Iberian Conquest : 141 



Later he commanded a ship sailing to the Gold Coast and for a while 

 he was superintendent of the royal warehouses at Lisbon. Officially 

 Lisbon is now intent on the passage to India and Diaz leaves the port 

 in command of a fleet of three ships on a mission to carry the explora- 

 tion of Africa as far as possible. To him the adverse sailing all down 

 the West African coast must have seemed irksome indeed, but he suc- 

 ceeded in pushing his vessels to 26 degrees south where, on Diaz 

 Point, he erected a landmark — a part of which is still standing. 



Leaving the point, he decided also to avoid if possible the tedious 

 conditions along the coast so he pushed out into the ocean and 

 headed south and there in the current of the westerlies he encoun- 

 tered a stiff gale and kept his ships driving before it for thirteen days. 

 There were other storms and still he held his course to the east. 

 Then he turned north to re-establish contact with the coast. On Febru- 

 ary 3, 1488, he came into Mossel Bay. He followed the coast long 

 enough to be certain that it ran eastward and a little north and in 

 following the coast he came to a river to which he gave the name 

 Great Fish River. By this time his men were weary and complaining 

 and his supplies were getting dangerously short so he turned back 

 following the coast line. In this way, sailing to the west and a little 

 to the south, he came to a mountainous shore and a great cape which 

 the king, hearing Diaz's report, christened the Cape of Good Hope, 



In this single voyage he had demonstrated the advantage of sailing 

 in the open sea, he had added 1,260 miles to the known coastline and 

 he had solved the riddle of the African route to India. He had done 

 more than that. He had for the first time demonstrated to the Euro- 

 peans that there was a way out of the Atlantic Ocean. Of course, 

 2,000 years before this the Phoenician sailors under King Necho had 

 demonstrated that there was a way into the Atlantic but the Phoe- 

 nicians had been forgotten, or where they were not forgotten they 

 were discredited. To all intents and purposes, Diaz defined the east- 

 ern and southern limits of the Atlantic Ocean and opened the gate- 

 way to Asia. 



Diaz had already proved himself a great seaman and a devoted 

 servant of Portuguese interests. When he sailed home with Good 

 Hope in his lockers, he had every reason to expect recognition for his 

 good work and the backing with which to pursue further voyages. 

 Instead of that, he found that he was to suffer from one of the occupa- 

 tional diseases of navigators and explorers — neglect of his interests at 

 home during the time of his service abroad. Despite the fact that it 

 was Diaz's voyage joined with Covilha's travels that demonstrated 



