Unknown Seas: The Portuguese Captains and the Passage to India

by Ronald Watkins

  Until now the tribes with which the Portuguese had come into contact were insufficiently motivated or united, or lacked adequate technology genuinely to oppose them. This, however, was an entirely different situation and Vasco recognized it at once.

  Whatever measure of fanaticism the Portuguese held against the Moors19

  was fully reciprocated by the Moors’hatred for all things Christian. No longer were the ocean currents and winds Vasco’s chief enemy. His ships had entered the mouth of the lion, a circumstance every man aboard the ships had anticipated since before they had left Lisbon and one that many of them had already experienced.

  The most profitable export from this region was slaves. There was little production, except for modest iron implements needed locally and some woven cloth. Along with slaves, gold, ivory and ambergris were also shipped to India, Arabia and Persia in exchange for pepper, cloves, ginger, pearls and gems. The reason the Arab presence extended no further south, it is believed, was that their more fragile ships could not withstand the strong currents the Portuguese had just overcome with such effort.

  This and other ports in the region were generally prosperous. Foreign, though Muslim, vessels visited routinely engaging in the mutually lucrative trade. Instead of the simple wrappings the Portuguese had seen before now, the people wore flowing robes of striped or white linen or cotton, with a head covering of either cotton or silk, depending on status.

  Anchored near by were four Arab dhows, which Vasco and his men examined with keen interest. They were surprised to discover the planks were not held in place by nails, but were sewn together with stout cord. Both the decking and the sails were of matted palm leaves. Once contact had been established with the sailors aboard these vessels, the Portuguese immediately recognized their navigational aids and charts as equal or even superior to their own. Arab ships of this type transported their water supply in wooden tanks, a system the Portuguese were soon to adapt.191

  To find out more, Vasco sent ashore one Fernão Martins, who spoke Arabic. After a short excursion he reported back that the port was in possession of many rich items, including spices that he had been told were imported from other Muslims to the north. This was welcome information, as it meant the city was in regular contact by trade with the Portuguese objective. He had been told tales, of course, about the origin of what he saw, that at the source ‘the precious stones, pearls, and spices were in such great quantity that it was not necessary to buy them, but to gather them in baskets’.192 The Portuguese were accustomed to such exaggerations and, if anything, found them reassuring.

  Martins also reported that the people occupying the mainland near the island were quite different from those in this village. He had been told they were ‘heathen who are like beasts, savages, naked except for a strip of cotton cloth around their loins, and with bodies smeared with red clay’. Their ornaments were bones, shells and small stones. The Portuguese had seen the indigenous locals in dugouts in the harbour moving between the island and the mainland and were not surprised by his report.

  Here at Mozambique Island the Portuguese saw their first coconut palms, with which they were much taken. ‘The palms of this land produce a fruit as large as melons,’the Roteiro records, ‘and they eat the kernel, which has the flavour of hazelnuts; they also have cucumbers and melons in great quantities, which they brought to barter with us.’

  Later on the day they arrived the local ruler came out and boarded Coelho’s ship. A subsequent chronicler wrote of this first visit:

  He arrived in two canoes lashed together, and upon them poles and planks, covered over with mats which gave shade. Ten Moors came thus seated [on the canoes], and the sheik sitting on a low round stool covered with a silk cloth and a cushion. He was dark, well built, and of goodly appearance, and was attired in a pleated Arab jacket of velvet. He was wrapped in a knee-length blue cloak, ornamented with braid and gold thread. His trousers were of white cloth reaching to his ankles. His body was otherwise naked. Around his waist, over his cloak, he wore a silk sash, into which was thrust a silver-mounted dagger, and in his hand he carried a silver-mounted sword. On his head was a dark, tight-fitting cap of Mecca velvet, over which he wore a many-coloured silk turban, embroidered with braid and fringes of gold thread.

  It was now that one of the most self-defeating aspects of this voyage presented itself. The three ships were new to this port, and the ruler, identified also as a sultan, was not a casual visitor. It was customary for those seeking to establish a trading relationship to give lavish gifts to the sultan since he controlled access. He had come, bluntly, with his hand extended, no doubt wondering what wonderful gifts these strangers in their immense, unfamiliar ships would make.

  Instead of marvels, Coelho gave him what he had: a red hood. The sultan was under the impression these newcomers were Muslims and so accepted the pittance with grace, offering in exchange a black rosary for Coelho’s use during Muslim prayers. Coelho, maintaining the illusion they were Muslims, accepted the rosary with pleasure. The sultan then invited the young captain and his officers to go ashore to his home for refreshments. Coelho, it is reported, was ‘a well-conditioned man courteous in bearing and discreet’.193 The meeting there was amicable and when Coelho prepared to leave he was presented with a jar of dates, preserved with cloves and cumin.

  The sultan next met Vasco and went to his ship on several occasions to dine. During these visits Vasco raised the subject of acquiring local pilots who knew the waters. They were essential to the eventual success of his mission, but he received no firm commitment. The sultan knew how valuable were such men.

  Unfortunately, the gifts the sultan received from the Captain-Major were no better than those he had been given the first day. They consisted of hats, silk clothing from Persia or India and coral. The sultan’s initial graciousness began to turn. Now he treated everything offered him with contempt. At one point he asked for a gift of scarlet cloth but Vasco had none to give and this failure was greeted with scorn.

  During this time the Portuguese were gathering all the information they could, most of which proved to be untrue or grossly misleading. The locals were apparently engaging in the time-honoured practice of telling strangers what they wanted to hear and fooling them whenever possible. Vasco was accordingly told that Prester John’s kingdom was some distance away, ‘that he owned many cities on the sea coast, and that their inhabitants were great merchants and possessed large ships’. His kingdom, however, could only be reached ‘on the back of camels’.

  Those first hearing this news ‘cried with joy, and prayed God to grant us health, so that we might behold what we so much desired’.194 They were told there was a great island to the east (Madagascar), where an equal number of Christians and Muslims lived who warred with one another, and that there were other, smaller islands with Christian communities.

  Until now the Portuguese had successfully masked their faith. The Muslims of the east coast of Africa were commonly held to have converted in order to facilitate commerce with the Muslim Arabs who dominated the regional trade routes and ports. No one from Europe had ever sailed these waters before, so there was no reason for the local Muslims to be unduly suspicious. Strangers occasionally arrived and, if Vasco’s men were even stranger than usual, the Muslims could not have been expected to guess they were Christians. But then the Portuguese luck turned bad.

  One day crewmen in the village came across two native Christians who had been brought from India. They were taken aboard to the São Gabriel for Vasco to see personally. Aboard the ship the pair spotted the painted figure of the face of the angel Gabriel and fell to their knees in homage and prayer. When the Muslims accompanying them observed the pleasure Vasco took at this display of Christian faith and his expression of concern for the well-being of these captives, they suddenly realized these strangers were also Christian. With great haste they dragged their captives off and hurried ashore with word.

  A week had now passed since Vasco had first arrived and
he was eager to move on. Their twin objectives of Prester John and a route to India were within reach. His desire was given fresh impetus by a new development in events ashore. As seamen continued to acquire provisions, collect firewood and fill casks with water, the situation was becoming increasingly hostile. Word spread that these ships and crews were Christian and soon there were violent clashes between the Portuguese and the Muslims. Still, the ships were being supplied with vegetables, fowl, goats and pigeons, all for the modest cost of yellow glass beads.195 Loading water by cask was slow work, however, especially as the only source was on the mainland, and the supply on board the ships remained marginal.

  The question of the religion of these visitors was apparently not resolved in the mind of the sultan. He again invited Coelho ashore to dine with him in his home. Following an exchange of gifts and a meal he asked directly if the Portuguese were Turks or Moors from a distant land. The reply was apparently ambiguous, so he next asked Coelho to show him on a map where they came from and also allow him to see their books of prayer.196 Coelho’s reply is not recorded, but it did not put the sultan’s suspicions to rest.

  As word spread of their true identity, it may be that the anger of the Muslims was greater than it might otherwise have been because they had been temporarily deceived by the Portuguese, but given the level of hostility against all things Christian such a deception probably counted for little. Vasco expressed his concerns for their safety now that their faith had been disclosed, especially as crew members had already been lost to scurvy while others were not yet fully recovered. The greatest fear was that the Moors might mount a surprise attack and overwhelm them while the ships were at anchor and within easy reach. Clearly something was going to have to be done before matters got out of hand.

  Vasco’s men reported that they had been told there were many cities along the coast to the north but that the waters were treacherous, with numerous shoals. During one of his midday meals with the sultan Vasco asked again for pilots. Without them his ships could proceed only with peril and at a very slow pace. He had until now received no direct reply to his requests.

  The sultan, who gave no indication he knew these men to be hated Christians (although there can be no question that he now knew), agreed to provide pilots, assuming that the men accepted the terms of employment –he would not force anyone to join them. When two pilots were presented, Vasco gave each of them 30 mitkals in gold (about 1,320 grams) and two marlotas, short silk or wool garments from India.197 The men insisted on advance payment, which was given, but only on condition that one of the pilots always remained aboard Vasco’s ship.

  Violence ashore by now had reached an unacceptable level. The author of the Roteiro had no doubt what was afoot. ‘When they learned that we were Christians they arranged to seize and kill us by treachery.’ On 10 March the three ships retreated a short distance from the harbour and ready access by small boat. They dropped anchor at a smaller island, where it was deemed the Portuguese would be safer from surprise attack. The following day was the sabbath, and Vasco gave orders that Mass should be celebrated and confession taken. It may be that in relocating the Portuguese were also looking to celebrate a Christian service out of sight.

  During the movement of the ships an altercation had broken out between the sultan’s men and the Portuguese. Since the ships were leaving the harbour without having informed the sultan, there may well have been some question about port duties, one of the principal sources of income for the rulers of all trading ports in this region, as they were in Portugal. In the meantime one of the pilots slipped ashore in the confusion, but Vasco was intent on proceeding with his voyage and set out to locate and retrieve the man.

  Vasco ordered the remaining pilot to join him, then took one longboat while Coelho led the other. As the two boats rowed rapidly towards the town, six Arab craft darted out from shore on course to intercept them, each crowded with men bearing shields and armed with arrows and longbows. Vasco seized the pilot with him and placed him at the front, where he would be the first to be struck if the Arabs fired at them, then ordered his men to discharge their bombards at the approaching boats.

  Paulo was on board the São Miguel, the caravel commanded by Coelho, watching events. At the sound of gunfire he ordered the sails to be raised and the men to take arms.198 Drums beat in a martial tempo and trumpets sounded. The wind filled the ship’s sails and very quickly it was bearing down on the Muslims. The Arabs were already beginning to break off their attack under Vasco’s strong response. As the much larger vessel approached they fled in panic, beached their boats, then took flight on foot.

  Vasco could see he would not retrieve his missing pilot like this and gave orders for the boats to return to their ships. Once aboard, the small fleet immediately set sail north, intent on following the coastline. Any sense of relief was shortlived for on Tuesday the ships were becalmed. Two days later a gale forced them back down the coast and by 14 March they were forced to drop anchor near their former anchorage off Mozambique Island.

  There is no account of these events from the Muslim side, but they must have raised some interesting questions. First, large and foreign ships had appeared in their port. The men were fair-skinned and ignorant of the usual trade routes and customs. They were eager to acquire pilots, a strong indication that they did not know the waters. In general, the newcomers remained apart from the village, even drawing away unannounced and anchoring at a nearby island. They had expressed concern for the well-being of Christian captives, when it was learned the newcomers were Christians. When two of their boats approached shore, they fired on the sultan’s men. They employed bombards, weapons not in use here but known to be used by the Turks – hence the question put to Coelho. Finally, the vessels had left without the customary formalities. Now they had arrived again, this time driven back by the forces of nature.

  When the ships were observed at anchor the sultan dispatched an emissary, reportedly a drunken sharif,20

  to assure the Portuguese that he wished to put aside any unpleasantness and be nothing but a good friend. A day or two later another Moor came aboard, accompanied by his small son. He said he had come to this place from Mecca as a pilot and wished to return with them.199 The Portuguese suspected treachery, however, and declined to let him join them.

  As the days passed, the winds remained unfavourable and their water supply dipped dangerously low. No offer of assistance or word of any kind came from shore. The only source of water known to Vasco and his men was on the mainland, near the village, but he feared he would have to fill the kegs under threat of attack or by force. The remaining Muslim pilot promised to guide his men to a water supply safe from danger.

  Again Vasco and Coelho manned longboats and, as night gathered, rowed towards shore. The pilot directed them to a number of places but by morning they had still not found a water source. They were certain by now that the pilot was only looking for a chance to make his escape. The next night Vasco returned, and this time the pilot was persuaded to lead them to water.

  The course of the Portuguese had been noted, however, and when they landed with their empty kegs twenty of the sultan’s men, armed with assegais, ran to the beach and ordered them off. Vasco responded by having three of his men fire their bombards to drive them away, after which the casks were filled without further incident. When they returned to the ships, the Portuguese pilot of the São Rafael reported that the African slave he had brought with him on the voyage had escaped to shore.

  Early on Sunday morning an Arab sailed out to the anchored Portuguese. With a sneer he told them they were welcome to attempt to take water again, but that they would be forced back if they did. Vasco did not take the threat kindly. ‘He resolved to go, in order to show that we were able to do them harm if we desired it.’200 Again Vasco was faced with the reality of being so far from home or any safe harbour. He might be forced to return here on his return leg, and he could not leave behind enemies prepared to fight him on sight. He had no idea
what condition his vessels would be in or the state of his crew. These Muslims must fear the Portuguese. He ordered all the boats to be loaded with heavily armed men and led them on a punitive raid into the harbour.

  The Arabs had constructed a barrier of lashed planks to prevent entry. It was occupied by men armed with swords, bows, slings and assegais, who were protected by the improvised structure. As the boats approached, soldiers on the nearby beach unleashed a fusillade of stones which rained down on the Portuguese. The bombards were fired for effect, causing these men to seek protection inside the palisades. For the next three hours the Portuguese fired their weapons at the men behind the barrier and into the village. They saw two defenders killed. Vasco finally grew tired of the one-sided match and ordered his men back to their ships for the midday meal.

  The two Christian captives had not been forgotten and, as hostilities were in progress, it was decided that the Portuguese would attempt to rescue them and in the process to seize prisoners who could be traded for their missing pilot and the escaped slave. After the meal the boats were again rowed to the village. This time the inhabitants of the island were observed fleeing by dugout towards the mainland. They had already been fired on, seen the cannon on the large vessels and feared a determined assault on their village.