On Which He Put Five Of Their Chief Men Into
Strict Confinement, Giving Out That They Were Hanged; Which Gave Much
Offence To The Rajah And His People.
- E.
[7] Such are the words of Lichefild; which, perhaps may have been intended
to imply that there was not yet sufficient depth of water to allow of
their approach to the caravels; or it may mean that they waited for
the tide of ebb, to carry them towards the Portuguese caravels, being
too cumbrous for management by means of oars. - E.
[8] This seems the same story which has been already mentioned in a former
note, from Astleys Collection; but which is there related as having
taken place with _Moors_. - E.
[9] The nativity of St John the Baptist is the 24th June; the eve
therefore is the 23d, yet Castaneda has already said that June was
ended. - E.
[10] About this time, in consequence of a message from the Portuguese
factor at Coulan, stating that the Moors obstructed the market for
pepper, Pacheco went to that place, where he made five Moorish ships
submit, and settled the pepper market on fair terms, yet without doing
them any harm. - Astl. I. 57.
[11] According to Astley, the zamorin lost 18,000 men in this war in five
months, and desired peace, which was granted by the rajah of Cochin. -
Astl. I. 57. Yet this could hardly be the case, as the first operation
of the new commander-in-chief in India was to cannonade Calicut. - E.
SECTION IX.
_The Voyage of Lope Suarez de Menesis to India, in 1504; being the sixth
of the Portuguese Expeditions to the East Indies._
Learning the necessity of sending powerful succours to protect the
Portuguese trade from the hostilities of the zamorin, the king of
Portugal fitted out a fleet of twelve[1] large ships in 1504, of which
the command was given to Lope Suarez de Menesis, who had been captain of
the _Mina_ on the coast of Guinea in the reign of John II. The captains
of these ships were, Pedro de Mendoza, Lionel Cotinho, Tristan de la
Silva, Lope Mendez de Vasconcelles, Lope de Abreu, Philip de Castro,
Alonso Lopez de Castro, Alonzo Lopez de la Cocta, Pero Alonzo de Aguilar,
Vasco de la Silvero, Vasco Carvallo, and Pedro Dynez de Sutunell: All of
whom were gentlemen by birth or service. Having embarked many valiant
soldiers, the whole fleet left Lisbon on the 22d of April and arrived on
the 2d of May near Cape Verd. Having observed during this part of the
voyage, that several of the ships were very irregularly navigated, not
keeping in their proper course, by which they had run foul of each other;
some pushing before, while others lagged behind, and others stood athwart
the order of the fleet; Suarez convened an assemblage of all the captains,
masters, and pilots of the fleet, to whom he communicated the following
written instructions: 1. As soon as it is night, every ship shall keep in
regular order a-stern of the admiral; and no vessel to carry any light
except in the binnacle and in the cabin. 2. The masters and pilots to
keep regular watch, taking special care not to run foul of each other. 3.
All to answer the signals of the admiral. 4. As soon as day appears,
every ship shall come to salute the admiral, and all are carefully to
avoid getting before him during the night. The penalty for breach of any
of these articles was a fine of ten crowns, besides which the offender
was to be put under arrest without being entitled to wages, and so to
remain to the end of the voyage. As some of the masters and pilots had
been very negligent, allowing some of the ships to fall aboard of others,
he removed these to other ships. By this attention to discipline, the
fleet was kept afterwards in good sailing order.
In the month of June, at which time they reckoned themselves off the Cape
of Good Hope, the fleet was surprised by a heavy storm, and had to drive
for two days and nights under bare poles in imminent danger of being cast
away, the weather during all this time being wonderfully dark, so that
the ships were in great hazard of running aboard of each other. To guard
against this danger, the admiral caused guns to be fired at intervals
from all the ships, to give notice of their situations, and the better to
keep company. On the subsidence of the storm, the ship commanded by Lope
Mendez was missing, and the admiral caused the fleet to lie to for some
days in hopes of her reappearance. While in this situation, two of the
ships ran foul of each other, by which a large hole was broken in the bow
of one of the ships, through which she took in so much water as to be in
great danger of sulking. The admiral immediately bore up to her
assistance, and encouraged the crew to stop the leak, and even sent his
boats on board to give every aid. By great exertions they got the leak
effectually stopped, by nailing hides over the hole, and covering the
whole with pitch. On St Jameses day, 25th July, the fleet arrived at
Mozambique, where they were well received by the governor, who supplied
them abundantly with fresh provisions, and sent off the letter which
Pedro de Tayde had written respecting the state of affairs in India a
short time before his death, as formerly mentioned. The admiral expedited
the refitting of the ships which had been so much injured, as quickly as
possible, and departed from Mozambique on the 1st of August. The king of
Melinda sent off one of his principal Moors to visit the admiral, to whom
likewise he sent sixteen of our men who had deserted from Pedro de Tayde.
Having stopt only two days at Melinda for refreshment, the fleet sailed
across for India, and came to Anchediva, where they found two Portuguese
ships commanded by Antonio de Saldanna and Ruy Lorenzo, who were much
afraid of our fleet, suspecting it to have belonged to the Rumes[2].
Saldanna informed Suarez, that he had been sent out the year before from
Portugal along with Lorenzo, as vice-admiral, with orders to explore the
Red Sea and adjacent countries.
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