reached an until then unknown cape, to which he gave the name of Il Cabo Tormentoso, or the Cape of Storms, on account of the furious gales and heavy seas he there encountered.
The seamen, frightened by the weather, and believing that Nature had set a barrier against their further progress, insisted on returning, although Diaz was convinced that he had reached the southern end of the continent. On the arrival of Diaz at Lisbon, the King, delighted with his discovery, gave to the cape the name of Cabo de Boa Esperanza, or Cape of Good Hope. Dom Joao had in the meantime dispatched overland two envoys with directions to visit the kingdom of Prester John, and was preparing to send out an expedition by sea, when death put a stop to his projects.
His successor, Dom Manoel, resolved, however, to carry them out, but before doing so he set to work to obtain all the information in his power. On consulting a Jewish astronomer, Zacato, he learned the cause of the ill success many of the expeditions had met with. He could not understand why some of his captains had in certain lat.i.tudes encountered storms, while others had pa.s.sed through them in fine weather. The Jew suggested that as the ocean is very large, in some parts it is summer and in others winter, and that his s.h.i.+ps following the same course, some might arrive in a region where winter prevails and meet with storms, and when the other reaches the same lat.i.tude it may be summer, and perfectly fine weather be enjoyed. Thus, he continued, when navigators have obtained more experience, they will know when to sail so as to obtain summer during the whole of the voyage, and will then be able to come from and go to the Cape of Good Hope without difficulty.
Notwithstanding the valuable information the astronomer Zacato had given the King, he was compelled, with other Jews, to fly from Portugal, on account of the persecution to which they were subjected. The King, Dom Manoel, at once gave orders for the completion of the s.h.i.+ps which Dom Joao had commenced, and directed that they should be as strong and serviceable as possible. The sailors who had gone on a previous expedition were collected, and the s.h.i.+ps were supplied with double the usual amount of sails and tackling, as well as with artillery, munitions, and provisions, including all sorts of fruits, especially preserves, for the use of the sick, nor were priests for confession forgotten.
Rich merchandise, and gold and silver articles, goblets, swords and daggers, s.h.i.+elds and spears, all highly ornamented, fit to present to the rulers of the countries to be visited, were also collected. All the slaves to be found, who could speak Eastern languages, were purchased, that they might act as interpreters. The King having made these preparations, had next to fix on a leader for the expedition. Among the cavaliers who attended his Court was one who had already seen much service at sea, Vasco da Gama, a man of n.o.ble lineage, son of Estevan da Gama, formerly Comptroller of the Household of King Dom Alfonso. The King, summoning Vasco into his presence, offered him the command of the squadron he proposed sending out to discover a way to the East Indies by sea.
The cavalier at once gladly accepted the honourable charge, saying at the same time that he had an elder brother, named Paulo da Gama, whom he requested the King to appoint as Captain-Major to carry the royal standard. The King, pleased with his modesty, and satisfied that he was a man especially fitted for the undertaking, granted him his request, but desired that he himself should carry out all the arrangements for the expedition.
Paulo, in consequence of a quarrel with the chief magistrate of Lisbon, had been compelled to quit the city. He was summoned back, and a free pardon granted him. The two brothers having selected a particular friend, Nicholas Coelho, to command one of the s.h.i.+ps, the three, without loss of time, set to work to prepare them for the voyage. They were named respectively the _Saint Miguel_, the _Saint Gabriel_, and _Saint Raphael_. The crews were at once directed to learn the arts of carpenters, rope-makers, caulkers, blacksmiths, and plank-makers, receiving additional pay as an encouragement, while they were furnished with all the tools necessary for their crafts. Da Gama also selected the most experienced masters and pilots, who now, instead of being guided by their charts, would have to depend upon their own sagacity, their compa.s.ses, and lead-lines, for running down strange coasts and entering hitherto unknown harbours. To save the officers and trained seamen as much as possible from risking their lives, da Gama begged the King to order six men who had been condemned to death to be put on board each s.h.i.+p, that they might be sent ash.o.r.e in dangerous regions, or left in certain places, to acquire a knowledge of the language and habits of the people. These cut-throat gentlemen were, as may be supposed, afterwards a source of no small trouble and anxiety to the commanders of the s.h.i.+ps.
The preparations for the voyage being completed, the King and Queen, with their Court and many of the n.o.bles of the land, a.s.sembled in the cathedral of Lisbon, to hear Ma.s.s, and bid farewell to the gallant explorers. The three captains, richly dressed, advanced to the curtain behind which the Royal Family had sat during the service, and dropping on their knees, kissed their sovereign's hand, and expressed their readiness to expend their lives in the important undertaking with which he had entrusted them. They then, mounting their horses, and accompanied by numerous n.o.bles and gentlemen, as well as by a procession of priests and monks, with tapers in their hands, chanting a litany, to which a great concourse of people uttered responses, rode down to the harbour. The King went with them in his barge as they joined their several s.h.i.+ps, bestowing on them his blessing, and earnestly praying that they might enjoy a prosperous voyage and return home in safety.
Vasco da Gama embarked in the _Saint Raphael_, Paulo in the _Saint Gabriel_, and Nicholas Coelho in the _Saint Miguel_. The s.h.i.+ps were all of the same size, measuring about one hundred and twenty tons, and each carried about eighty persons, officers and men. They were accompanied by a store s.h.i.+p of two hundred tons, under the command of Gonzalo Nunez, which was to continue with them only a part of the way, and to supply them with provisions and stores. It was on Sat.u.r.day, the 8th of July, 1497, the anchors being weighed and the sails loosed, that Vasco da Gama proceeded down the Tagus on his memorable voyage.
He first steered so as to reach the Cape de Verde Islands, where he had ordered the s.h.i.+ps to rendezvous in case of separation.
Having sighted the African coast, they again stood out to the westward, meeting with a heavy gale, against which they had to beat for several days, until the crews were almost worn out, and the s.h.i.+ps received no little damage. Being separated, as it was expected would be the case, they all steered for the Cape de Verde, where Paulo da Gama, Coelho, Diaz, and Nunez rejoined one another, but the Captain-Major had not arrived.
At length his s.h.i.+p made her appearance, when, to show their joy, they saluted him with salvoes from their artillery, for fears had been entertained that he was lost.
Having taken in water and repaired the damaged spars and rigging, they again sailed. Here Diaz parted from his friends to proceed on his separate voyage.