End of the Middle-Ages View on 'Local Ships and Portuguese ships' made locally.
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The Portuguese were so impressed with the ship-building in Eastern Africa that Mozambique became very soon the official harbor for all refitting and repairs as well as the building of new Portuguese ships.
Note the following words :
Nao/ naos: vessel
Leagues: 5.5km
Almadias: A small African canoe made of the bark of trees
Zambuk: Sambuk; is a type of dhow, a traditional wooden sailing vessel.
Taken from: Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol I
AN ORDER FROM PERO FERREIRA FOGAÇA, CAPTAN OF KILWA, TO THE KEEPER ANTÓNIO FERNANDES
Kilwa, 1506 April 11
Regarding the delivery of certain articles required for the building of a brigantine.
……………. order you Amtonio Fernandez keeper of Stores and arms in the said fortress to deliver the main-mast of the sambuk that was captured coming from Mombasa to use for a keel for the brigantine I have ordered built and also its rigging and sail and also the sails of the others to shade from the sun the people who are building the brigantine aforesaid and also two iron bars to melt down for nails as there is no other iron in the fortress, ………………
ACCOUNT OF THE VOYAGE OF D. FRANCISCO DE ALMEIDA, VICEROY OF INDIA, ALONG THE EAST COAST OF AFRICA (Manuscrito de Valentim Fernandes d1519)
[1506] (This is the eyewitness account of Hans Mayer)
…………… Here are a great number of sambuks as big as caravels of 50 tons others smaller in size. The large ones always lie aground and are set afloat when they have to go to sea. There are no nails in them, the planks are sewn together with rope made from knotted coir from the coconut palm. The same kind of rope is used for the rudder. The boats are caulked with black pitch made from crude incense and resin. They sail from here 255 leagues to Sofala whence they bring the gold to other places. ……………
LETTER FROM PERO FERREIRA FOGAÇA. CAPTAIN OF KILWA, TO THE KING
Kilwa, 1506 December 22
…………… There is no other thing I need here, Sire, save to have an abundance of carpenters from the Ribeira (=center of Porto) and plenty of ruffians to man the oars, and with these things I would build caravels and oared vessels with which I could starve Mombasa to death and take all the ships it has …………
Taken from : Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol II
INSTRUCTIONS TO FERNAO SOARES 1507
…………………………… How he shall deal with the naos he finds:
If some of the said naos are in such a way and in such dire need that it seems they cannot come to port in safety, in such an event you shall, if you sight them beyond Mozambique, advise the captain of such a nao (vessel) or naos that it is our pleasure that they make for the said place of Mozambique where they can unload the merchandise they bring and place it in such good care as they may, and there repair the needs of the nao or naos , wherefore you shall give them some of the tow nails pitch they need and a caulker if they do not have one and anything else you carry and they require for the said repairs, and if once unloaded and repaired it seems to such a nao or naos that they may come safely to port, let them reload and set out direct to this city …………
Note: this is the official order that Mozambique needs to be the place to make and repair vessels.
LETTER FROM DUARTE DE LEMOS TO THE KING Mozambique, 1508 September 30
Item, what your Highness wished to know about the timber there was here for the ships, there is much of it here. Very black, and to be had at very little cost on the mainland that confines with Mozambique I have learned from the officials that come on these ships that as many as required can be made here, if they are smaller than one hundred and fifty tons, and the same number of one-piece masts can be had in the land, and if masts come from India the naos made here can be as big as required, as I sent officials to view the timber in order to write of it to Your Highness; and it seems to me that the ships that are to sail here on patrol would be less costly made here than in Portugal and would last longer. Your Highness cannot withhold officials from here, for much depends on this factory being well provided which is very necessary to all your fleets. Duarte de Mel made here a twelve-bench brigantine, very well fashioned and a good sailor and a barquaza that supplies the fortress and the naos that come here with water and firewood.
…………. Whilst he was in Sofala, Vara Guomez built a caravel of forty tons which he took with him. Here in Moambique he left a ship called Sam Geaao which is going from here to Sofala with supplies and merchandise where they are necessary. Her captain is Lopo Cabrall who is now in Sofala. …………
Taken from: Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol III
SUMMARY BY ANTÓNIO CARNEIRO, SECRETARY OF STATE, OF LETTERS FROM AFONSO DE ALBUQUERQUE TO THE KING
(in 1511)
…………… Item, that Your Highness’s orders will be followed as regards the people of Mozambique. He says that many naos can be built here as there is much timber in the island suitable for it and the masts from the land of San Lourenço. (= Madagascar) ………………………….
SUMMARY BY ANTÓNIO CARNEIRO, SECRETARY OF STATE OF LETTERS FROM ANTÓNIO DE SALDANHA, CAPTAIN OF SOFALA AND MOZAMBIQUE, TO THE KING
(In 1511)
………………… Item, that the 60 men Your Highness appointed to Sofala are enough and he says that he will still have 10 of them to man the caravel he built (at Mozambique). ……………
Taken from: Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol IV
LETTER FROM JOÃO VA Z DE ALMADA, CAPTAIN OF SOFALA, TO THE KING Sofala, 1516 June 26
…………… Now, in this current year, I hope in Our Lord that, when the captain comes here in a small caravel that he has just made here and with some zambuks of the land, I can go along this river Cuama until I have arrived at this city, which lies thirty leagues up-river from the sea coast, and to see everything ……………………….
Taken from : Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol V
Cristovam de Tavora; Mozambique 15 Febr. 1517
………………… I not barred from doing so from fear of the downfall of Sofala, and for such a purpose I am well fitted out, having two very good caravels and a very good caravelam which I made here and with which, I hope in God, to do good Service to Your Highness by discovering the River Kuama, where there is a great amount of gold and much ivory and where merchandise fetches a good price. ……………
Letter written by Cristovam de Tavora from Mozambique on 20 Sept. 1517.
………… Arms and powder are what Your Highness should give to the captain you send to Sofala, for I have here three very good ships, One I rebuilt, one I bought, and the other that sails here is one that Amtonio de Saldanha had built here, and these I have as well repaired and as new as it is possible in this land, for there are here such carpenters as cannot be bettered by those in Lisbon.
Taken from: Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol VIII
ACCOUNT OF THE JOURNEY MADE BY FATHERS OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS WITH FRANCISCO BARRETO IN THE CONQUEST OF MONOMOTAPA IN THE YEAR 1569. By Father Monclaro, of the said Company.
(At Quiloa) Francisco Barreto arrived 20 days later with the fleet of dhows; here he stayed a further 8 days, having conferred with the king, who was black, and with the prince, who had a cast in his eye.
We left this place in dhows as the nao was an unfit mode of transportation and the coast has many shallows, These dhows are sewn tight with coir wherein not a single nail is to be found; the sails are of matting or woven palm leaves, and these vessels are quite safe, This kind of craft is the only one that may be used there since they run no danger if they hit some shoal, unless the sea is so heavy as to break them; this because they are provided with forks which uphold the vessel at low tide like a cripple leaning on crutches; they sad so near the wind that they seem to go against it, Thus we embarked sailed along the coast and came to an island, called Monfia, which was subject to the king of Kilwa. It has much pitch they take from trees, and much coir owing to the many palm trees that grow therein. It is most cool and pleasant. It has a Moorish sheikh and a factor of the captain of that Coast for the trade in pitch and coir. …………………
From this Island of Zanzibar we came to Mombasa, which is likewise an island, albeit surrounded by the mainland, like Goa, but washed by the sea in a part thereof. It has a very good, safe and pleasant harbour, about two leagues around. There are Moors there, as in the others, and it has a large populous town. It was here that I first saw large naos pulled ashore, all sewn with coir without any nails whatsoever. ……………………
(At Quilimane) Here Francisco Barreto caused some boats to be built fit for sailing up stream; they are called luzios, being smaller than dhows, and all sewn with coir. They have in the middle a cabin with a shelf platform above it, where they carry clothes and other commodities. ……………………
Taken from: Chronica d'el-rei D. Manuel by Góis, Damião de, 1502-1574; Pereira, Gabriel, d. 1911 (1909) Vol1
(In Mozambique 1498)
…………….. There are sails, or zambuquos, in which these Moors sailed, they had no cover, they were tied with pegs, and ropes of palm thread, which is called cairo, and the sails are made of the leaf of the same palm, woven like mats very covered, navigation with surveying needles, quadrants, and tide charts. ……………
Taken from: Álvaro Velho: Roteiro da primeira viagem de Vasco da Gama. (1497-1499).
Álvaro Velho was on board but left on the return at Sierra Leone.
(In Mozambique 1498) ……… The vessels of this country are of good size and decked. There are no nails, and the planks are held together by cords, as are also those of their boats (barcos). The sails are made of palm-matting. Their mariners have Genoese needles (compass), by which they steer, quadrants, and navigating charts.
……… On Saturday morning, the 7th of the month, and eve of Palm Sunday, we ran along the coast and saw some islands at a distance of fifteen leagues from the mainland, and about six leagues in extent. They supply the vessels of the country with masts. All are inhabited by Moors. (This was Pemba, which, owing to its deep bays, appeared to consist of a number of islands. The trees of that island still supply masts for native vessels.)
Taken from: A description of the coasts of East Africa and Malabar, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Duarte Barbosa 1514. Transl Stanley.
ZANZIBAR
…………….. they have small vessels, very loosely and badly made, with-out decks, and with a single mast; all their planks are sewn together with cords of reed or matting, and the sails are of palm mats. ……………
MOZAMBIQUE ISLAND.
………… At this island (Mozambique) the Portuguese ships provide themselves with water and wood, fish and other kinds of provisions; and at this place they refit those ships which stand in need of repair. ……………
Taken from: History of the Discovery and Conquest of India by the Portuguese, between the years 1497 and 1505, from the original Portuguese of Hernan Lopez de Castaneda.
………. In this powerful squadron they carried out the materials of a third caravel, which was directed to be put together at Mozambique, ……………
…………… the caravel destined for that purpose was set up and provided with ordnance and a sufficient crew, and was left for the protection of the factory. ……………
Taken from: Friar João dos Santos (1622) Ethiopia Oriental (Vária historia de cousas notaveis do Oriente), Lisbon, His book is about 1580-1600.
P330
CHAPTER XIX
Of vessels and sailors navigation and merchandise from all this coast.
All the boats that sail along this coast from Cabo das Corrientes to the Strait of Mecca, which are made of wood, which the Moors gather from the bush, split in half with an ax and then plowed with a two-handed adze like a hoe, and so they don't make more than two boards from each loaf, although they can make many if they saw it, but that's something that isn't used on this coast. From this board they make the boats, all sewn with coir thread, and nailed with wooden nails, and from the same coir they make all the ropes and moorings. Large vessels are called navetas and some are called pangaios (2) and small vessels are called luzios, or almadias (1). The sails of all these are mats made from palm leaves, or wild date palms.
The sailors on all these vessels are
P331
Moors, most of them black barbarians and very fond of wine and there is nothing more to Moors than their name and circumcision because they neither know nor keep the law of Mafoma that they profess. The main thing they do is to celebrate a lot every new moon and in them they usually get drunk with a party defending their law and wine. …………
P332
…… The pilot of these vessels they call Malemo, and the master Mocadão. The merchandise with which the merchants on this coast replenish everything that the Kaffirs sell are clothes of all kinds; and particularly black bertangis (3), and small glazed clay beads of all colors, which come each year from India to Mozambique. ………
(1) almadias: dug-out canoes.
(2) pangaios: used generically for any native wooden sailing ships made from planks without using nails in the Portuguese empire.
(3) bertangis: Cotton cloths (blue, black or red) formerly exported from Cambay.
End of the Middle-Ages View on Rope making by the Portuguese
Note the following word explanation:
Zambuk: Sambuk; is a type of dhow, a traditional wooden sailing vessel.
Taken from : Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol I
ACCOUNT OF THE VOYAGE OF D. FRANCISCO DE ALMEIDA, VICEROY OF INDIA, ALONG THE EAST COAST OF AFRICA (Manuscrito de Valentim Fernandes d1519)
[1506] (This is the eyewitness account of Hans Mayer)
…………… Here are a great number of sambuks as big as caravels of 50 tons others smaller in size. The large ones always lie aground and are set afloat when they have to go to sea. There are no nails in them, the planks are sewn together with rope made from knotted coir from the coconut palm. The same kind of rope is used for the rudder. ……………
……………. These coconuts are as large as good sized melons with a thick skin from which they make all kinds of ropes, ……………
Taken from : Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol VI
LETTER FROM D. PEDRO DE CASTRO TO THE KING; Mozambique, 1523 July 8
Lack of coir for cables and the difficulty in obtaining it,
……………………. I asked Diogo de Sepullvuda to send a foist he had here out among the islands to fetch coir to make cables, which he sent forthwith; and, as soon as he gathered as much as could be found, he sent it in a Moorish zambuk in which came a Christian, and it brought coir of which four cables were made, two of which were given to the Vytoria and two to the Nazare, which is nothing for her; and, as the zambuk was bringing the coir, it came to an island that they call Querymba, fifty leagues (5.5km) from here, where there was much coir, but they would not sell any. ……………
……….. these naos (ships) not to make for the coast of India with the cables they had, and that we should send further on to Malindi to have new ones made; wherefore Diogo de Mello and I forthwith sent the clerks of the said naos with money to have these cables made so that, with them, we could make for the coast of India ………………
Taken from: Chronica d'el-rei D. Manuel by Góis, Damião de, 1502-1574; Pereira, Gabriel, d. 1911 (1909) Vol1
(In Mozambique 1498)
…………….. There are sails, or zambuquos, in which these Moors sailed, they had no cover, they were tied with pegs, and ropes of palm thread, which is called cairo, and the sails are made of the leaf of the same palm, woven like mats very covered, navigation with surveying needles, quadrants, and tide charts. ……………
Taken from: Álvaro Velho: Roteiro da primeira viagem de Vasco da Gama. (1497-1499).
Álvaro Velho was on board but left on the return at Sierra Leone.
(In Mozambique 1498) ……… The vessels of this country are of good size and decked. There are no nails, and the planks are held together by cords, as are also those of their boats (barcos). The sails are made of palm-matting. Their mariners have Genoese needles (compass), by which they steer, quadrants, and navigating charts.
Taken from: A description of the coasts of East Africa and Malabar, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Duarte Barbosa 1514. Transl Stanley.
…………….. they have small vessels, very loosely and badly made, with-out decks, and with a single mast; all their planks are sewn together with cords of reed or matting, and the sails are of palm mats. ……………
End of the Middle-Ages View on Pitch use in East Africa by the Portuguese.
Note the following words:
Nao/ naos: vessel
Parias/ pareas: tribute to the king
Quintaes/quintal: 58.75kg
Taken from: Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol I
ACCOUNT OF THE VOYAGE OF D. FRANCISCO DE ALMEIDA, VICEROY OF INDIA, ALONG THE EAST COAST OF AFRICA (Manuscrito de Valentim Fernandes d1519)
[1506] (This is the eyewitness account of Hans Mayer)
………. The (local) boats are caulked with black pitch made from crude incense and resin. …………
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ISSUED BY BARTOLOMEU GODINHO, CLERK OF THE CARAVEL SANTA MARIA DA AJUDA 1506 September 22
Regarding the delivery of 4 quintaes of pitch delivered by Antonio Fernandes, keeper of Stores of Kilwa, to Francisco Carvalho, steward of the caravel Santa Maria da Ajuda.
Let those whom this acknowledgement concerns be assured that it is the truth that Francisco Carvalho steward of the caravel Samta Maria d’Ajuda received from Amtonio Fernandez keeper of Stores and arms of the fortress of Kilwa four quintaes of local pitch as stated in the order, and in witness that the said steward received the said four quintaes of pitch from the said keeper he gave this acknowledgement done by me Bertolameu Guodynho clerk of the said caravel and signed by both which [pitch] 1 forthwith charged to his credit.
Done on the 22nd day of the month of September of 1506.
Francisco Carvalho
Bertolameu Guodinho
LETTER FROM PERO FERREIRA FOGAÇA. CAPTAIN OF KILWA, TO THE KING
Kilwa, 1506 Deceraber 22
Sire;
I had written Your Highness a letter of eight sheets of paper which, Sire, I sent from here to Vasco Gomez d’Abreu in Mozambique together with the other things he had asked of me for his voyage without which he could (sik) go and I, Sire, used the greatest dispatch I could to send him what he had asked of me and sent from here, Sire, twenty-five quintaes of local pitch and four hundred and six pieces of cloth to pay with supplies the debt he had incurred there ………………
Taken from : Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol II
INSTRUCTIONS TO FERNAO SOARES 1507
…………………………… How he shall deal with the naos he finds:
If some of the said naos are in such a way and in such dire need that it seems they cannot come to port in safety, in such an event you shall, if you sight them beyond Mozambique, advise the captain of such a nao (vessel) or naos that it is our pleasure that they make for the said place of Mozambique where they can unload the merchandise they bring and place it in such good care as they may, and there repair the needs of the nao or naos , wherefor you shall give them some of the tow nails pitch they need and a caulker if they do not have one and anything else you carry and they require for the said repairs, and if once unloaded and repaired it seems to such a nao or naos that they may come safely to port, let them reload and set out direct to this city …………
Note: this is the official order that Mozambique needs to be the place to build and repair vessels.
AN ORDER FROM NUNO VAZ PEREIRA, CAPTAIN OF SOFALA, TO THE KEEPER OF STORES OF KILWA, ANTONIO FERNANDES
Kilwa, 1507 January 16
………………. to give and deliver to Luis Pato master of the caravel Espera, presently in this port, two falls of tackle and four canvases and a piece of sheeting and two quintaes of local pitch and five iron hoops and six pulleys. ……………….
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ISSUED BY RUI VARELA, CLERK OF THE FACTORY OF MOZAMBIQUE
Mozambique, 1508 January 31
Delivery of pitch by the factor Fernão Cotrim to Diogo Vaz, factor of Mozambique.
………… received from Fernam Cotrym factor of Kilwa through Francisco de Matos his man who delivered them twenty-nine quintaes of pitch, and in witness that he thus received the said pitch …………………
AN ORDER FROM FRANCISCO PEREIRA, CAPTAIN OF KILWA, TO THE FACTOR, HEITOR HENRIQUES
Kilwa, 1509 December 29
………….. Francisquo Pereyra, presently captain in this fortress of Kilwa, order you Eytor Amrriquez, knight of the Household of the King our Lord and his factor therein, to give Bertolameu Barbosa, captain of the brigantine, twenty-nine quintaes and a half of pitch for the said Bertolameu Barbosa to give and deliver to Diogo Vaz, the King’s factor in the factory of Mozambique, ……………
………………… Diogo Vaaz, factor of the factory of Mozambique, acknowledged and avowed to have received from Eitor Anriquez, factor of the factory of Kilwa, twenty-nine quintaes and twenty-three arratees (5.45kg) of local [pitch] which he received through Bertolameu [Bar] bosa who delivered it to him here. And in witness that he thus received the said pitch he gave him this …………… of February of the year 1510.
AN ORDER FROM ANTÓNIO DE SALDANHA, CAPTAIN OF SOFALA AND MOZAMBIQUE, TO THE KEEPER, TROILOS BRANDÃO
Sofala, 1510 May 19
Delivery of pitch from Monfia to João Fernandes, master and pilot of the caravel Santa Maria da Graça.
Antonyo de Saldanha, captain of these fortresses of Sofala and Mozambique, order you Troylós Brandam, keeper of Stores of this fortress of Sofala, to deliver to Joham Fernandez, master and pilot of the caravel Santa Maria da Graça, the twenty quyntaes of Manffia pitch that you received from Diogo Vaaz, factor of Mozambique, ……………….. and I order him to take the pitch to be used on the said ship. ………………
LETTER FROM AFONSO DE ALBUQUERQUE Cochin, 1510 October 1
………….. and I also order that he be given tow and pitch in Mozambique to repair his naos if he needs. ……………
Taken from: Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol III
LIVRO DA EMENTA DE PEDRO LOPES, ESCRIVÃO DA FEITORIA DE SOFALA [Sofala, 1515 Janeiro 1]
……………… Item, on the said day the factor spent one sabone of half a mitical (4.25gr/2) which he gave to a Moor of Sofala to pay for half a faraçola (unit from India different from town to town: 8.31-10.37 kg) of pitch for the zambuks (is a type of dhow, a traditional wooden sailing vessel).………………
Taken from: Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol VI
REPORT FROM AFONSO MEXIA, COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY IN INDIA, TO THE KING
Cochin, 1527 December 15
……………. And they must bring a copy of the letter of the parias of pitch that, according to an entry trade, are paid by the king of Kilwa, and another of the pareas paid by the king of Lamoo, of which there is not even a copy in Sofala, but there is in the Realm whence a copy should be brought to India. …………