Page 41 - History of Portuguese in the Gulf_Neat

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lxxiv INTRODUCTION.
where our people could do them no harm, because of the wind’s
being contrary for going against them. D. Jeronymo Coutinho
paid little heed to them, but nevertheless made ready, in order,
if the weather should give him the opportunity, to go and attack
them. And on the same day, just at nightfall, the ship
61. Martinlio, the captain of which was Jo5o Soares Henriques,
made landfall at that island, and discovering the Dutch ships,
supposing them to be ours,1 put out again to sea, and set her
course by Brazil, where she watered and took in provisions in the
Bay of All Saints.
The Dutch captain, seeing that there was no water in that part
where he was, sent off a launch with a letter to D. Jeronymo
Coutinho, in which he said to him, that they were Christians, and
vassals of a king who was a friend to his; that they were
merchants, who were going about the world seeking their living;
that they were in want of water, and that he begged him to give
them leave to send their launches to get it at the place where he
was. D. Jeronymo replied to them, that as they were Christians,
and friends of the Portuguese, they should come and anchor
near him, and that there they could water just at their will; the
which message he sent to them, in order to see if he could draw
them out of that quarter, whither he was unable to go and seek
them. The Hollanders perceiving the design of the captain-
major would not take advantage of his courtesy, but continued to
lie there five days longer; at the end of which time, which was
the 2 ist of May, there arrived at that island the ship S. Mattheus,
on which was D. Vasco da Gama, who by means of bombard
shots forced the two Dutch ships to weigh anchor; and one night
they set sail,2 and must have had to go to the coast of Guinea to
get water, of which they were in want.3 Then the captain-major
1 This is put confusedly. What Couto meant was, that the captain
at first took the ships to be Portuguese, but afterwards discovered his
mistake. Dos Santos says that the captain, on finding that these two
ships were Dutch, when in the dusk he caught sight of the Portuguese
ships, thought that they were also some of the enemy’s vessels.
2 Dos Santos says nothing of a bombardment of the Dutch ships
by the S. Matheus (which, in fact, seems to have arrived after they
had gone) : he simply states that they set sail, firing off many rockets
and with much demonstration.
3 The Dutch account of this affair is as follows : “The sixteenth
day [of May] about noone wee had sight of the Island of S. Helena,
wherewith wee were all greatly comforted. The 17. day in the
morning we had sight of a Carrack ndere vnto the land, being the
Admirall of the Portugals Fldete, sayling into the Roade of S. Helena,
where lay at anchor three other Carracks, whereby wee were forced
to put into the old Roade, which is the first valley that you come
vnto after you are passed the north west corner, or necke of the land,
and the Roade where the Carracks lay is the third valley beyond the
INTRODUCTION. Ixxv
caused D. Vasco da Gama to be supplied with water, and with all
the ships under his charge set sail,1 to see if he could overtake the
two ships of the rebels ; but he was unable to catch up with them,
through their having gone far out of their course, and ours arrived
together at the Kingdom,2 which was a great piece of good
fortune. And this fidalgo was always thus venturesome and
fortunate in the voyages that he made, arriving in India and !
returning to Portugal with all his ships in safety.3 I
Besides sending all the above-mentioned ships to the
East round the Cape of Good Hope, the Dutch, in the
sayd necke of the land, so that we lay within Sakar or Minion shot of
each other: wee sent vnto them foure men to parley with them, but
I cannot write what communication passed. The same euening came
another Carrack making towards the Roade, sailing about the north
west necke hard vnder the shore, insomuch that she came so neerc
vnto vs, that they haled vs, and de.maunded of whence wee were : and
vnderstanding that we were Hollanders, seeking to refresh our selues
in that place, (refusing the land) they cast about, and directed their
course Northwest to seaward. The lS. day foure of our men went vp
into the land at S. Helena, it is a very high hillie land, beautified and
enriched with very faire and pleasant valleys, with great abundance
of Goates, and some store of Swine: wee meant to prouide our
selues there of fresh water, but the Portugalcs would not suffer vs, so
that we were without hope to make any prouision of water at this
place : for they had ordained a strong watch on the shore, which was
the oncly cause that wee could not here refresh our selues. The 21.
being Ascention day, wee sailed thence (with God his helpe) home­
wards, and being vnder saile, wee descried another Carrack making
towards the Roade, which was the sixt Carrack that we had now
seene, \v6e directed our course north-west and by west” (The Joumall,
or Dayly Register, etc., p. 57). The ships did not go to Guinea, as
surmised by the Portuguese, but to Ascension, where, however, they
found no water, so that, by the time they reached home, their
sufferings had become terrible.
1 On June ist, after a solemn service had been held on shore, says
Dos Santos.
2 On August 22nd, 1600, they anchored at Cascaes, and on the 24th
reached Lisbon, says Dos Santos, who gives details of the voyage.
3 This is hardly correct. In 1586 D. Jeronimo Coutinho took
charge of a fleet of five ships for India, four of which reached there
safely (see supra, pp. iii-iv), and returned to Portugal next year;
but the fifth, the S. Filippe, got only as far as Mozambique, whence
she returned for Portugal, but was captured by Drake off the Azores.
In 1599, D. Jeronimo took four ships out to India, and in 1600
brought five safely home (as stated above). In [607 he took out five
ships to India, two of which returned to Portugal next year, while
one was burnt by the Dutch off Goa, and another was burnt at
Mozambique on the way home.