Elcano and the First Circumnavigation of the World
Copyright© 2024 by Mark West
Chapter 18
My idea was simple yet not compatible with our Christian beliefs. However, I believed that it would solve our problems of lack of money and also rid us of the burden of keeping the five French men captive. I proposed that we should sail to Salé on the Atlantic coast of north Africa. This city had become a centre of piracy in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea after the expulsion of the Moors and Jews by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492. These pirates raided as far north as the coasts of England and sold their captives to the Ottoman Empire or to African kings.
I explained that we should sell the 5 French captives to these pirates and use the money to pay the dues to our crew. At first, the reaction from my brothers was abhorrence at the thought of selling Christians to the Moors even though these Christians had planned to cheat us of our dues. Sean was quiet and did not voice an opinion. However, when I explained that I had learned in Oran that European male slaves could sell for as much as 75 ducats each, they all three agreed that the sum we might receive would pay all our dues and leave us some for the future.
I also suggested that we should attempt to sell the Maya headdress there. I believed that it would be more attractive to a Moorish prince than to a Spanish noble because the Moors always wore very colourful and highly decorated head coverings. If necessary, I could sell some of the coloured stones to be certain that we could pay the crew their dues.
So, it was decided that we should proceed to Salé and rid ourselves of the burden of keeping the 5 Frenchmen alive by selling them to the Moors.
By now, the crew were growing weary of the difficulties we were undergoing, and they had started to grumble and complain that they suspected they would never receive the money that had been promised to them. However, when I explained our latest plan most of them felt that this time we would obtain money, and they would be paid. We set our course towards the coast of North Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. We sailed south keeping the coast in sight as we were wary of being attacked by the same pirates who we hoped would buy our captives. When we sighted the port of Salé before midday on the third day after leaving Sanlúcar de Barrameda, I ordered the men-at-arms to don full armour and to stand ready, fully armed with arquebuses. Sean manned the loaded cannon in case we might receive a surprise attack. We were fortunate that we did not need the assistance of either the men-at-arms or the cannon when we tied up alongside the dock.
However, our arrival had not gone unnoticed. There was a small group waiting to see who we were.
Using my knowledge of the Arabic language, I greeted them.
“Assalamo aleikum” (Peace be on you) which is the normal greeting in Arabic.
“Wa aleikum assalam” (and peace on you) came the reply.
As I had established that I could speak some Arabic, we were invited to disembark and state our business. Briefly, I said that we had 5 French men for sale and that we wanted to sell them at the highest price possible. I also added that we had a very rare headdress for sale – a headdress that would be suitable for a prince.
While the sale of 5 European men was not so unusual at that port, the mention of a rare headdress gained more attention. I was invited to bring the piece ashore where it could be examined to see if it was as valuable as I asserted. However, I was loath to do as they suggested because I feared that they might steal it, and I would be unable to prevent them from doing so. Therefore, I invited one of them to board the Santa Maria where the headdress could be examined, and the price of the French captives could be assessed.
One, who appeared to have some authority over the others, agreed to my counter-suggestion, and boarded the nao in my company. There, he first examined the captives who were still bound on the prow deck. Turning from them, he made no comment but asked to see the headdress. I sent my page boy to my cabin to fetch it from where I had stored it on leaving Guerrero and his Maya companions. The stones gleamed in the sunshine and the feathers fluttered in the slight breeze from the sea.
The Moor took it in his hands and carefully turned it this way and that. Finally, he returned it to me, and then he spoke briefly.
“I will give you 60 ducats for the headdress, and 50 for each of the slaves.”
I had no price in mind for the headdress, but I had hoped to receive 75 ducats for each of the French captives. What he had offered would barely cover the dues of the crew, with almost nothing for my brothers and me.
“Give me 70 ducats for the headdress and 60 for each of the slaves.”
With this sum, we would have enough to pay the crew after sailing back to Getaria and leave a little for my brothers and me. Once there, I planned to sell the Santa Maria, but I had no thoughts about what I might do afterwards.
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