ANTHONY PIGAPHETA, Patrician of Vicenza, and Knight of

Rhodes, to the very illustrious and very excellent LORD PHILIP

DE VILLIERS LISLEADEN, the famous Grand Master of Rhodes,
his most respected Lord

Since there are several curious persons (very illustrious and very reverend lord)
who not only are pleased to listen to and learn the great and wonderful things
which God has permitted me to see and suffer in the long and perilous
navigation, which I have performed (and which is written hereafter), but also
they desire to learn the methods and fashions of the road which I have taken in
order to go thither, [and who do] not grant firm belief to the end unless they are
first well advised and assured of the commencement. Therefore, my lord, it will
please you to hear that finding myself in Spain in the year of the Nativity of our
Lord, one thousand five hundred and nineteen, at the court of the most serene
king of the Romans, with the reverend lord, Mons. Francis Cheregato, then
apostolic proto-notary, and ambassador of the Pope Leon the Tenth, who,
through his virtue, afterwards arrived at the bishoprick of Aprutino and the
principality of Theramo, and knowing both by the reading of many books and
by the report of many lettered and well-informed persons who conversed with
the said proto-notary, the very great and awful things of the ocean, I
deliberated, with the favour of the Emperor and the above-named lord, to
experiment and go and see with my eyes a part of those things. By which
means I could satisfy the desire of the said lords, and mine own also. So that it
might be said that I had performed the said voyage, and seen well with my eyes
the things hereafter written.

Now in order to decipher the commencement of my voyage (very illustrious

lord); having heard that there was in the city of Seville, a small armade to the
number of five ships, ready to perform this long voyage, that is to say, to find
the islands of Maluco, from whence the spices come: of which armade the
captain-general was Fernand de Magaglianes, a Portuguese gentleman,
commander of St. James of the Sword, who had performed several voyages in
the ocean sea (in which he had behaved very honourably as a good man), I set
out with many others in my favour from Barcelona, where at the time the
Emperor was, and came by sea as far as Malaga, and thence I went away by
land until I arrived at the said city of Seville. There I remained for the space of
three months, waiting till the said armade was in order and readiness to
perform its voyage. And because (very illustrious lord) that on the return from
the said voyage, on going to Rome towards the holiness of our Holy Father, I
found your lordship at Monterosa, where of your favour you gave me a good
reception, and afterwards gave me to understand that you desired to have in
writing the things which God of His grace had permitted me to see in my said
voyage; therefore to satisfy and accede to your desire, I have reduced into this
small book the principal things, in the best manner that I have been able.
Finally (very illustrious lord), after all provisions had been made, and the
vessels were in order, the captain-general, a discreet and virtuous man, careful
of his honour, would not commence his voyage without first making some good
and wholesome ordinances, such as it is the good custom to make for those
who go to sea. Nevertheless he did not entirely declare the voyage which he was
going to make, so that his men should not from amazement and fear be
unwilling to accompany him on so long a voyage, as he had undertaken in his
intention. Considering the great and impetuous storms which are on the ocean
sea, where I wished to go; and for another reason also, that is to say that the
masters and captains of the other ships of his company did not love him: of
this I do not know the reason, except by cause of his, the captain-general,
being Portuguese, and they were Spaniards or Castilians, who for a long time
have been in rivalry and ill will with one another. Notwithstanding this all were
obedient to him. He made his ordinances such as those which follow, so that
during the storms at sea, which often come on by night and day, his ships
should not go away and separate from one another. These ordinances he
published and made over in writing to each master of the ships, and
commanded them to be observed and inviolably kept, unless there were great
and legitimate excuses, and appearance of not having been able to do
otherwise.

Firstly, the said captain-general willed that the vessel in which he himself was
should go before the other vessels, and that the others should follow it;
therefore he carried by night on the poop of his ship a torch or faggot of
burning wood, which they called farol, which burned all the night, so that his
ships should not lose sight of him. Sometimes he set a lantern, sometimes a
thick cord of reeds was lighted, which was called trenche. This is made of reeds
well soaked in the water, and much beaten, then they are dried in the sun or in
the smoke, and it is a thing very suitable for such a matter. When the captain
had made one of his signals to his people, they answered in the same way. In
that manner they knew whether the ships were following and keeping together
or not. And when he wished to take a tack on account of the change of
weather, or if the wind was contrary, or if he wished to make less way, he had
two lights shown; and if he wished the others to lower their small sail,which
was a part of the sail attached to the great sail, he showed three lights. Also by
the three lights, notwithstanding that the wind was fair for going faster, he
signalled that the studding sail should be lowered; so that the great sail might
be quicker and more easily struck and furled when bad weather should
suddenly set in, on account of some squall or otherwise. Likewise when the
captain wished the other ships to lower the sail he had four lights shown,
which shortly after he had put out and then showed a single one, which was a
signal that he wished to stop there and turn, so that the other ships might do
as he did. Withal, when he discovered any land, or shoal, that is to say, a rock
at sea, he made several lights be shown or had a bombard fired off. If he
wished to make sail, he signalled to the other ships with four lights, so that
they should do as he did, and follow him. He always carried this said lantern
suspended to the poop of his vessel. Also when he wished the studding sail to
be replaced with the great sail, he showed three lights. And to know whether all
the ships followed him and were coming together, he showed one light only
besides the farol, and then each of the ships showed another light, which was
an answering signal.
Besides the above-mentioned ordinances for carrying on seamanship as is
fitting, and to avoid the dangers which may come upon those who do not keep
watch, the said captain, who was expert in the things required for navigation,
ordered that three watches should be kept at night. The first was at the
beginning of the night, the second at midnight, and the third towards break of
day, which is commonly called La diane, otherwise the star of the break of day.
Every night these watches were changed; that is to say, he who had kept the
first watch, on the following day kept the second, and he who had kept the
second kept the third; and so on they changed continually every night. The
said captain commanded that his regulations both for the signals and the
watches should be well observed, so that their voyage should be made with
greater security. The crews of this fleet were divided into three companies; the
first belonged to the captain, the second to the pilot or nochier, and the third to
the master. These regulations having been made, the captain-general
deliberated on sailing, as follows.
Monday, the day of St. Laurence, the 10th of August, in the year above
mentioned, the fleet, provided with what was necessary for it, and carrying
crews of different nations, to the number of two hundred and thirty-seven men
in all the five ships, was ready to set sail from the mole of Seville; and firing all
the artillery, we made sail only on the foremast, and came to the end of a river
named Betis, which is now called Guadalcavir. In going along this river we
passed by a place named Gioan de Farax, where there was a large population
of Moors, and there was a bridge over the river by which one went to Seville.
This bridge was ruined, however there had remained two columns which are at
the bottom of the water, on which account it is necessary to have people of the
country of experience and knowledge to point out the convenient spot for safely
passing between these two columns, from fear of striking against them. Besides
that, it is necessary in order to pass safely by this bridge and by other places
on this river, that the water should be rather high. After having passed the two
columns we came to another place named Coria, and passing by many little
villages lying along the said river, at last we arrived at a castle, which belongs
to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, named St. Lucar, where there is a port from
which to enter the ocean sea. It is entered by the east wind and you go out by
the west wind. Near there is the cape of St. Vincent, which, according to
cosmography, is in thirty-seven degrees of latitude, at twenty miles distance
from the said port; and from the aforesaid town to this port by the river there
are thirty-five or forty miles. A few days afterwards the captain-general came
along the said river with his boat, and the masters of the other ships with him,
and we remained some days in this port to supply the fleet with some
necessary things. We went every day to hear mass on shore, at a church
named Our Lady of Barrameda, towards St. Lucar. There the captain
commanded that all the men of the fleet should confess before going on any
further, in which he himself showed the way to the others. Besides he did not
choose that anyone should bring any married woman, or others to the ships,
for several good considerations.

Tuesday, the 20th September of the said year, we set sail from St. Lucar,
making the course of the south-west otherwise named Labeiche; and on the
twenty-sixth of the said month we arrived at an island of great Canaria, named
Teneriphe, which is in twenty-eight degrees latitude; there we remained three
days and a half to take in provisions and other things which were wanted. After
that we set sail thence and came to a port named Monterose, where we
sojourned two days to supply ourselves with pitch, which is a thing necessary
for ships. It is to be known that among the other isles which are at the said
great Canaria, there is one, where not a drop of water is to be found proceeding
from a fountain or a river, only once a day at the hour of midday, there
descends a cloud from the sky which envelops a large tree which is in this
island, and it falls upon the leaves of the tree, and a great abundance of water
distils from these leaves, so that at the foot of the tree there is so large a
quantity of water that it seems as if there was an ever-running fountain. The
men who inhabit this place are satisfied with this water; also the animals, both
domestic and wild, drink of it.

Monday, the third of October of the said year, at the hour of midnight, we set
sail, making the course auster, which the levantine mariners call Siroc,
entering into the ocean sea. We passed the Cape Verd and the neighbouring
islands in fourteen-and-a-half degrees, and we navigated for several days by
the coast of Guinea or Ethiopia; where there is a mountain called Sierra Leona,
which is in eight degrees latitude according to the art and science of
cosmography and astrology. Sometimes we had the wind contrary and at other
times sufficiently good, and rains without wind. In this manner we navigated
with rain for the space of sixty days until the equinoctial line, which was a
thing very strange and unaccustomed to be seen, according to the saying of
some old men and those who had navigated here several times. Nevertheless,
before reaching this equinoctial line we had in fourteen degrees a variety of
weather and bad winds, as much on account of squalls as for the head winds
and currents which came in such a manner that we could no longer advance.
In order that our ships might not perish nor broach to (as it often happens
when the squalls come together), we struck our sails, and in that manner we
went about the sea hither and thither until the fair weather came. During the
calm there came large fishes near the ships which they called Tiburoni
(sharks), which have teeth of a terrible kind, and eat people when they find
them in the sea either alive or dead. These fishes are caught with a device
which the mariners call hamc, which is a hook of iron. Of these, some were
caught by our men. However, they are worth nothing to eat when they are
large; and even the small ones are worth but little. During these storms the
body of St. Anselme appeared to us several times; amongst others, one night
that it was very dark on account of the bad weather, the said saint appeared in
the form of a fire lighted at the summit of the mainmast, and remained there
near two hours and a half, which comforted us greatly, for we were in tears,
only expecting the hour of perishing; and when that holy light was going away
from us it gave out so great a brilliancy in the eyes of each, that we were near a
quarter-of-an-hour like people blinded, and calling out for mercy. For without
any doubt nobody hoped to escape from that storm. It is to be noted that all
and as many times as that light which represents the said St. Anselme shows
itself and descends upon a vessel which is in a storm at sea, that vessel never
is lost. Immediately that this light had departed the sea grew calmer, and then
we saw divers sorts of birds, amongst others there were some which had no
fundament. There is also another kind of bird of such a nature that when the
female wishes to lay her eggs she goes and lays them on the back of the male,
and there it is that the eggs are hatched. This last kind had no feet and is
always in the sea. There is another kind of bird which only lives on the
droppings of the other birds, this is a true thing, and they are named Cagaselo,
for I have seen them follow the other birds until they had done what nature
ordered them to do; and after it has eat this dirty diet it does not follow any
other bird until hunger returns to it; it always does the same thing. There are
also fish which fly, and we saw a great quantity of them together, so many that
it seemed that it was an island in the sea.