A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 06: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 06: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
On the 25th of March 1505, Don Francisco de Almeyda sailed from Lisbon
with a fleet of twenty-two ships, carrying 1500 soldiers, being bound
for India of which he was appointed viceroy. Eleven of these ships were
to return with merchandize to Portugal, and other eleven were to remain
in India. On the 2d of July the fleet met with a terrible storm, by
which it was separated. In one of the ships commanded by Diego Correa,
the sails were split to pieces and three men washed overboard, two of
whom perished; but the third, named Fernando Lorenzo, called out that he
would keep above water till morning, and begged of them to keep an eye
upon him, and on the storm abating next morning he was taken on board.
Owing to the separation of the fleet by the storm, Almeyda arrived at
Quiloa with only eight vessels; and on saluting the port without
receiving any answer, he called a council of his officers to deliberate
upon his proceedings, as he had orders from the king to erect a fort at
this place, which was accordingly resolved upon. He landed therefore
with 500 men, accompanied by his son Don Lorenzo, and attacked the town
in two places. Amir Ibrahim fled over to the continent with his wives
and riches, having previously hoisted the Portuguese standard, by which
device he stopped the pursuit and gained time to escape. The city was
taken and plundered, without any loss on the side of the Portuguese,
though a great number of the inhabitants were slain. Ibrahim though the
forty-fourth successive sovereign, was an usurper, who had murdered the
former king, and Almeyda raised Mohammed Ankoni, a relation of the
former king and who had espoused the Portuguese interests to the throne,
placing a crown of gold on his head with great pomp and solemnity. On
this occasion Mohammed declared that if the former king _Alfudail_ had
been alive he would have refused the crown; and he actually appointed
the son of Alfudail to be his successor, though he had children of his
own. This rare example in an unbeliever may put to shame the inhumanity
and barbarism of the Christians, who wade through seas of blood, contemn
the most sacred bonds of consanguinity and alliance, spoil provinces,
oppress the good, exalt the wicked, convert loyalty to treason, perjury
into duty, and religion into a cloak to work out their accursed
purposes, and to bereave of their crowns and sceptres those to whom
Providence had been pleased to confide them as most worthy of rule.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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