ABSTRACT
The great ship São Thomé, captain Estevão da Veiga, left Cochin in January 1589, when Manuel de Sousa Coutinho was governor of the State of India. 1 The captain took his course outside the shoals, 2 and steering for the island of Diogo Rodrigues, 3 which is in twenty degrees southern latitude, the south-east wind blew so hard that the seas ran very high and the ship drove before the wind. Owing to the flapping of the sails against the [fore] mast, she sprang a leak by the forechains, whereby the caulking oakum was squeezed out and she began to ship some water, but this was soon dealt with and very well repaired.
