The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume XVI, No. 6 [‎351r] (54/232)

THE VOYAGES OF DIOGO CaO AND BARTHOLOMEU DIAS, 1482-88. 627
the recipient of the honour are referred to, and also those of his valiant
father, Badalhouce, and of his grandfather, Gon^alo Cao, who may have
fought in the famous battle of Aljubarrota (1385), when the Castillian
pretender was routed, and the king, duly elected by the Cortes, got his
own. Among the services rendered by Diogo Cao himself may be
instanced the capture of three Spanish vessels on the Guinea coast in
1480.*
We do not know whether Cao was given the command of one or of
more vessels, nor have the names of any of his officers been placed on
record. But when we turn to ancient maps, we meet with a Rio do
Infante, a Golfo de Alvaro Martins, a Cabo de Pero Bias, a Rio de Fernao
Yaz, an Angra de Joao de Lisboa, an Angra de Ruy Fires, and a Serra
de Corte Real. There can be no reasonable doubt that the names
attached to these bays, capes, or rivers are those of persons who were with
one or more of the expeditions engaged in the discovery of these coasts.
Of Joao Infante, Alvaro Martins, and Pero Dias, we know that they were
with Dias, and may previously have been with Cao. Joao de Lisboa
won great distinction in the course of time, and in 1525 was appointed
Piloto mor of India. Unfortunately, he died the year after.f Fernao Yaz
may have been the pilot who, in 1486, witnessed the agreement between
Fernao Dulmo and Joao Alfonso do Estreito about the search foi the
Sette citades; who got into disgrace for poisoning his wife, and was him
self poisoned by his mistress in 1502.+ The name of Corte Real we find
on Behaim’s globe only, and as the Corte Reaes of Te^eira were a
family of seamen, it is quite possible that a member ot it may ha%o
joined one of these expeditions, perhaps Gaspar, the alleged discoverer
of “ terra nova.” It is, however, quite possible that Behaim merely
intended to pay a compliment to a family with whom he was distantly
related. § Of Ruy Fires we know nothing.
Cao was the first to carry “ padroes,” or pillars of stone,|| on an ex
ploring voyage. Up to his time the Portuguese had been content to
erect perishable wooden crosses, or to carve inscriptions into trees, to
mark the progress of their discoveries. King John conceived the happy
idea of introducing stone pillars, surmounted by a cross, and bearing, in
* For on account of this capture by Eustache de la Fosse of Doomick, who was in
one of the Spanish vessels, see Duro (AoZ. Geoyr. See. of Madrid, 1897, pp. 193-19o).
f Sousa Viterbo, ‘Trab. naut. dos Port.,’ i. pp. 187, 2o5.
x Sousa Viterbo, loc. cit., p. 304. , . . f
§ Behaim’s brother-in-law, Jobst Hurter, junr., married the youngest daughter o
Fernao Vaz de Corte Real. See E. do Canto, ‘ Os Corte-Reaes ’ (Ponta Delgada, 1883),
|| On these padroes see two ‘ Memorias,’ by A. Magno de Castilho (Lisbon, 1869 and
1871), and Luciano Cordeiro, “ Diogo Cao” {Boletim Lisbon Geogr. See., 1892).