ABSTRACT
The fate of Manuel de Sousa de Sepulveda and his wife make this one of the most famous and dramatic of the Portuguese shipwreck accounts. It was also one of the earliest; it remained a cautionary tale for all those subsequently travelling to the East on the carreira da India. The wreck of the Sao Thome was written by Diogo do Couto at the request of the family of Dom Paulo da Lima. It is similar to the narrative of the Sao Joao. The Santo Alberto was wrecked on the coast of South Africa in 1593 while returning from Goa to Lisbon. The account of the wreck was written by Joao Baptista Lavanha, from a converted Jewish family but had a position at court as an official mathematician and cosmographer. The Santiago was wrecked on the coast north of the Zambesi in 1585, one of the comparatively few ships to be wrecked on the outward voyage from Lisbon to Goa.
