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Jun 15, 1524
Day at sea
Today we set sail from our port at Lisbon with our main ship, the Saint Bernardo, along with our three caravels, the Barquinho, the Oceano Planador, and the Madeira Velocidade. I am lucky enough to be on the Madeira Velocidade, the fastest of our ships, along with another 26 men, while the other 103 sailors are spread out amongst the other ships. The others on the Madeira Velocidade have not had any issues so far, and I am excited to go to the spice islands. -
Period: Jun 15, 1524 to Aug 8, 1525
The voyage to the spice islands
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Aug 25, 1524
Day at sea
After about two months at sea, as far as I can keep track, the crew on my ship are now losig thier excitement for the sea, as the days go by with very little excitement. It has been tough getting used to the rations that we are put on, why just earlier today a fight broke out when one of our crewmembers tried to steal food from another. Now, our ship is short a crewmember because the theif was thrown overboard, which should put an end to anyone stealing food. -
Sep 6, 1524
Port of St. Helena
We have stopped to restock at a port for the first time, and we stopped at St. Helena, the volcanic island. We bought some meat and other supplies that we needed their, but we got off of the island quickly because of the insects that kept biting us. Two of the crewmembers actually got a disease from the insects and died, so I'm hoping that the next port we stop at is a little bit more liveable. -
Oct 3, 1524
Day at sea
We have recently edured a storm that has lasted through this whole past week, with many of our supplies going overboard, and a few crewmen from each ship being lost in the ocean as well. This has really weakened the morale of the men, especially the men on the caravels, including myself, as the caravels are much lighter and fared worse during the storm. In fact, we have to head to port soon to get more supplies, but also to fix the main mast of the Barquinho which was knocked down in the storm. -
Oct 11, 1524
Port of Cape of Good Hope
It has been slow going since the storm, but we have reached the Cape of Good Hope. It feels good to restock from another Portuguese area, especially the one that was created when Dias made the voyage to the Spice Islands possible. We are finally fixing the mast of the Barquinho, but about ten of our the crewmembers have had enough of this journey, and have hopped off to stay at the Cape of Good Hope. Our next port stop shouldn't happen for a while now, and I hope we sail without issues. -
Jan 4, 1525
Day at sea
There was a lot of celebrating yesterday, and very early this morning, for we figured that it was around the new year mark. We have passed through these past couple months with very few incidens, only a couple fights among the crew and nothing major. It is very odd having the weather be hot during the wintertime, and it has been getting increasingly tough being away from my family. We are getting much closer to the Spice Islands now, and the morale of the men has been getting better every day. -
Jan 21, 1525
Port of Mombasa
We have arrived at Mombasa, and thankfully are in good relations with the people there at this time. Us Portuguese have been trying to capture the city since da Gama first found it. Since we are good with the people right now, we have been trading some of our alcohol on board for supplies, and promising a few spices on the return journey from the Spice Islands in exchange for supplies. We are just over halfway done with our voyage, which is heartening, but also a little discouraging. -
Mar 27, 1525
Port of Sri Lanka
Cinnamon is what we have been trading for right now. We restocked of course, but now we are getting some spices before we reach the Spice Islands, which is fantastic. We have made such good time to this point since Mombasa, and it seems like nothing will go wrong from here to the end of our journey. -
May 14, 1525
Day at sea
The Spice Islands are almost upon us, but that also means pirates. A few days ago we were attacked by pirates, with one of our caravels, the Oceano Planador, taking heavy damage, but it is repairable. Nothing was stolen, and since we beat back the pirates, hopefully no other pirates try to steal from us again. We are almost done with our voyage to the Spice Islands that seem almost legendary at this point, and soon we will be there. -
Jun 30, 1525
Port of the Spice Islands
We made it to the Spice Islands finally, and the trading is keeping all of us more busy than anything that I've ever done. We are trading for pepper, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and there are also many jewels here. The profit that we will make with all of this stuff is greater than what I and everyone else imagined. This voyage will leave us all rich men.
