United States or Hungary ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
No serious damage, however, having occurred, the vessels at length, on the 3rd of February, 1503, came to an anchor off the river Yebra, which was within a league of another river known as the Veragua, running through the country said to abound in gold-mines. Both rivers were sounded, and the Yebra, or Belen as Columbus called it, being somewhat the deepest, the caravels entered it at high tide.
In 1446, three caravels were sent out under Antonio Gonsales, Diego Aloizio, and Gomes Perez; who were ordered to refrain from going to Rio de Oro, to carry themselves peaceably to the natives, to traffic with them peaceably, and to endeavour to convert as many infidels as possible to Christianity; but in this they had no success.
This last advice did not last the expedition out of sight of land. They sailed from Blackwell, December 19, 1606, but were kept six weeks on the coast of England by contrary winds. A crew of saints cabined in those little caravels and tossed about on that coast for six weeks would scarcely keep in good humor. Besides, the position of the captains and leaders was not yet defined.
The river in the mouth of which they were anchored, however, was subject to sudden spouts and gushes of water from the hills, one of which occurred on January 24th and nearly swamped the caravels. This spout of water was caused by the rainy season, which had begun in the mountains and presently came down to the coast, where it rained continuously until the 14th of February.
Alvaro, therefore, desisted from any farther attempt to explore the coast, and returned to Lagos to give an account of his proceedings. In the same year, ten caravels sailed from Lagos for Madeira, the Canaries, and the coast of Africa, but returned without making any progress in discovering the coast.
So they moved on solemnly toward the sea, where, in the distance, Father Jose saw stately caravels, bearing the same familiar banner, awaiting them. The good Padre gazed with conflicting emotions, and the serious voice of the stranger broke the silence. "Thou hast beheld, Sir Priest, the fading footprints of adventurous Castile.
A few miles from Cape Coast Castle, and on the borders of the Dutch colony, there are to-day the ruined remains of a fort; and it is this fort, the fortress of St. George, that the expedition was sent out to erect. Columbus was in command of one of the caravels, and the whole fleet was commanded by the Portuguese Admiral Azumbaga.
With this letter he gives several woodcuts of sketches made with a pen, which accompanied this letter, and which he supposes to have been from the hand of Columbus. In these are represented vessels which are probably caravels. They have high bows and sterns, with castles on the latter. They have short masts with large square sails.
Letters and documents follow which give details of the voyage of Loaisa, and events in the Moluccas until the year 1535. A writ handed to the king from the Council of the Indies says that German factors denied the report of the death of Loaisa; and it is advised that one or two caravels be sent from New Spain from Colima, or Guatemala, or Nicaragua to find out the truth of this report.
We continued here eleven days, during which the caravels were continually resorted to by great numbers of Negroes from both sides of the river, who came to see the novelties, and to sell their goods, among which there were a few gold rings.
Word Of The Day