ame as that followed by Columbus on his
first voyage. The time occupied was thirty-six days, and the maximum
speed attained was about 6-1/2 knots. The vessel pitched horribly.

In 1497 the first English expedition was made to America under John
Cabot. We have no particulars of the ship in which Cabot sailed, but it
could not have been a large one, as it is known that the crew only
numbered eighteen. The expedition sailed from Bristol in the month of
May, and land, which was probably Cape Breton, was sighted on June 24.
Bristol was reached on the return journey at the end of July. In the
following year Cabot made another voyage, and explored the coast of
North America from Cape Breton to as far south as Cape Hatteras. Many
other expeditions in the same direction were fitted out in the last
years of the fifteenth and the first years of the sixteenth centuries.

[Illustration: FIG. 40.--Lines of the _Santa Maria_.]

While Cabot was returning from his first voyage to North America, one of
the most famous and most epoch-making expeditions of discovery of modern
times was fitted out in Portugal. On July 24, 1497, Vasco da Gama set
sail from the Tagus in the hope of reaching India _via_ the Cape of Good
Hope. His squadron consisted of three ships, named the _San Gabriel_,
the _San Raphael_, and the _Birrio_, together with a transport to carry
stores. There is a painting in existence at Lisbon of the _San Gabriel_,
which is supposed to be authentic. It represents her as having a high
poop and forecastle, very like the caravel _Santa Maria_. She had four
masts and a bowsprit. The latter and the fore and main masts were
square-rigged. The _San Gabriel_ was, however, a much larger vessel than
the _Santa Maria_. She is said to have been constructed to carry 400
pipes of wine. This would be equivalent to about 400 tons measurement,
or, from 250 to 300 tons register.[15] The other two ships selected were
of about the same dimensions, and of similar equipment and rig, in order
that, in the event of losses, or accidents, each of the ships might make
use of any of the spars, tackle, or fittings belonging to the others.

It may here be mentioned that the ships reached Quilimane, on the east
coast of South Africa, on January 22, 1498. After many visits to East
African ports, during which they satisfied themselves that the arts of
navigation were as well understood by the Eastern seamen as by
themselves, they set sail for India early in