Unknown Seas: The Portuguese Captains and the Passage to India

by Ronald Watkins

Had there not been a shortage of water, it is unlikely Vasco would have put in at this location. He had been warned this was where Dias had experienced problems with the locals and had killed one with a crossbow. There would surely be ill will towards them, so the Portuguese were in a heightened state of readiness.

  Vasco ordered the ships to approach land only in an area clear of any brush so that the landing party could not be caught by surprise. A large number of locals, identified as Hottentots, were observed on the beach behaving in what appeared to be a friendly manner, which came as a welcome surprise. No women or children were in view, however, and those greeting the Portuguese were primarily older men. Vasco instructed the shore party to wear armour and to be well armed, then went ashore with them.

  Before allowing the boats to beach Vasco tossed tinkling bells to the Hottentots, who danced in pleasure whenever they caught one. Satisfied, Vasco and his men stepped ashore and in the next few minutes traded more bells and red caps for ivory bracelets which the locals took from their arms. Not wanting the Hottentots to be in a position to overwhelm his much smaller force, he insisted they approach in small groups. This first contact went well but Vasco had already witnessed how quickly, and unexpectedly, such occasions could turn to violence.

  Once the Hottentots had moved off he gave the usual orders to lay in such fresh supplies as could be found and for repairs to be made on the battered ships. He had the remaining stores on the supply vessel transferred to the other three ships, then ordered it to be broken up. Any wood that could conceivably be of use in repairs was preserved and much of the rest was taken as firewood; the remainder of the ship was burnt on the beach so that nails and other metal fittings could be recovered. There now remained only the two naus and the smaller caravel.

  Two days after landing some 200 locals were seen approaching the ships, driving before them a herd of cattle and sheep. Barter was obviously to be increased. Boats went ashore and Vasco and his men were warmly greeted. A number of goras (a native pipe) were produced and the festive crowd broke into song and dance. Vasco ordered trumpets to be sounded aboard his ships. A short time later, satisfied with the state of affairs, he returned to his own vessel. The festive mood was infectious, so he instructed his musicians to play a suitable tune. As the sailors began to dance, to their astonishment the Captain-Major joined in. Once the dancing and music were finished, a fat ox was bought for three Portuguese bracelets, providing the officers and crew with dinner. ‘We found him very fat,’the Roteiro reports, ‘and his meat as toothsome as the beef of Portugal.’

  Later that same day another group of Hottentots arrived with cattle. They had with them their women and children, which the Portuguese found reassuring. They too played music and danced, though the women, children and young men with weapons remained a short distance away, crouching in the brush. As the first ox had proved so satisfying, Vasco sent ashore Martim Alfonso, who had experience with the locals in west Africa, to see if he could acquire another. The situation began to deteriorate almost at once.

  First, the Hottentots took Alfonso to a nearby water source and gestured that it was out of bounds to the Portugese. Although no mention is made, it is likely they had been filling their kegs here. When Alfonso indicated he would like to acquire one of the oxen, the locals drove their livestock into the brush and trees, indicating forcefully that there would be no trade. Watching from aboard his ship, Vasco became suspicions and gave orders for Alfonso to return. He then gave orders for a heavily armed party to go ashore, which greatly excited the Hottentots. The purpose of the armed men was to demonstrate that the Portuguese had the power to inflict harm if they wished but that they chose to be peaceful. When their presence did not seem to have the desired effect on the agitated herdsmen, however, Vasco ordered two of the ships’ bombards to be fired for show. The thunder of the cannon startled the Hottentots, who ran about in a panic before finally running off as fast as they could, driving their herd ahead of them.183

  Vasco now directed that the first of the marker pillars should be erected. A large wooden cross was constructed out of a mizen-mast and was placed on top of the stone pillar to create an impressive presence. Their own white sails bore the crimson cross of the Order of Christ, and the symbolism of the pillar could not have been lost on the local population. It was as if a brand was being placed by these newcomers on the land. The Portuguese were either unaware of the message they were sending or did not care.

  The fleet set sail on 6 December, thirteen days after arriving, but as the ships were clearing the bay a group of Hottentots surrounded the pillar and broke both it and the cross into pieces, much to the anger of the Portuguese.

  The weather was now working against Vasco and the ships made little progress. After they had sailed just a short distance the wind failed and the ships were forced to drop anchor. Grumbling among the crew had not entirely disappeared. Two days later they were again under way and on the 12th encountered ‘a great storm’that seemed to blow ‘from all parts’. Worse, at times the wind ceased, trapping the ships within the troughs of the huge waves, great volumes of water washing over their decks. The sailors strapped themselves to the ships to prevent being swept overboard, and more than one gave himself up as lost. It seemed at times as though the ships themselves were breaking up, and heavy kegs of water broke loose, crashing below deck, causing great havoc.

  The São Miguel, the caravel captained by young Nicolau Coelho, was separated from the larger naus and for a time feared lost, but when the storm mercifully abated the ship was spotted in the distance. An unsuccessful attempt was made to attract its attention, but the winds worked in their favour and drove the ship back to them.

  On 16 December the Portuguese passed the pillar Dias had left to mark his farthest point. They were now in the Agulhas current, which flowed against them, and progress was extremely difficult. These were uncharted waters and thus inherently dangerous. For four days the ships sailed well out to sea to escape the current and beat against strong winds, tacking repeatedly in an attempt to make headway. On 20 December, despite their best endeavours, they discovered to their chagrin that they were back where they had started on the 16th. Finally the wind changed in their favour and they were ‘able to overcome the currents which we had feared might frustrate our plans. Henceforth it pleased God in His mercy to allow us to make headway!’184

  On Christmas Day 1497 Vasco named the land they were slowly passing ‘Natal’, the Portuguese word for Christmas. They were now advancing in waters no European had sailed before. At such times uncertainty and doubt were at their strongest. Commitment to such voyages of discovery was always firmest among the captains, partly because they stood to gain so much from success but also because they had been specially selected for their persist-ence, so necessary to explore the unknown, to push on in the face of risk.

  Two historians record a suspiciously fanciful account of what occurred next. At this point in the expedition Nicolau Coelho discovered a plot among some of the crew but also, most disturbingly, among the masters and pilots of the vessels. When the São Miguel and the São Gabriel drew close enough for the captains to shout to one another, as occurred quite often, Coelho was able to deliver a carefully worded message urging Vasco to clap the masters and pilots in irons. The Captain-Major understood Coelho’s meaning but concealed it until he could arrange a ruse whereby the pilots and masters of the other vessels joined him, along with their nautical instruments and charts. Presumably he told them he meant to establish a firm fix on their position and to update all charts in order to reflect their new discoveries.

  Once the men were on board he suddenly turned on them. ‘I do not require master or pilot, nor any man who knows the art of navigation because God alone is the master and pilot who shall guide and deliver us in His mercy. His will be done’, he shouted along with, presumably, a few other well-chosen words. ‘Henceforth let no man speak to me of putting back. [. . .]If I fail to achieve that for which I have come, to Portugal I shall not
return.’

  Vasco placed the men in chains and then, in their presence, flung their instruments and charts into the sea, pausing to let the full impact sink in. Only the Captain-Major now possessed the means of navigation and the essential charts to see them safely home.185

  Vasco’s initial orders were that the men should be kept in chains until they had reached Lisbon and there face the king’s justice, ‘if they do not die before that’. Later, he allowed the men to rejoin the crew with the knowledge they would be put in chains once Portugal was sighted. In the end the men conducted themselves so well that Vasco relented and promised to intercede on their behalf before the king.

  There is no mention of this incident in the Roteiro, and other usually reliable sources also exclude it, but then other events known to have occurred are also not mentioned in them. If it really did occur, it was as audacious a decision as any captain far from safe harbour ever made, and it resolved once and for all any thought of turning back.

  To escape the unfavourable current Vasco ordered the ships to be put well out to sea. They were very low on water once again, which suggests that on each of the two previous stops they had been unable fully to restore their supply. Although it was summer, each sailor was receiving less than a pint of water a day for drinking. For cooking they used sea water, which would have been very unsatisfactory as most of the provisions had been preserved with salt. The ships had been continuously at sea since 6 December. Some repairs had been made while under way but these were inadequate. Vasco ordered the ships to approach the coast and on 11 January they dropped anchor at the mouth of a small river in southern Mozambique.

  As longboats from the ships were rowing to shore, a large group of black Africans, identified by historians as ‘Bantus’, gathered on the beach to greet them. Tall and well-built, they much more closely resembled the Africans with whom the Portuguese were most familiar and were quite different from the Bushmen and Hottentots with whom they had previously been dealing.

  Martim Alfonso, joined by an unidentified Portuguese (probably one of the delgradados), was sent ashore to make this initial approach. The pair made promising contact with someone they took to be a man of influence. Vasco sent this ‘chief’a jacket, a pair of red pantaloons, a Moorish cap and a bracelet, which were well received. Alfonso and his companion were invited to spend the night at the chief’s nearby village. On the way the chief donned the new clothes and, as they passed, people clapped their hands in approval at the gifts while the chief beamed with delight. When he reached his village he paraded about it while the villagers came out to express their delight.

  Alfonso and his companion were fed millet porridge and chicken, and housed in the chief’s straw hut. Throughout the night men, women and children approached the Portuguese to stare at them as if they were a marvel, smiling and often clapping as a sign of their approval.

  The next morning the chief ordered two men to accompany them back to their ships and presented them with fowls to give to the Captain-Major. By the time the men reached the landing place for the longboats a crowd of 200 locals was trailing in their wake. Back on board, Alfonso reported to Vasco that the region was heavily populated, that the people were farmers, that they used long bows with iron-tipped arrows and spears, that they wore armlets and anklets of copper, and that some of the men carried daggers in ivory sheaths. Alfonso also noted that they carried sea water to their village and evaporated it in pits to gather the salt.

  Vasco expressed his approval that matters had gone so well and proclaimed that they would name this country the Land of the Good People (Terra da Boa Gente). Relations remained so friendly that the locals assisted the Portuguese in transporting their kegs as they filled them with water. Vasco would have remained longer but, after just five days and with their water supply not yet satisfied, a favourable wind came up and he ordered the ships to set sail immediately. By this time the ships were in such a poor condition that the pumps had to be manned night and day to keep them afloat.

  By late January the passing coastline was becoming thickly wooded with tall trees. On the 25th the ships anchored at the mouth of the Quelimane river, a tributary of the Zambezi, a land in which the Portuguese were to establish a lasting presence. They were now nearing the southernmost region of Arab trade along the east African coast. The locals were also Bantu, and both male and female wore only loincloths because of the constant humidity and heat. Although the young women pierced their lips in three places and inserted bits of twisted tin into the openings, the Portuguese men found them comely.

  The country proved to be marshy, with many large trees. There was an abundance of fruit, which formed a regular part of the local diet. In dugouts the locals brought the fruit and other food out to the men as gifts, then welcomed them into their village to fill their kegs. ‘These people’, the Roteiro notes, ‘took much delight in us.’186 Paulo’s ship, the São Rafael, had sustained damage to its mast and the crew set about repairing it.

  Until now Vasco had been lucky. With a crew healthy on departure, scurvy generally took about three months to show its first signs. The Portuguese had reached Africa after about that time but in their previous stops they had not been able to access the fresh fruits needed to ward off the illness. Now some of the crew began to experience swelling in their hands and feet and inflammation of the gums, which made it hard for them to eat. Paulo, ‘a man of gentle disposition’, had personal supplies of medicine, which he shared liberally with those afflicted, visiting them each day and seeing to their needs, conduct for which he was widely praised.187

  The gums of those afflicted swelled up over the teeth, and their breath was foul. Sailors used their knives to cut away the flesh, then rubbed their bleeding gums with urine, a treatment repeated again and again as the effects of the disease progressed.

  Word of the Portuguese presence spread and a few days after their arrival two ‘lords’, as the Portuguese took them to be, arrived from upriver by boat. One wore a cap with tassels embroidered with silk, while the other had a headpiece of green satin: both indications that they came from a more advanced region. Their manner was arrogant and they held themselves aloof, looking with disdain on the gifts they were offered by the Portuguese. There was still no truly effective means of communication, but one of the pair made it known that he came from a distant land and, since he had seen large ships such as these before, he was not impressed. Vasco took this and the silk and satin as a sign that they were approaching their destination.

  These men ordered grass huts to be prepared for them on the riverbank and remained a week engaging in modest trade. Finally, they vanished back upriver in their dugouts. The ships remained for thirty-two days and the health of the crew was partially restored during the stay, although there were many deaths. The ships were once again careened as these waters were especially debilitating on the hulls, which had sprung leaks and become overgrown.

  Each ship was towed into shallow water. The cargo was then shifted to one side of the ship, so that it leaned over on its side. Tackle was used to pull it over even further, then scaffolding was built over the exposed underside. The accumulation of barnacles and other marine encrustations was meticulously scraped away. A boiler for heating pitch was set up and the seams of the hull were caulked with pitch, oil and oakum, after which the bottom was painted. The process was then repeated for the other side of the hull. The ship was relaunched and then the inside was carefully scrubbed and the cargo properly stowed.

  Vasco directed that another pillar should be erected, again crowned by a large wooden cross. He then held counsel with his senior officers and instructed that from here on, whenever they made contact with the Moors, they were to make the point that these three ships had become separated from a much larger fleet which was expected to rejoin them any day. He was concerned that, when they faced the kind of formidable enemy he was certain the Moors would constitute, his ships might be seen as easy prey.188

  On 24 February, with repairs complete, the th
ree ships set sail. They were now well into the adverse Mozambique Channel and were only able to make some 300 miles by cautiously sailing during daylight and seeking anchorage at night. The lack of a pilot knowledgeable about local conditions had become a serious problem and endangered the voyage. They sighted islands on 1 March and the next day encountered sailing vessels from a nearby port on Mozambique Island. Taking them for Muslims, the seamen offered to show the Portuguese the way into the harbour. A number of them came aboard Coelho’s ship, where they ate and drank their fill before going back to their small boats well satisfied.

  The Portuguese gave thanks that they had at last entered ‘a region of navigation’ because it meant they were drawing ever closer to their destination. As night approached, the Portuguese made their way tentatively into the harbour channel. Coelho’s vessel went first as it was more manoeuvrable and shallower of draft. In the gathering darkness he struck a shoal and broke the tiller. He was able to get the ship free, however, and move it into deeper water some ‘two bowshots from the village’, where he dropped anchor. The other Portuguese ships quietly assumed positions with him while carefully taking in the scene before them.189

  They were within sight of the port village, ‘a large town of houses covered with thatch’, from where a number of small boats came out, the men aboard playing a tune of welcome on their anafils, an Arab trumpet. Clearly the newcomers were being greeted as fellow Muslims and the Portuguese did nothing to dissuade them from their false impression.

  The Portuguese had now entered land under the control of the Muslims. Here were Arabs, an Arab-African mix and converted locals. The language spoken was a sort of bastard Arabic, and the complexion of the people overall was generally lighter. Strung along the east African coast was a chain of Swahili city-states that included Kilwa, Mombasa, Malindi and Pate. Each had achieved a certain level of prosperity and cultural accomplishment, though the degree to which they adhered to Islam varied considerably. The region had close ties to India and Arabia, both economically and politically. The culture was primarily Arabic with a strong Persian influence, which was not surprising given how these port communities had first been established. The Swahili society was firmly established through generations of both marriage and concubinage with the indigenous Bantu women.190