EASTWARD HO! 87high seas. Some of it was the work of private shippers and seamen, who
saw riches at the end of their bowsprit. All of it depended on improve
ments in the art of shipbuilding: caravels, longer and sleeker, rather
than broad, cargo-bearing cogs; stern rudders; a mix of square and la
teen sails; a marriage of Atiantic and Mediterranean techniques. When
Dias returned from the southern tip of Africa, he also brought with him
ideas that went into the ships (no longer called caravels) used by Vasco
da Gama a decade later. Ten years more saw further modifications.
Every trip was an experience, an incentive to emendation.
Ocean sailing further depended on instrumentation: the compass
for direction; the astrolabe and cross-staff for measuring altitudes of ce
lestial bodies; devices for sighting with back turned to the sun; sand
glasses for timing and estimating speed. And, lest we forget, all sailing
depended on the tenacity of hard-bitten sailors. These fellows, a
strange crowd, had plenty of opportunity to regret signing on. They
sickened and often died of scurvy on these endless voyages, nagged
Virgin and saints with numberless Hail Mary's and repetitious litanies,
sought to appease the sea with superstitious gestures; and then, feet
once more on dry land, wages spent on booze and sex, pockets empty,
allowed themselves to be tempted again. That was the way of a seafar
ing man. (Besides, the crimps were always waiting to pounce.)
The Portuguese strategy, doing by knowing, made good sense. Each
trip built on the ones before; each time, they went a little farther; each
time they noted their latitude, changed their maps, and left a marker
of presence. Psychological barriers made some steps more difficult:
thus Cape Bojador; also the Cape of Storms, later renamed of Good
Hope (symbolism was important). Gradually, fear yielded to reason
and method. The decision to sail west, almost to the coast of South
America, before going east was the most inventive and audacious of all,
showing tremendous confidence in their ability to find their way. (By
comparison, Columbus had a cakewalk.) Better to keep moving than
to tack and stand. No wind like a following wind; no sail like a full sail.
The Portuguese push to the Indies is not understandable without
taking account of men such as Vasco de Gama, sailor and seaman from
childhood, man of hard head and hard measures. We do not know as
much about Gama as we should like, but one story of his pre-Indies ca
reer tells much about his character. The year was 1492, and Gama was
about thirty. A Portuguese caravel carrying gold from El Mina (on the
west coast of Africa) had been seized by a French privateer, even
though the two countries were at peace. What to do? The Portuguese
king's counselors advised diplomacy: send an emissary to plead for the