Infante Enriques, known to history as Prince Henry the Navigator, provided the foundation for Portugal’s maritime expansion by his development of marine science. As a boy he was enchanted by traveler’s tales and legends about wild beasts, barbarous people and the vast untapped riches reported to be harbored in Africa. In his youth he studied all he could find about maritime trade, map-making, sea charts, and all else he could uncover about Africa. In adulthood this fascination evolved into a search for a sea route to Guinea. His title notwithstanding, Henry’s contributions did not entail actual navigation. He did engage in coastwise sailing, but his principle efforts were undertaken from the shelter of dry land, where he organized the voyages of others and improved navigational apparatus and methodology which made da Gama’s voyages feasible. So astute were his contributions to navigation, that a rumor (later proven false) prevailed that he had established a "School of Sagres" that was dedicated to the science of maritime navigation. Foremost among Henry’s input were his directives that the seafarers he commanded maintain detailed charts, maps and notes. These diagrams and documents were to be annotated to denote bearing, wind direction, hazardous anchorages, whereabouts of water and food, landmarks visible from the sea, etc. This documenting factor was consequential: most mariners of that period didn’t bother to record anything they didn’t feel was of immediate value. In itself, this body of knowledge provided an advantage over Spain. Consider how Columbus, lacking adequate maps and charts, tended to repeat his mistakes. Henry also mobilized the assistance of Europe’s leading experts in the fledgling mathematical aspect of seamanship. Around 1420, his specialists had helped him develop “latitude navigation” based upon fixing one’s position with reference to the elevation of the Pole Star. The system of latitude navigation enabled a sailor to sail along a north-south axis until he reached a particular latitude, after which he could sail due west or east along this plotted trajectory of latitude. Notwithstanding, there were some problems in utilizing this method. It was difficult to use a quadrant aboard a moving ship. Moreover, the Pole Star isn’t visible to those traveling south of the equator so navigational fixes had to be taken using the sun. Even so, the system developed by Henry allowed his countrymen to break a number of presumed geographical barriers. For example, in 1421 Portuguese ships advanced beyond Cape Nun, and even the presumed “impassable” boundary of Cape Bojadoz. By 1434 Portuguese seamen had reached Guinea, the Gambia and Rio Grande and reached within sight of the Cape Verde Islands. In 1495 King Manuel ascended to the Portuguese throne. Here was a monarch who was enthused by his subjects’ seagoing exploits. Bartolomeu Dias had recently, (in 1488) returned from rounding the Cape of Good Hope and exploring as far as the Fish River in modern-day South Africa. The only reason Diaz had turned back was due to a mutiny. Otherwise, he may have well been the first to open the maritime passage to India. India was, of course, well known to the adventurous traders of the early renaissance, though only by way of the laborious hike along twisted footpaths. Proceeding from the opposite direction, starting from India, the land explorer Pedro de Corvilhão had traveled south overland for some of the distance intervening between the extremity of Dias' maritime explorations and the sub-continent. It remained only for the two segments to be joined into one voyage. This entailed striking out across the uncharted waters of the Indian Ocean, which was as much of a blank page as the Atlantic had been to Columbus. However without these precedent achievements, da Gama’s mission would have been overwhelming. While there can be no doubt that the expansionist impulse motivated the king, who was eager to find a ready source for grain, fish and gold, he also had a genuine interest in exploration for its own sake. That said, even of more import than gold (which existed in unknown quantities) were spices. From ancient times spices had been valued, somewhat for medicinal curative powers, though mainly because of their function as a preservative and flavoring for perishable commodities, especially beef. Without refrigeration vast quantities of meat putrefied almost before it arrived at markets or kitchens; spices were essential to preserve the meat. During the 15th Century the demand for spices soared. Spices had to be procured from the east: Zanzibar and India among other places. An imperious, corrupt and malicious Arab-Turk-Venetian cartel controlled the flow of pepper and other preservatives enroute from Calicut to Venice via Cairo and Alexandria. The price of the seasoning increased astronomically as it progressed though the hands of usurious merchant princes. Various Muslim rulers and their hireling thugs controlled the caravan track to and from these spices, along which they set up tollbooths to grease palms and ensure that the tradesmen at the western terminus paid dearly. Additionally, those hardy traffickers who undertook the perilous journey were easy prey for the thugs who lurked at key dispatch points along the way. It is no wonder that spices ranked up there with gold in terms of precious merchandise. Another formidable obstacle was the acutely antagonistic relationship between the Iberians and the Muslims, dating back to the time that the Muslim Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 711, four centuries prior to the founding of the present state of Portugal. This friction lingered, even though one can still detect Moorish influence on Portuguese life, music, food, and appearance --many Portuguese have Arab features and names ( e.g. Fatima). As a result Portugal, with its superior navy, postulated that the risky sea route to India, a medium on which they enjoyed supremacy, was probably safer than the land route through hostile Muslim-controlled territory. By using Portuguese hulls, they would be able to import spices directly from the Indian subcontinent circumventing the avaricious Arabs and their middlemen. The problem was to find someone determined enough to chart the obscure frontiers of the known oceans. Many an expedition had already ended up in disaster. Enter Vasco Da Gama Born in 1469 in Sines, Alemtejo, Portugal, da Gama was just shy of thirty years old when the new king, stimulated by his subjects’ seafaring adventures, determined to fulfill the long-term plans to find a sea route to India. His father Estevao da Gama was the Alcaide of Sines and also held a position in the court of King Afonso Vasco da Gama, except that he grew up in a maritime environment. Like his father, Vasco was born to the sea, engaging in swimming,sailing, fishing and other maritime pursuits from childhood. At age 15 he became a sailor, studying astronomy and navigation at Evora in the year of Columbus’s first voyage of discovery. Vasco became a naval officer at the age of 23. Following Bartolomeu Dias’ aborted quest (thanks to an unanticipated outbreak of scurvy and the resulting mutiny) the task of leading an expedition to India had originally been assigned to Vasco's father. But as fate would have it, Estevao died before the project’s technicalities could be fully developed. The king did not have to search far for a replacement. After the hapless Dias’s misfortune, it was obvious to the king that his mariner would have to be more effective in controlling mutinies on the high seas. He needed a cruel overseer who could command respect by a combination of demonstrable expertise and harsh discipline. The stern, cynical, abstemious bachelor Vasco da Gama was just such a forceful individual sought by the King. Of medium height and very industrious, he also was eager for a challenge that would test his mettle to the utmost. da Gama was reputed to be a tyrannical taskmaster, intolerant of dissent and intractable in his determination to punish any subordinate failing in his duty. Besides, as a minor 'signhor' in the Royal Court he was already known to the King. The younger da Gama was also recommended by his record in the defense of the Portuguese-held territories on the West African Gold Coast as well as in the Algarve and Setubal coastal area against the French incursions. An interview confirmed the king in his choice of the original designee’s son. The King ordered the experienced Bartolomeu Dias to oversee the planning of the trip. Under Dias’s supervision, two new ships were built and two previously used ones refitted for the journey: four ships in all, the Sao Gabriel, the Sao Rafael, the Berrio, and the Sao Marin. The flotilla was not a catch-as-catch-can assemblage. These were state-of-the-art vessels combining the best of the Arab sailing technology with the sturdy hull flush-nailed plank on frame construction adapted from the Northern European merchantmen, or cogs. The Sao Gabriel, his flagship was approximately 120 feet from stern transom to the tip of the bowsprit, or about 90 feet “between perpendiculars” or roughly the hull length measured at the waterline. It displaced approximately 220 tons. Artists renderings, and Mr. Imthurn’s model, show a ship strikingly similar to the modern renditions (including the working reproductions) of Columbus’s flagship, the Santa Maria. The lateen-rigged caravels were conceivably only 80 feet overall and about half the tonnage of the flagship. We have no contemporary description of the supply vessel. Anticipating difficulties among folks under the control of Portugal’s Islamic rivals, all four ships were fitted with the most advanced cannons available at the time in Europe. The flagship, Sao Gabriel, mounting 10 guns, was presumably the best armed of the flotilla. Some sources allot 20 guns to the flagship, but this is erroneous. The ten main cannon were mounted in gun ports, five to a broadside; there may have been smaller caliber guns arrayed on the rails on swivel mounts. Significantly, considering the perils of the journey and the volatile nature of the company, the crew was not trusted to carry personal weapons. All portable weapons, including a good supply of crossbows, were secured in ships’ arms depots, and only issued as needed for emergencies. The ships were loaded with rations of food and wine sufficient to last for three years. Also stocked were items thought to be useful for purposes of trading like olive oil, cotton cloth, sugar, bacalhao, tin bells, wash basins, scarlet hoods, jackets, hats, caps, glass beads, bells, rings and bracelets. No gold, silver or luxury goods, which would have been ideal for trading in India, were carried on board. The Portuguese were perhaps quite oblivious to the level of luxury to which the Indian princes and Arab traders were accustomed. The commodities were not exactly what the inhabitants neighboring the presumable anchorages on the far side of the Cape of Good Hope would need or want to meet their needs; to the sophisticated men along the northeastern shores of Africa and beyond, the baubles and trinkets were actually demeaning. Apparently, the Portuguese though that everyone they might encounter would be willing to trade in the same naive fashion as the Africans with whom they had already traded. They could not envision a more sophisticated (or wealthy) civilization, despite reliable intelligence from earlier journeys that not all their hosts were likely to be so easily bought. The total crew assembled to man the four ships numbered 170 including the “civilian” specialists. The sailors and soldiers were not disciplined old salts ready to do their commander’s bidding. The rank and file were drifters – bold to be sure but also a little bit uncivilized. They consisted in large part of convicts, fugitives from the law, and uneasy toughs who couldn’t adjust to the peaceful ways of civilization. One had to be somewhat maladjusted to sign on to a voyage of uncertain duration, uncertain destiny and where there was no guarantee of even returning. Da Gama did hand-pick his immediate cadre from among his more polished associates who had accompanied him on his punitive expeditions to northwest Africa, including his brother Paulo, to whom he gave command of the Sao Rafael. Modern-day critics, who censure da Gama’s severe manner with his men, should take into account the human material with whom he had to deal. Thanks to the sensible modus operandi and system of organization left behind by Prince Henry, and Dias’s informed judgment, da Gama was as well prepared as could be expected for the expected rigors of an journey to the world’s end. The ships were provisioned to stay away from land for months. Unlike Columbus's first voyage, da Gama brought along interpreters, priests, an historian, carpenters, rope makers, a caulker, a blacksmith, and a plank maker. This all attests that da Gama was completely up to date as to what might be necessary on this experimental excursion towards terra incognita. More Will the Real Vasco de Gama Please Stand Up Introduction Scientific Foundations: Prince Henry The Navigator And His Disciples Underway – Headed for the World’s Extremities Calcutta at Last Map: Vasco de Gama's Route (slow: 129K) Back to Cry Havoc #39 Table of Contents Back to Cry Havoc List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by David W. Tschanz. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com