Extracts from the diary of V.A Corte Real G during the colonial expansion of Portugal under John II. 1481-1495.
Vice Admiral Corte Real G.
Jan 12th, 1492 '..our gracious and magnificent King has agreed to my suggestion of an expedition to the rumored lands far west of the Sea of Canaries. My excitement grew, on seeing the King give an oratry on how productive such an escapade might turn out to be for our realm. The prestige, the honour and the growth of our realm beyond our wildest expectations. Surely, there will be dangers to face no doubt, but the urge to go perhaps foolishly outweighs these fears. I must, however, make my preparations as quickly as possible. I overheard rumors that the Moroccans are preparing for an invasion of our Tangiers. These African barbarians don't fool me with their pretensions of a 'great centralized north African empire' of theirs. Colonel Preto is ready in Tangiers to deal with any possible incursions onto our territory. I must confess however, that the thrill of discovering new lands makes me giddy with excitement and I'd rather explore uncovered territories for our people, instead of leading another naval transport operation with reinforcements to north Africa.
June 2nd, 1492 ' .. preparations are 1/2 complete, the soldiers are being preped, and I am currently in the process of discussing prices with our Merchants regarding final price of the large provisions for our voyage. The threat from Morocco seems to have passed for now, seems discussions with Spain bore fruit. In a few months time the King's daughter is soon to wed the King of Spain and with that comes the promise of an extended alliance with the Spaniards..'
Sep 11th, 1492 '.. the time has arrived! I am currently in my coach, bound for the Port of Lisbon ready to take command of my flotilla...and isn't it brilliant! Twenty-six ships await me, of which twenty-one are our new state of the art warships. Five thousand soldiers are currently in the process of boarding our transports. I hear that the King himself will be there to see us off! My plan is as follows: The first stage of our journey will take us west, past the Sea of Canaries, into the Azores. I expect this journey to last no more than 3-4 weeks with good winds and good luck. Here we will disband for a few days, gaining more provisions and supplies whilst leaving any sick behind. After that, we continue west, into the uncharted oceans past the Azores. From here on out, dangers increases everyday we move out of range of our last friendly, populated territory..I honestly don't know how long the journey will last from here on in, however I am prepared for a long voyage...'
Nov 11th, 1492 (Azores) '..arrived at the Port, in the Azores, a month after our celebrated departure from Lisbon. It's been a relatively peaceful ride, at times meeting several warships of the Spanish insignia which let us continue without too many hassles. On another note, sitting here for a month with only men as company, it's time for me to go down to the local red district establishments and hoist my own flag with the help of some largely bossomed girls..'
July 11th, 1493 '.. our men are close to complete exhaustion this month. We barely moved, the guiding winds being lazy in their work for our cause. Many men have died, in the past 6 months, and we have barely seen land, apart from three times where we landed on some small, inhospitable islands to replenish our reserves and give our men some rest. I have been very worried about a possible mutiny for the past few weeks, hearing grumblings and arguments from many of our shiphands. There is no way they can attempt anything without the help of our soldiers who are still firmly on mind side. Neverthless, today finally we have been given the good fortune to spy land again. It spreads as far to the north and south on the horizon and therefore must not be merely an island. Perhaps this is the rumored land we have come to claim as ours? Can our journey finally be over?
July 12-13th, 1493 '..oh how the men cheered! Land! I have called this territory, 'Carolina'. Spread as far as the eye can see! We boarded dingies and made our way to the sparkling white beach, our soldiers ever aware of any enemy movement. We have no idea what sort of savages live here, though in my wildest nightmares I have imagined them to be even more brutal and boorish than the Moroccans and that frightens me dearly. I ordered Colonel Estrala to make a sweep of the surrounding territory with some detachements of our army and it wasn't too long before we heard the awful sound of fire and metal clashing upon metal and the screams of fallen men. I ordered the remaining soldiers (some 1,000 strong) to form a protective defensive layer around our sprawling encampment, not daring to allow them to venture forth to help their fellow men. Several hours later, a shell shocked Colonel Estrala comes charging into our encampment on his horse, followed by the lead detachements of his army. I give him a bottle of my most expensive wine and ask him what occured several hours previous. Apparently marching through a wooded area, their army spread out in a long march and still quite tired from the voyage was ambushed by a gang of savages over 500 strong! Before anyone knew it, they had massacred over 30 soldiers and were making inroads on our terrified army. The Colonel however managed to save the situation and ordered a counterattack, which led the fall of most of those brown skinned monsters, while the rest ran in terror at the sounds of our guns. It seems over 100 men died this day.. it pains me to hear such news as it adds to the nearly 900 men that have died on this difficult voyage since leaving the Azores. We lost nearly 2/6ths of our men, equipment and ships so far...My worst fears have come true, this territory is populated and they will resist..'
Feb 1st, 1494 '.. had ordered the Colonel to continue his advance west into the uncharted territory after several months of rest and the expansion of our little encampment into something almost resembling a minor city. However, despite the orders and pleading of the Colonel, his men are completely reluctant to venture forth more than 200-300 metres beyond the ends of our encampment. They are afraid of the brown-skinned savages. I can't say I blame them, however our time grows short. I must return back to Lisbon to make a report about our discovery to the King bringing more reinforcements. Therefore I bid farewell to the Colonel and make my way back out into the sea.. I see fear in the eyes of some of the soldiers waving to us from the beach. Hopefully they will be in good health when I return..'
June 30th, 1494 'our arrival back in Lisbon is greatly celebrated. The whole city comes out to greet our exhausted fleet. But this is nothing compared to the reaction I get from the population on news that we have been triumphant! The King immediately agrees to ready more supplies and promote new Admirals of the fleet which may in haste move back onto Carolina..'
Sapura
Vice Admiral Corte Real G.
Jan 12th, 1492 '..our gracious and magnificent King has agreed to my suggestion of an expedition to the rumored lands far west of the Sea of Canaries. My excitement grew, on seeing the King give an oratry on how productive such an escapade might turn out to be for our realm. The prestige, the honour and the growth of our realm beyond our wildest expectations. Surely, there will be dangers to face no doubt, but the urge to go perhaps foolishly outweighs these fears. I must, however, make my preparations as quickly as possible. I overheard rumors that the Moroccans are preparing for an invasion of our Tangiers. These African barbarians don't fool me with their pretensions of a 'great centralized north African empire' of theirs. Colonel Preto is ready in Tangiers to deal with any possible incursions onto our territory. I must confess however, that the thrill of discovering new lands makes me giddy with excitement and I'd rather explore uncovered territories for our people, instead of leading another naval transport operation with reinforcements to north Africa.
June 2nd, 1492 ' .. preparations are 1/2 complete, the soldiers are being preped, and I am currently in the process of discussing prices with our Merchants regarding final price of the large provisions for our voyage. The threat from Morocco seems to have passed for now, seems discussions with Spain bore fruit. In a few months time the King's daughter is soon to wed the King of Spain and with that comes the promise of an extended alliance with the Spaniards..'
Sep 11th, 1492 '.. the time has arrived! I am currently in my coach, bound for the Port of Lisbon ready to take command of my flotilla...and isn't it brilliant! Twenty-six ships await me, of which twenty-one are our new state of the art warships. Five thousand soldiers are currently in the process of boarding our transports. I hear that the King himself will be there to see us off! My plan is as follows: The first stage of our journey will take us west, past the Sea of Canaries, into the Azores. I expect this journey to last no more than 3-4 weeks with good winds and good luck. Here we will disband for a few days, gaining more provisions and supplies whilst leaving any sick behind. After that, we continue west, into the uncharted oceans past the Azores. From here on out, dangers increases everyday we move out of range of our last friendly, populated territory..I honestly don't know how long the journey will last from here on in, however I am prepared for a long voyage...'
Nov 11th, 1492 (Azores) '..arrived at the Port, in the Azores, a month after our celebrated departure from Lisbon. It's been a relatively peaceful ride, at times meeting several warships of the Spanish insignia which let us continue without too many hassles. On another note, sitting here for a month with only men as company, it's time for me to go down to the local red district establishments and hoist my own flag with the help of some largely bossomed girls..'
July 11th, 1493 '.. our men are close to complete exhaustion this month. We barely moved, the guiding winds being lazy in their work for our cause. Many men have died, in the past 6 months, and we have barely seen land, apart from three times where we landed on some small, inhospitable islands to replenish our reserves and give our men some rest. I have been very worried about a possible mutiny for the past few weeks, hearing grumblings and arguments from many of our shiphands. There is no way they can attempt anything without the help of our soldiers who are still firmly on mind side. Neverthless, today finally we have been given the good fortune to spy land again. It spreads as far to the north and south on the horizon and therefore must not be merely an island. Perhaps this is the rumored land we have come to claim as ours? Can our journey finally be over?
July 12-13th, 1493 '..oh how the men cheered! Land! I have called this territory, 'Carolina'. Spread as far as the eye can see! We boarded dingies and made our way to the sparkling white beach, our soldiers ever aware of any enemy movement. We have no idea what sort of savages live here, though in my wildest nightmares I have imagined them to be even more brutal and boorish than the Moroccans and that frightens me dearly. I ordered Colonel Estrala to make a sweep of the surrounding territory with some detachements of our army and it wasn't too long before we heard the awful sound of fire and metal clashing upon metal and the screams of fallen men. I ordered the remaining soldiers (some 1,000 strong) to form a protective defensive layer around our sprawling encampment, not daring to allow them to venture forth to help their fellow men. Several hours later, a shell shocked Colonel Estrala comes charging into our encampment on his horse, followed by the lead detachements of his army. I give him a bottle of my most expensive wine and ask him what occured several hours previous. Apparently marching through a wooded area, their army spread out in a long march and still quite tired from the voyage was ambushed by a gang of savages over 500 strong! Before anyone knew it, they had massacred over 30 soldiers and were making inroads on our terrified army. The Colonel however managed to save the situation and ordered a counterattack, which led the fall of most of those brown skinned monsters, while the rest ran in terror at the sounds of our guns. It seems over 100 men died this day.. it pains me to hear such news as it adds to the nearly 900 men that have died on this difficult voyage since leaving the Azores. We lost nearly 2/6ths of our men, equipment and ships so far...My worst fears have come true, this territory is populated and they will resist..'
Feb 1st, 1494 '.. had ordered the Colonel to continue his advance west into the uncharted territory after several months of rest and the expansion of our little encampment into something almost resembling a minor city. However, despite the orders and pleading of the Colonel, his men are completely reluctant to venture forth more than 200-300 metres beyond the ends of our encampment. They are afraid of the brown-skinned savages. I can't say I blame them, however our time grows short. I must return back to Lisbon to make a report about our discovery to the King bringing more reinforcements. Therefore I bid farewell to the Colonel and make my way back out into the sea.. I see fear in the eyes of some of the soldiers waving to us from the beach. Hopefully they will be in good health when I return..'
June 30th, 1494 'our arrival back in Lisbon is greatly celebrated. The whole city comes out to greet our exhausted fleet. But this is nothing compared to the reaction I get from the population on news that we have been triumphant! The King immediately agrees to ready more supplies and promote new Admirals of the fleet which may in haste move back onto Carolina..'
Sapura
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