Juan Domingo's dairy (3rd part)

The "volta do mar" hasn't finished and we haven't arrived at the south of Africa. "The volta do mar" has taken more time that we thought and we have eaten all the foodstuff we had in the hold. However,that's only one of the problems.

 

This night, I am going into a meeting because the sailors aren´t happy with the capitan and the lack of food. I think that they are planning to take the control of the caravel and I don´t know what to do. I´m a honorable man and I gave my word to the captain, but... I don won´t to die and I am thinking about sending an anonimous message to the Admiral or the Captain. I'm sure there is going to be a rebelion soon and I don´t want to be in the lossers place because that means death.

 

In addition to this,  I like the capitan position an behaviour. He is doing really well, he is always worried about the crew's spirit.  If I alert him he will be able to control the situation and avoid the rebelion and the death of the sailors by the gibbet.

 

Juan Domingo veteran sailor at  Captain Hernando Castello's service in life or death

Problems aboard (Captain of La Pinta's dairy)

One more day all seems wrong. My crew and I are worried about the end of this expedition, nobody knows what is going to happen and we are having some problems with this journey. It is lasting to much and for several weeks we haven't seen any land.

 

I'm starting to think we are lost in the middle of the sea. But that's not all, in the storage the food is dissapearing, we haven got  food for  only two more weeks. Everyone is hungry and nervous, we must take a decission. Colombus has given us some explanations about this expedition but my crew and I don't believe them. We have thought a lot about what can we do in this situation.

 

After days searching for ideas, we are agree in comming back home. It's hard but is the only solution. I have to give the ultimatum to Colombus, I'm afraid of the things that could happen after this, however if we don't come back now we will die. If we don't see land in 3 days we will return home.

 

Captain Lope de la Puebla

Postales desde Monreal del Campo

Esta es nuestra última entrega de la actividad "Guías turísticos". Aunque llega con retraso, creemos que merece la pena. Se trata de las postales realizadas tras la visita a Monreal del Campo del 10 de abril. Los alumnos pusieron en marcha su creatividad. Estas son las postales que realizaron en papel. Las hemos escaneado y os las ofrecemos en una presentación. Esperamos que os gusten.
¡Buen verano para todos! Gracias por leer y colaborar en nuestro blog.

Postales desde monreal del campo from mtasensio

Juan Antonio de Parreila's Diary (Part I)

26th of July

It’s the 8th time that I am going to be in this caravel and the first that I’m going to go through the Atlantic Ocean because I’ve always travelled around the Mediterranean Sea.

 

 

27th of July

I’m one of the most veteran sailor of the crew and the captain Lope de la Puebla trust  me because it’s not the first time I travel with him so he said to me that I have to choose the novice sailors so I’m doing them an exam. They are going to climb to the nest through the net. The first has climbed three parts before falling on the deck and the doctor has come to save him, because he has broken his right hand and his leg so he won't be able to come to the expedition. The second  has climbed in one minute and a half. At the middle of the climb he almost falls but we have put a security system around the mast for people don`t hurt. Finally I have choose 45 people that hasn`t fall from the net; one of them, Lauren de la Sierra has been the fastest one and seems a good recruit for our crew.

 

3th of August

We have leave the port with the 45 novice sailors. Many people have come to see us leaving the port because we are the first people that are going to get in Asia through the west.

Juan Domingo's Dairy (part II)

12th of July of 1497

As we need more crew before our departure, I prepared a contest for the novice sailors and the winner of the last post was Jaime Garcés, one of the younger boys. I think this is his first journey. We will see if he is dare enough for this kind of expedition.

27th of July of 1497

We have arrived into Cabo Verde Islands. The voyage until here was very easy, in fact, there wasn't any problem, as we followed the route marked on our portulan charts. As we are going to stay in Cabo Verde Island during a week, while the Captains, the officers and Vasco de Gama decide our next step, I'm going to visit the port inn and the slaves market. It's something that still shocks me.

3rd of August of 1497.

Now, there isn´t good atmosphere here in the ship. The sailors are nervous  due to the "volta do mar" but I don´t see where the problem is I've been with this Capitan before and he did the "volta do mar" perfectly well.

The trick is to control the west winds, which are really simple but I also was nervous the first voyage I did the "volta do mar", because I thought that the winds didn't blow the same direction, but they do. I remember I was so afraid that I started praying and thinking about my life. However, I believe in the Captain skills I'm sure this is going to be simple and fast.

Juan Domingo, veteran sailor at Captain Hernando Castello's service

Captain Lope de la Puebla (Dairy, part II)

9th of August.

 

Last week we had some problems with the rudder. Hopefully, we have arrived to Canary Island to review the boat.  It will take 3 weeks to repair it. In La Pinta more than the half of the crew is very superstitious and they think this is a signal of God's will. The atmosphere aboard is becoming odd. However, some sailors and I belive in Colombus' plans so we are postive in every moment. Colombus is sure  we are going to find new route travelling to the West.

 

16th of August

 

This afternoon some sailors came to my room  to tell me something important for them. They explained me that they had received a signal of God about our stop at Canary Island  and they were sure  that there will be a curse for those ones who try to cross the ocean. That curse says that if we try to cross the ocean the crew will get sick in few days and strange things will happen to our caravel. I didn't know if believe it or not. I contacted with Colombus and told him about the curse and the spirit of the crew, but he didn't believe it and didn't care about this. We will continue our expedition.

 

Lope de la Puebla 2ºB

Hernando Castello's dairy (II part)

Yesterday morning, we arrived at the Cabo Verde Island. At night, I had a meeting with Vasco de Gama and the other officers in order to plan the next step of the expedition. 



Volta do mar

Next week we will weigh anchor, but there is a problem, we don't know how long  the trip is going to be and we will test a new sea route. Our Admiral, Vasco de Gama, called it "volta do mar" and it's based on the winds of this unexplored are of the ocean. Some officers are not agree with this idea. In spite of wanting to use an alternative route, they must obey the Admiral decisions.

 

Another problem is the crew; if they knew our plans, they wouldn't want to do it, or maybe they would rebel. Although, I think this isn't a big problem because I know how to control them. Obviously, it is better that this doesn't happen, so I have to keep their spirit high and their minds worried with the works on the caravel.

First of all,  I am going to control the purchase of theprovisions (and, of course, some barrels of rum) to survive during this new manouver and then I will give them some prize to make them to be calm and do not rebel. The first sailor that discovers land will recieve a reward.

 

Hernando Castello 2ºA