São Gabriel (ship)
São Gabriel is on the bottom right. This depiction from about 1558 also shows São Rafael (top) and Bérrio.
| |
History | |
---|---|
Portugal | |
Name | São Gabriel |
Builder | Bartolomeu Dias |
Commissioned | 1497 |
In service | 1497-1499 |
Fate | unknown |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Carrack |
Tons burthen | ~ 100 t |
Length | 25.7 m (84 ft 4 in) |
Beam | 8.5 m (27 ft 11 in) |
Draft | 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) |
Propulsion | sail |
Complement | ~60 |
Armament | 20 guns |
São Gabriel was a Portuguese carrack and the flagship of Vasco da Gama's armada on his first voyage to India in 1497–1499.
The other three ships
Velho indicated that the sources agreed that the armada contained four ships, but there was disagreement about the names. These were the other three ships according to him:[1]
- São Rafael: The sister ship of São Gabriel, built by the same builder at the same time for the same purpose. It was of similar dimensions as São Gabriel. Paulo da Gama, Vasco's brother, was the captain, other people include João de Coimbra, pilot, and João de Sá, clerk.
- Bérrio, also known as São Miguel: This Pedro Escobarpilot, and Álvaro de Braga, clerk.
- A supply ship, name São Miguel: The ship was a carrack of about 110 or 200 tons with Gonçalo Nunes as captain.
Provisions
The provisions of the convoy were based on the expectation that the voyage would last three years; merchandise intended for the Indian market was also brought along. This merchandise included wash basins, clothes, sugar, honey, corals, glass beads and trinkets, and turned out to be neither adequate in quality nor in quantity for its purpose.
The ships also carried a number of padrões, pillars of stone headed by the cross and bearing the seal of Portugal and used as markers to claim land.
Operational history
The armada left
The return crossing of the Indian Ocean took over three months and many of the crew members got sick from scurvy and died. With a diminished crew São Rafael became superfluous; the vessel was burned at East Africa after the transfer of its crew and provisions.
Bérrio under Nicolau Coelho's command arrived at Cascais near Lisbon on July 10, 1499,[5] and São Gabriel without Gama and directed by João de Sá came in one month later.[6] Gama had left São Gabriel on its final leg and commissioned another vessel to bring him with his dying brother Paulo to the Azores[7] before he returned to Portugal in early September 1499.
Cultural depictions
São Gabriel is depicted in the 2011
References
- ^ a b c Alvaro Velho (1898). A journal of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama, 1497-1499. Hakluyt Society. pp. 157–177.
S o Gabriel da gama.
- ISBN 0-415-28470-8.
- ^ Alvaro Velho (1898). A journal of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama, 1497-1499. Hakluyt Society. pp. 9–10.
- ^ Deutsche Welle. "1498: Vasco da Gama chega a Calecute" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2009-06-19.
- ^ ISBN 0-8166-0782-6.
- ^ ISBN 0-87113-899-9.
- ^ Alvaro Velho (1898). A journal of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama, 1497-1499. Hakluyt Society. p. 94.