Paulo De La Gama,
Brother To The Captain-General, And Nicholas Coello, Both Men Of Valour
And Enterprise, Were Appointed The Other Captains Of The Squadron.
Bartholomew Diaz Was Likewise Commanded To Accompany The Squadron Of
Discovery In A Caravel To The Mirna:
And as the three ships of war
appointed for the voyage could not contain a sufficient supply of
provisions
For their crews, the ship of 200 tons, which had been
purchased from Ayres Correa, was ordered to accompany de Gama to a place
called St Blaze, at which the squadron was to take in water, where the
victuals with which she was loaded were to be distributed to the other
ships, after which she was ordered to be burnt.
Having received their orders, Vasco de la Gama and the other captains
took their leave of the king at _Monte mayor_, and departed for Lisbon,
where he embarked his company of 148 persons, at Belem, on Saturday the
8th of July 1497. At this embarkation all the religious belonging to the
church of our Lady at Belem, went in procession in their cowls, bare-
headed, and carrying wax candles, praying for the success of the
expedition; accompanied by almost the whole people of Lisbon, weeping and
deploring the fate of those who now embarked, as devoted to certain death
in the attempt of so dangerous a voyage. Thus commended to God and good
fortune, the officers and crews embarked and immediately set sail. Vasco
de la Gama, the captain-general, took the command in the Angel Gabriel,
of which Pedro de Alenquer was pilot, who had been in the same capacity
with Diaz when he passed the Cape of Good Hope, and discovered the _Rio
del Infante_. Paulo de Gama went captain of the San Raphael, Nicholas
Coello of the caravel Berrio, and Gonsalo Gomes[1], a servant of Vasco de
la Gama, commanded the large victualling ship.
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