_ 217 _ As I sent the measurements and sketches to Your Highness in Bernaldo(A) Heitor de Elvas' carrack, I shall not say give any more details in the present letter. On 7 August I left Mozambique for India with the same three carracks(B) with a prosperous wind in our favour. On the following day, sailing in a north-easterly direction, and around midnight, I hit a sandbank about seven leagues from the Island of Comoro, the carrack gave three loud crashes, and as a result took a list to port. When I saw that I was in trouble, I had the artillery fired as a warning and in order that the carracks, which were coming abaft of me, should be watchful, but as the pilots considered the seas and anchorage of Comoro to be among the clearest and safest of this whole voyage, they thought that the signals I had made were for clearing the guns. (A) Bemaldo Nacere according to other documents was in command of the carrack which carried the letter from D João written in Mozambique to Portugal. (B) The person who published this letter in O Instituto inserts a note here to the effect that the third carrack was the "Burgaleza". If one reads the letter written from Mozambique, however, it becomes clear, that the carrack "Burgaleza" was not in Mozambique with the Governor, she had parted company with the others after the stop at Cape St Augustine. The three carracks which left Mozambique with D João de Castro were the flagship "São Tomé", Jorge Cabral's "Urca" and D Jerónimo de Noronha's "São Pedro".
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy