E - MUSTER-ROLL OF VASCO DA GAMA'S FLEET

Summary

The officers and men in Vasco da Gama's armada were carefully selected. Several of them had been with Bartholomeu Dias round the Cape; all of them, as appears from this “Journal”, justified by their conduct under sometimes trying circumstances the selection which had been made.

Authorities widely differ as to the number of men who embarked. Sernigi (p. 124.) says there were only 118, of whom 55 died during the voyage and only 63 returned. Galvão says there were 120, besides the men in the storeship. Castanheda and Goes raise the number to 148, of whom only 55 returned, many of them broken in health. Faria y Sousa and San Ramon say there were 160, and the latter adds that 93 of these died during the voyage, thus confirming a statement made by King Manuel in his letter of February 20th, 1504, to the effect that less than one-half returned. According to Barros there were 170 men, including soldiers and sailors. Correa raises the number to 260, for he says that in each of the three ships there were 80 officers and men, including servants, besides six convicts and two priests. He says nothing of the store-ship. By the time Vasco da Gama had reached the Rio da Misericordia only 150 out of this number are said to have been alive.

Correa, no doubt, exaggerates. On the other hand, Sernigi's numbers seem to us to err quite as much on the other side.