Bartolomeu Diaz off Cape of Good Hope.
1488

Watercolor 14" x 21"


The southern tip of Africa was finally rounded by Bartolomeo Diaz in February, 1488. He sailed with two fifty-ton caravels and a smaller store ship with provisions to extend the range of the voyage. They left Portugal towards the end of August 1487, making directly for the Congo to resupply. At the secure harbour of Angra dos Aldeas they left the supply ship to await their return. Farther south, at a bay they called Angra dos Voltas ( Bay of Turns ) they were forced to tack about for several days. Soon after they encountered fierce storms and head winds, and when the weather finally moderated they had lost site of land. They turned east to pick up the coast again, but after many days of sailing they realized they had passed south of the continent and altered to the north to come onto the coast again. At present day Mossel Bay they fell in with the land. The storms they had weathered had exhausted and frightened the crew, and with provisions running low they became more and more reluctant to continue. Diaz retraced their course to the west, and in the vicinity of the cape they went ashore, planted a cross, and left to find their supply ship.