2nd voyage

On February 12th, 1502 I sailed again with another fleet of ships, but this time there were 20 warships instead of 4! We did it to enforce Portuguese interests. Pedro Alvares Cabral was sent to India 2 years before, when he had officially discovered Brazil, even though some had said that it didn’t mean to happen. 

I sailed South of Calicut to reach a small kingdom called Cochin, I was given a very warm welcoming, to prove I had been in India I brang back silk and gold.I had to wait for a ship to return from Mecca. Once it had arrived we stole all of their stuff and then locked all of the 380 passengers in the hold, and then we lit the ship on fire. All of the men, women, and children had died in the fire.I returned to Calicut on October 30th, in the year 1502, I got the Zamorin to sign a treaty.On my return home back to Portugal in the year 1503 I became the leader of Vidigueira.

That was my second voyage… stay tuned in for my third voyage! XD 

1st Voyage

First Voyage:

On July 8, 1497 the fleet of ships left Lisbon. By December 6th we had passed by the White River, in South Africa, where one of the ships turned back… but he did go into waters unknown by any Europeans.

Christmas was near, we passed through a place… it didn’t have a name, so everyone decided to name it Natal.

The Arab controlled the territory on the East coast of Africa was also part of the Indian Ocean’s channel of trade. Instead of scaring the people, I dressed up as a Muslim and gained friendship with the Sultan of Mozambique. With the trade goods I had to offer to the people, I was unable to get a suitable gift for the ruler, and soon as the people started to see through our disguises.

We arrived in Calicut in the year 1498 on May 20th. When I left, I took all of my goods, and left some of the Portuguese men with orders to set up a trade post.

On the return… I found that my brother Paulo da Gama had passed away, but when I returned in the year 1499 I was rewarded greatly with money, and everyone called me the “Admiral of the Indian Ocean”… I also got the rights to rule Sine’s, (Which is in Portugal), I was also rewarded the dignity of Dom (which is a lord).

That was my first voyage, I will be writing about the second voyage shortly.

About myself

My name is Vasco da Gama, I was born in the year 1469 and died on December 24, 1524 in Kochi, India… I was one of the most successful people in the Age of Discovery. My fathers name was Estevao da Gama, he was married to a women named Dona Isabel Sodre.  I studied at the inland town of Evora. On February 12, 1502 I sailed with a heard of 20 warships, to enforce the interest of the Portuguese On July 8^th 1497 the group of 14 ships left Lisbon. The ships names were: The Sao Gabriel, it was commanded by me. It weighed 178 tons, it was 27 meters long, it was 8.5 meters wide, and the sails were 372 meters squared, It could hold up to 150 crew members on board. The other 3 ships were: The Sao Rafael, the commander of that ship was my brother Paulo da Gama, the dimensions for his boat are the same as Sao Gabriel, and the last ship was The caravel Barrio, it was commanded by Nicolau Coelho, the ship is slightly smaller than my ship and my brother Paulo da Gama, and last there was a storage ship, its name is unknown, it was commanded by Goncalo Nunes, the ship was lost on the bay of Sao Bras, which is on the east coast of Africa. That’s pretty much everything about me.