As tensions mounted, they left for Malindi in late August.Īs the pilot had abandoned us in Calicut, we travelled back on their own. However, Vasco was unable to make a trade agreement with him due to certain circumstances. They were in the most important trading center in Southern India at that time and were welcomed by the Hindu ruler, Zamorin. THey soon reached Calicut in less than a month. Being treated friendly, they learned that the natives traded with Arab merchants and the Sultan of Mozambique supplied me with a pilot to guide them. On March 2 the fleet reached the island of Mozambique. The expedition rested a month for the crew members to heal and for the ships to be repaired.

They continued sailing up the Eastern African coast but stopped as many crew members became sick with scurvy. At this point they no longer needed the store ship so it was broken up and burned. The explorers rounded the southern tip of Africa, which they named the 'Cape of Good Hope', on November 22.

He set a course that was far from land, sailing in uncharted waters. It carried a four-vessel fleet consisting of two-medium sized sailing ships, a caravel and a large store ship that currents along the African coast would impede his progress. On 8 July 1947 the Vasco took off on his first voyage consisting of four ships that left Lisbon.