December 15, 1512 - Cochin (Kochi, India) - The keel of the "Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai" is laid down. Letter from shipwright António Real to King Manuel, informing him about the "ship Monte Synay that I now make of 700 tons"
January 1(?), 1517 - Cochin - Launched and commissioned =(START)
Until my next research trip, the events and dates of 1517 and 1518 are reconstructed here by crossing data from several different sources, as none of them are in tune, or are nonexistent. Some internet databases, such as wikipedia, make reference to a "battle of Jeddah" which never happened (as we will describe below), and the date of that hypothetical battle - 12/16/1517 - is wrong by at least 6 months, as the Governor of portuguese India, Lopo Soares de Albergaria, was already in India by that time, preparing a fleet to sail for Colombo, Ceylon, with all probability including this particular ship "Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai".
February 8, 1517 - Goa - After the portuguese fleet completed a refit, the new carrack "Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai" sails with the fleet of 38 ships, 1900 soldiers and 600 auxiliaries of Governor Lopo Soares de Albergaria, crossing the coast of Arabia, under the command of D. Aleixo de Menezes (described as 800 tons). An ambassador to Dawit II of Ethiopia, Duarte Galvão, also goes with the expedition.
February 27, 1517 - Island of Socotra, Horn of Africa - The fleet reaches the Island of Socotra
March 13, 1517 - Aden - The portuguese are received at Aden by Amir Marjan, Governor of Aden, who provides syrian pilots for the portuguese ships (against their will)
March 17, 1517 - Bab al-Mandab Strait, Red Sea - The fleet reaches the entrance of the Red Sea. Lopo Soares hears from refugees the news of the defeat of the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt by the Turks, and their occupation of Cairo
March 18, 1517 - Red Sea - A storm destroys four of the portuguese ships, after which the portuguese sail to Kamarān Island, west coast of Yemen. Rapidly, after the storm comes days of flat calm Sea
March(?) 25(?), 1517 - Massawa, Eritrea - Stopover at Massawa to load some cattle
April 12, 1517 - near Jeddah - The fleet picks up deserters who provide exact details on Salman Reis's ottoman forces - The entire muslim fleet with the exception of two galleys was beached, and there were no more than 300 mamluks to defend the city
April 13, 1517 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Red Sea - The portuguese fleet anchors at Jeddah and burn four muslim ships in the harbour
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| Strong Ottoman forces prevent a Portuguese attack and landing in Jeddah, 1517 |
May 2, 1517 - Kamarān Island, W. of Yemen, Red Sea - The disheartened armada returns to Kamarān Island
June 9, 1517 - Kamarān Island - Death of Ambassador Duarte Galvão
July 1(?), 1517 - Dahlak Islands, Eritrea - Hunger begins, so Lopo Soares de Albergaria sails for Berbera and Zeila after 3 months at Karaman Island. At the Dahlak Islands, off Massawa, the Moors sell some food to the Portuguese. Meanwhile, the Governor of Portuguese India prepares a letter to deliver at Berbera or Zeila to Dawit II, apologizing for not stopping in the port of Massawa.
July 8(?), 1517 - Zeila (Saylac, Somaliland) - Arriving in Zeila, Lopo Soares doesn't let anyone go ashore. The Moors send away women and children so that they could fight the Portuguese, showing their arms on the next morning. When the Portuguese land to fight them, the moors flee, allowing the opportunity for the portuguese to fetch supplies and sack the town. Lopo Soares then sets sail for Aden
July 12(?), 1517 - Aden - Stopover in Aden. By then, it was already known what the governor had done in Jeddah and the scandal it had provoked on the Portuguese side. As few ships had returned, the king of Aden was sure that the Portuguese would not harm him. They soon left for Hormuz, but because it was a time of light winds, they hovered for days and many of the men died
July 25(?), 1517 - Qalhat, SE of Muscat, Oman - Lopo Soares de Albergaria arrives in Qalhat, from where he orders D. Aleixo to go to India invested with his powers as governor. He secretly writes to the King, explaining and apologizing for his deeds.
July 28(?), 1517 - Muscat, Oman - Stopover in Muscat
August 1(?), 1517 - Hormuz, Iran - Spends the month of August in Hormuz
August 26, 1517 - Hormuz - Letter from Johan de la Chamara (João da Câmara?), artillery commander of the expedition, to King Manuel: "We left India with 40 ships, great and small, but with few men, no more than 2,000, that is, 1,400 Portuguese and 600 Indians. Of these ships we lost, before our arrival in Jeddah, five ships with a complement of 200 Portuguese and many Indians with the result that (at Jeddah) we had only 1,300 men.
The harbour of Jeddah is the most (difficult?) port imaginable. To enter and leave it we had to drop anchor a mile from the city of Jeddah, while the Turks held it with twenty galleys…
The Lord of Jeddah, called Marazin, who had been the captain-major of the Sultan’s fleet for a long time, the same fleet that the viceroy (Francisco de Almeida) had destroyed long ago in India, also had at Jeddah 48 large fixed cannons. In addition, the Turks had 800 rifles. The same Turks had drawn up all their galleys on the beach near the city wall, and had their artillery trained on us, at the place where we would have had to land. They also had a great many infantry and horses awaiting us since they knew very well that we were there to burn their fleet.
Our commander in chief saw what I have just described, and he decided, in consultation with his nobles and his captains, against a landing since our numbers were too few. It seemed good to them to return to India, prepare a great armada there, and then return for an assault against Jeddah: to burn their beached galleys and to take Jeddah and their artillery before the Turk could construct a fleet and become too powerful for us. For such a fleet, though the Turk could build it, he would require two years since the timber would have to be brought from Turkey or India since there was none in the straits”
September 10, 1517 - Qalhat, SE of Muscat, Oman - Returns to Qalhat
September 17, 1517 - While in Qalhat(?) - António de Saldanha arrives in Goa with a badly damaged fleet
September(?) 20(?), 1517 - Muscat, Oman - Stopover in Muscat
October(?) 1(?), 1517 - Diu - Stopover in Diu
October(?) 15(?), 1517 - Goa - Returns to Goa
December(?) 15(?), 1517 - Cochin(?) - Lopo Soares de Albergaria sets sail to Ceylon with 17 ships
January(?) 1(?), 1518 - Colombo, Ceylon - Soares de Albergaria establishes a fortified factory at Colombo, and after a brief show of resistance had been crushed, forces the king of Kotte to declare himself a vassal of King Manuel of Portugal
September 1(?), 1518 - While in Ceylon - New Governor of India, Diogo Lopes de Sequeira, arrives in Cochin and waits there for Lopo Soares de Albergaria
November 1(?), 1518 - Cochin - Soares de Albergaria arrives in Cochin and transfers his powers to Diogo Lopes de Sequeira
January 4, 1519 - Calicut, India - Lopo Soares de Albergaria sails to Portugal
March(?) 15(?), 1519 - Terceira Island, Azores - All ships join on Terceira Island, Azores
April(?) 1(?), 1519 - Lisbon, Portugal - Returns to Lisbon (we don't know yet the date of return, but the ship had to be taking the former Governor to Lisbon in an unusually fast voyage, because in April 23rd she sailed for India again from Portugal)
April 23, 1519 - Lisbon - Departs the Tagus River as part of Jorge de Albuquerque's fleet of 14 ships. The "Santa Catarina from Monte Sinai", commanded by Pedro da Silva, sails with a special responsibility to negotiate in Ormuz a large quantity of goods that it transports on the ship - "with the aim of earning a lot of money for the wedding of Queen Madame Lionor". On the expedition goes Cristóvão de Mendonça, who would "discover" Java La Grande (Australia) in 1521.
September(?) 1(?), 1519 - Goa(?) - The "Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai" is one of the 4 ships of the fleet that manage to sail straight to India without wintering in Mozambique
April 1(?), 1520 - Lisbon, Portugal - Returns to Lisbon. The "Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai" is chosen to take Princess Beatrice (Beatriz) to Nice to marry Charles III, Duke of Savoy, and also to demonstrate Portuguese maritime power. The ship's interior begins being extensively modified around the clock to provide accommodation for the Princess and many ladies-in-waiting
August 9, 1520 - Belém, Lisbon - Sails for Nice as part of an armada of 25 heavily armed ships. King Manuel seized the opportunity to show the portuguese maritime power and wealth to the coastal cities on the way.
August(?) 12(?), 1520 - Ceuta | Tangier | Tarifa - Stopovers in Ceuta, Tangier and Tarifa, Gibraltar strait area
August(?) 20(?), 1520 - Málaga, Spain - 15 days in Málaga with adverse winds
September(?) 5(?), 1520 - Alicante, Spain - 15 days in Alicante
September(?) 28(?), 1520 - Marseille - Stopover in Marseille
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| The Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai near the rocky coast of Villefranche |
October 25, 1520 - Villefranche-sur-Mer - The fleet sails after 26 days in the harbour, waiting for wind
December(?) 1(?), 1520 - Lisbon, Portugal - Returns to Lisbon, probably with more stopovers on the way to "show the flag"
January(?) 1(?), 1521 - Lisbon - The ship begins a refit back for its normal Indian route duties.
April 9, 1524 - Lisbon - Vasco da Gama is sent to India to replace Duarte de Meneses, aboard the "Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai", the largest carrack in the world
April 22(?), 1524 - Terceira Island, Azores - Passage through the Azores on the way to India
July(?) 27(?), 1524 - Cape of Good Hope - The "Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai" passes the Cape of Good Hope
August 14, 1524 - Coast of Mozambique - Arrival to the coast of Mozambique
September(?) 1(?), 1524 - Goa, India - The huge portuguese carrack and the new Viceroy arrive in Goa
May 1(?), 1525 - Cochin - Sets sail to Portugal
September(?) 1(?), 1525 - Lisbon - Returns to Lisbon
April 18, 1528 - Lisbon - Departs for India in the 11-ships armada of Governor Nuno da Cunha, under orders of Pedro Vaz da Cunha
May 6, 1528 - near the Canary Islands - Nuno da Cunha looses a ship and 150 crewmen due to a collision
May 11, 1528 - Santiago Island, Cape Verde - Stopover in Santiago Island to load cattle, bread and some vegetables
May(?) 20(?), 1528 - Coast of Guinea - Flat calms off the coast of Guinea
July 4(?), 1528 - Off Cape of Good Hope - The fleet is dispersed during one night and one day of storm at the Cape of Good Hope
July 6, 1528 - Off Cape of Good Hope - As soon as the ships rejoin, a new 24-hour storm ensues
August 23, 1528 - St.Augustine's Bay, Madagascar - Anchors in St.Augustine's Bay, Madagascar, after facing bad weather since the Cape of Good Hope
August 26, 1528 - St.Augustine's Bay - A storm causes the Flagship "Flor da Rosa" to be dragged by its anchors and violently thrown. A short time later, as the anchor slings were made of linen, they broke. The crew also dropped 3 more spare anchors that were in the hold to the sea, but all the moorings ended up breaking due to the humidity and the material they were made of. The "Flor da Rosa" runs aground on a sand bank. Crew and cargo are transferred to the "Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai" and another ship. The flagship, beyond quick repair, is burned.
November 10, 1528 - St.Augustine's Bay - Sails from Madagascar for the Mozambique channel
November 20(?), 1528 - Zanzibar - Nuno da Cunha lands 200 sick in Zanzibar
December 1(?), 1528 - Mailindi, Kenya - Well received by the King of Mailindi. Nuno da Cunha sends message to the King of Mombasa to ask to winter there (Mailindi was open coast, unsuitable for the ships), which he refuses
December 15(?), 1528 - Mombasa, Kenya - The fleet arrives in Mombasa. The portuguese are allowed by the Sultan to spend the winter there, however they are forbidden to come ashore
December 30(?), 1528 - Mombasa - Attack to Mombasa
March 30(?), 1529 - Mombasa - Nuno da Cunha departs from Mombasa. 370 portuguese died of fever since December 1528, including his brother Pedro Vaz da Cunha
May 19, 1529 - Muscat, Oman - Nuno da Cunha arrives in Muscat
September 8, 1528 - Hormuz, Iran - Sends his brother Simão da Cunha from Hormuz to Bahrain with a fleet of five ships and 400 men to bring Sharfuddin to terms
September 20, 1528 - Bahrain, Persian Gulf - Simão da Cunha arrives in Bahrain after having experienced some navigation difficulties.
October 24, 1529 - Hormuz, Iran - Leaves Hormuz for Goa
November 17, 1529 - Goa - Reaches Goa, where Nuno da Cunha is received with pomp, assuming office on the next day (18th). He finds there a fleet of 140 ships, all well equipped with weaponry and ammunition, thanks to the good care and foresight of Lopo Vaz. The forts were all well equipped
January(?) 1(?), 1530 - Goa - Sets sail to Portugal with D.Luís de Menezes
June(?) 1(?), 1530 - North Atlantic Ocean - The ship never reached Lisbon. Two or three theories exist, but precisely at the height of french piracy in the coast of Brazil and the north Atlantic, she was with all certainty the victim of pirates, and very cruel ones, seizing the heavily loaded and probably undermanned ship, leaving no one alive to tell the story. In 1536, a captured french pirate confesses that his brother had taken the fully laden and leaky portuguese carrack 10 years(?) before and burned all inside it =(END)
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