The Exploration of Africa in the 1500s

Day 2 of the Voyage

Sep 14, 1503

After two days of the voyage, it seems as though many people have fallen ill with homesick and regret. Many men have feel that they should have stayed back and not come on this journey. We are doing well on supplies, we are eating well enough but if we continue to stuff ourselves full of food we will soon run out of food for the journey. Sleeping conditions are far from comfortable by any means, but we will make do.

Day 21 of the Voyage

Oct 5, 1503

The days seem to get longer and longer with every day that I am on this wretched ship. The food has begun to taste bland and is getting stale but I am better off than most since I am of higher authority. My body aches with every move and it seems like there is no escape from the pain. We lost one sailor this week, he threw himself over board one night. Some days I wish I could have gone with him. It seemed like he couldn't handle the hardships of a life at sea.

Port of Madagascar

Oct 28, 1503

On the 27th day of our journey we set foot on land. The land of Madagascar, we shall call it, was beautiful with exotic plants that we have never seen nor experienced before. They call some of the exotic fruits things like mangoes, pineapples and coconuts. The people of Madagascar are very nice people willing to help anybody who asks. While we were at the port, we stocked up on supplies, food and water. The sailors were very thankful for these nice people.

Port of Cape of Good Hope

Nov 22, 1503

We have finally reached the next port on our journey, they call this land "The Cape of Good Hope". I hope that we aquire some good hope when we are at this foreign land. The residents here were a little hesitant towards us, most likely because we are foreigners to them. They have some peculiar animals in this place, an animal they call the "baboon". The people here are stingy when it comes to sharing their resources and supplies with us but we should be able to make do.

Day 103

Dec 25, 1503

As we have have survived another Christmas holiday, it is not all celebrating and happiness on this ship. People have come down with many types of diseases, we can only blame it from the rats and different types of bugs that have found habitats inside of our biscuits, meat, and other foods. We have had several men die just from the simplest of diseases, scurvy is the most common. It makes me sad thinkg of who have lost their lives on this treacherous journey.

Port of Cape Cross

Jan 16, 1504

We made it around the southern tip of the Africa, we have made it to a small port called Cape Cross. There are not many people or civilizations in this place due to the amount of sea creatures inhabiting the land. The land is so overrun with the animals called "seals" that there is not any room for anybody to live. They had a lack of resources in this place because of the seals so we did not stay here very long. If we don't stop somewhere with supplies soon, then we won't make it much longer.

Port of Saint Helena

Feb 6, 1504

Thank the heavens that we found another port so close to the Cape Cross. We were getting so low on food that we had to start eating saw dust and powder from the un-made biscuits. We had to go off course a little bit but it was well worth it. We came to a quaint island called Saint Helena, you can sense it is a volcanic island. The mountains that are here take up the entire land. It is very humid and hot, we were eager to get our supplies and leave before one of our sailors get a heat stroke.

Day 168

Feb 28, 1504

It seems as though I am counting down the days until I am off this miserable ship. We seem to be floating off to a land unknown. I am unsure now what our goal was on this journey, to kill off a bunch of sailors? It sure seems that way, but I still keep on and look forward until the next day. The day when I can come home to wife and children. I sure do miss their smiling faces.

Port of Elmina

Mar 20, 1504

We have reached our last port of this voyage, the port of Elmina. We have almost reached our final destination, home. This port is a very tropical spot, it is also very hot here too. It seems that we are not the only ship who thought of stopping here, different caravels have stopped here as well. Speaking to sailors from other ships, most of them are planning to come the way we just came from. We are not sure if this is a bad or good thing, we are inteding to find out.

Returning Home: Day 198

Apr 19, 1504

We have, after almost 200 days, made it back home. My wife and my children almost didn't recognize me as I came off of the ship. Apparently, I have lost some weight since I left for the journey. I took a real shower in what felt like an eternity, I forgot what it felt like to be clean and cleansed. As I am thanking God for all of these little things, I must not forget about all the men that did not make it off of that ship. I am truly grateful for surviving when many didn't.