• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 617 0

each with samples from the goods he carried in the ship, and placing these in the tiny ship, they set it out into the sea with much rejoicing, and everyone on board watched as the little ship moved away, driven by the wind which filled its tiny sails, until it was out of sight in rounding the cape. On inquiry as to the significance of that observance, I was informed that it was a tribute all ships paid to the Masandam cape, which was otherwise so wicked that those who defaulted it on the way up from India could surely consider themselves lost on their return journey, and that the gift had ensured them a safe passage. If the Cape of Good Hope could be satisfied as easily, we might as well have paid it a similar tribute each year, but I do not think it is as amenable as that of Masandam. When the Portuguese, English and Dutch ships, which invariably carry Hindus and Muslims, pass that way, they too perform the same ceremony, but they load the little ship with the entrails of cows and of the other animal, which the Muslims do not eat, in order to deride their superstitions, which annoys them greatly.42

We have been getting close to actual life on board ships in the Indian Ocean in the early modern period, and we can close this chapter by going on board and looking at actual voyages. It is time for a whiff of ozone. A concluding section inspissated with first-hand accounts may relieve the tedium of the long analytical sections to which I have subjected the reader. Many of the accounts we will quote give vivid portrayals of the hazards of ocean sailing at this time, hence the important role of the rites and superstitions we have just quoted. Here is an account by Father Lobo of a passage back to Europe. The good father had started the voyage badly, suffering terribly from seasickness in a way which must bring back bad memories to anyone who has suffered from this:

the nausea with which my stomach kept churning and vomiting can only be known to those who have experienced it, even vomiting all the various humours, according to the colours by which each one is recognised. Eating, drinking, and all other human functions are entirely impossible during those days. Finally, there is no other human illness that can be compared with this in the effects, vomiting and terrors it causes. The illness fortunately lasts no more than 8 days and the suffering of that week leaves me with complete freedom from this kind of torture for the remainder of the voyage.

Subsequently the ship got into trouble. Here is a vivid account of a storm from Father Lobo:

To the southeast the sky was so heavy, dark and fearsome that it was obviously preparing to break loose against us with great force, which it did so treacherously, however, that, as if it were trying to catch us suddenly and unawares, no matter how forewarned and attentive we were, we were unable to escape the sudden burst of a furious blast of wind called a typhoon or hurricane which came after a sharper wind than the one which had been blowing for some time, which had only caused us to be watchful. The sails kept taking the wind and swelling to the bursting point despite everyone shouting 'Strike sail! Strike sail!' Knowing that the foe was with us, we could not escape damage now, and in a moment it tore all the sails in pieces without leaving us a useable shred. The impetus was so strong that, if the sails had not been old and had been capable of withstanding the weight of the wind, the masts and yards would certainly have been smashed to pieces, falling on the ship with all the danger involved in such happenings....43

Apart from storms, there were other natural hazards at sea. Edmund Barker in 1591 in Lancaster's ship, the first English expedition to the east, had just got around the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean.

In the morning, toward ten of the clocke, we had a terrible clap of thunder, which slew foure of our men outright, their necks being wrung in sonder without speaking any word, and of 94 men there was not one untouched; whereof some were stricken blind, others