The Holy Sail (2 page)

‘Welcome, dear guests! We've been waiting for you. Forgive us for summoning you on a cold night like this. Permit me to introduce you to these gentlemen.'

He pointed to the first, a nobleman dressed in expensive velvet garments; a hat of a matching material and colour, with a long feather affixed to its top, sat on the table in front of him. ‘This is the noble Manuel, the king's brother-in-law and confidant.'

The two men bowed in a gesture of respect. Moses then continued, ‘This man sitting next to me is Mr Rodrigo, the king's private doctor and a renowned astronomer.'

Retaining the same smile he had received his guests with, Moses said, ‘I asked you to come to this house in disguise so that no one may recognise you. This house is the secret location for our meetings, and I hope that it will remain that – a secret.'

He looked the two men in the eyes, as though waiting for them to respond and reassure him that they had understood his intent.

The taller of the two men said, ‘The location of the house will remain secret, sir. We promise it.'

Moses looked somewhat reassured, and he invited them to sit down. They sat quietly, and waited for him to explain why he had summoned them.

Moses did not delay; addressing the men sitting at the table, he said, ‘Gentlemen, allow me to introduce my two dear friends.'

He turned to the two guests. ‘Master Pêro da Covilhã,' he announced, pointing at the larger man, ‘and Master Afonso de Paiva. I trust these men completely. They have been chosen for this mission because they speak Arabic fluently, and it is impossible to tell them apart from Arabs by their dialect and appearance. They know me as I know them, and I believe you have heard of Master Covilhã before, haven't you?'

‘Yes, I know Master Covilhã, but then who doesn't? I have met him several times at the king's palace, where he is a well-known figure,' said the nobleman Manuel, talking to Moses as though Covilhã were not standing right in front of him. ‘But let us get started. We don't want to leave this place at midnight. It's very cold tonight.' There was more than a touch of impatience in his voice.

Moses ignored him with a broad smile. ‘Sir, let me offer you and the guests some of my fine wine. They are still rubbing their hands. The cold seems to have penetrated all the way to their bones. A glass of strong wine will do well to make them feel a little warmer.'

Manuel nodded. Moses stood and brought wine for Covilhã and Paiva, who sat silently and awkwardly, conscious that they were being scrutinised by the other
men round the table. Moses sat back down and started sipping the drink from his own cup quietly. He then set his gaze on Manuel, and waited for him to begin.

Manuel ignored his glass of wine and reached for a parchment in front of him showing the most up-to-date map of the known world. He looked in the eyes of the other guests sharply for several seconds, before saying, ‘Gentlemen, everything said here is to be taken in confidence. Leaking information outside these walls could cost us all our lives, so I once again stress the secrecy of our conversation and the information we shall disclose to you.'

Manuel glanced again at the map and continued. Europe had been cut off from the rest of the world after the Ottomans seized Constantinople in 1453, making it impossible to learn what was going on in the East, he reminded the guests. After Constantinople was conquered, the Ottomans changed its name to Istanbul. The Venetians had concluded agreements with the Ottomans, allowing them to control trade from the Muslim ports to Europe; they could now transport shipments of spice from the ports of Tripoli, Beirut and Alexandria to Europe, and sell them at high prices, depriving others of this lucrative trade. ‘If we don't break this monopoly, we will die a slow death. Our coffers have been depleted and our people live in destitution. If we do nothing, we will find ourselves begging the kings of Europe for money,' Manuel said. ‘And here we are still using the currency of our enemies, the Moors. It's unbelievable.'

Manuel paused for a few seconds, fiddling with the feather attached to the hat in front of him, trying to calm himself. ‘We do not even have enough to mint our own
currency!' He said this angrily as if those he was addressing were responsible.

Manuel continued, ‘We know that there are sea routes between India, the source of all spices, and Arab lands. They alone control those routes, and monopolise their secrets and ports. We have obtained some information from our informants, who were able to penetrate deep into Persia and India. But this information remains muddled and unclear.'

Manuel adjusted himself in his seat, took a deep breath, and then said, ‘Regardless, it would be difficult to do anything about the current situation. The Ottoman presence in Constantinople may prevent us from obtaining the information we want, and keep us from moving toward those spots. We know little about what is going on behind that solid Muslim wall.'

Manuel raised his finger to Covilhã and Paiva's faces, after pausing for a moment, and said, ‘But we believe there is another route that could take us to India. We are not sure but we have a good hunch. Your mission is to verify the information we have.

‘The password that Moses gave you before the meeting, which you used to get the guard to open the door when you arrived, is the password you shall use to identify all our agents in the Muslim countries. Remember it but never, ever write it down. Yes, the Holy Sail is heading east. In recent years we have been working in utmost secrecy to gather as much information as possible about the spice trade between India and Arab lands, and from there to Europe. We believe there could be a sea route that circumvents this, around Africa.'

The nobleman then tapped with his finger on the African continent on the map. The expression on his face changed. ‘Our ships have secretly reached West Africa. We believe there is a route that circumvents that continent all the way to India, but we cannot send our sailors and our ships to uncharted parts of the world. We need to know the ports, where they can re-supply, the wind patterns, the sea levels and the currents. And we are suffering mutinies on the ships, because the sailors are not accustomed to such long distances for long periods of time. We must find a foothold along the coasts of Africa.'

He spoke quickly, expecting his audience to immediately grasp what he was saying. ‘We have asked our captains to put up a large cross in each place they stop, so that our sailors will sense that God is with them wherever they may go. They have planted these crosses throughout the western coast of Africa, but distances soon grew too long, and the sailors have become more and more restless. We don't know when our ships will be able to head east.'

Manuel sank back into his chair, blinking rapidly, and began to tell the story of a Catholic friar from Venice named Mauro, who several years earlier had made a large map of the world that was almost four cubits wide. Fra Mauro put into the map all the information he had obtained from Italian merchants who travelled to those lands, including descriptions from a Venetian who had settled in India where he married and had children. When the merchant decided to return home, he stopped in Cairo along the way. There, his wife and two children died from a plague, after which the man worked for several years as an interpreter for the sultan, before he could raise enough money to pay
for his journey back. When he finally returned, he went to the Pope with all the information he had. The Pope then asked Fra Mauro to add this information to the map he was already working on.

‘All that has been collected over the years was put into making that map – let's call it the Venerable Mauro map – which we paid a lot of gold to acquire. What interests us most are the ports that it describes in East Africa and southern Arabia, since it is from those ports in particular that ships sail to India, and come back loaded with all kinds of goods. Getting to these ports and learning more about them would make it easier for us to send ships to India via Africa.'

Manuel then slammed his hand on the table to draw everyone's attention. ‘Your aim, gentlemen, is to reach India and learn about the types of spices, their prices and the trade routes they travel through, not to mention the patterns of winds and ocean currents, the religions of the peoples that inhabit those lands, and the ports that the Arab merchants use. We must become acquainted with those ports, because they will become our bases too. It is important for you to fully succeed in this mission and return with the most accurate information possible. If successful, the king promises you many rewards and titles, and you will have done your kingdom a great service.'

The nobleman paused again. Everyone thought he had finished talking, and Covilhã and Paiva were too stunned by the enormity of the task ahead of them to be able to respond. Moses found this a good opportunity to send a message through Manuel, in the hope that it might reach some powerful ears at the king's court.

He said quickly, addressing Covilhã and Paiva, ‘Gentlemen, as Jews we have special connections in most countries of the world. I have written to our friends in Constantinople, Alexandria, Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Beirut and Rhodes, informing them of your arrival. Every friend we have in those ports will point you to a friend of his in the other ports, so that you will never feel cut off from the world. All you have to do is utter “the Holy Sail” and if you hear someone reply, “It is heading east,” then know that this person is familiar with your mission, and will give you all the help you will need.'

Manuel frowned before he resumed talking, as though he had not heard Moses. ‘We have a strong ally in Africa, who is awaiting our arrival impatiently. His name is Prester John, and he is a Christian king who rules a vast kingdom there. He has a strong army that can defeat the kingdoms of the Mohammedans. All we have to do is reach him and unite our forces. I sometimes feel as though he talks to me, asking me to come and help him.'

Manuel stared into emptiness, as though he had forgotten others were present. ‘Do you know that when we find Prester John's kingdom, we could control the world, spread Christianity and get rid of all heretics?'

Suddenly he remembered that all those who were with him in the room were heretics in the eyes of Christians. A sly look came to his eyes, as he hastened to add, ‘It is strange that our mutual interests have overcome our religious differences, isn't it? I know that you are all Jews, but that does not matter as long as we are all serving the king.'

Shifting his gaze to the silver cross that Moses was wearing around his neck, he said, ‘Before the shimmer
of money, faith fades, Master Moses. That cross you wear will do nothing for you and neither will the letter you carry around in your pocket, which says you are under the king's protection.'

Covilhã was busy scribbling down what Manuel had said earlier, and had not paid attention to this last comment. After he finished writing, Covilhã asked, ‘But sir, we have no idea what lies in the world beyond Rhodes. Do you have a map showing the cities and ports that we must travel to?'

This was Moses's cue. He stood up from his chair and went towards a shelf crammed with stacks of scrolls. He carefully retrieved one, loosened the tie on the scroll and unrolled it on the table.

‘This is a replica of the Venerable Mauro map. If you notice here,' Moses pointed with his finger to the bottom right corner of the map, ‘there is a list of cities that we want you to go to, and identify their locations on the map accurately. The Venerable Mauro did not put these cities on the map very clearly, and relied on what he had heard from others.'

Covilhã tried to read the names, but could not pronounce the exotic spelling combinations.

Moses, seeing his confusion, smiled. ‘Don't strain yourself too much; they are all foreign names. I tried to decipher them, but could only read Sofala, Hormuz and Aden. For the rest, you will need time to learn how to read them.'

Moses moved his finger, looking for a certain point on the map. When he got to Alexandria, he pressed his finger on the location and said, ‘I can't see very well. Is this Alexandria?'

‘Yes, that's it,' Covilhã answered.

Moses moved his finger again, until he reached what looked like the mouth of the Arabian Gulf. ‘Here you will find a small island called Hormuz. Do you see it? I cannot see as well as I used to, I'm afraid.'

Covilhã squinted as he scanned the map. Then he found it. ‘Yes, there it is.'

‘Hear me well, Covilhã. We have almost no connections beyond the Mediterranean. We could not find anyone who could give you a helping hand there. I am in contact with the chief rabbi of Alexandria, whom I consider a dear friend even though we have never had the opportunity to meet. We have worked together in trade as each other's agents. He told me that he knew
Khawaja
^*
Attar, a vizier
^*
from Hormuz. He will give you a letter addressed to him once you arrive in Alexandria. At the very least, the vizier will be a good source of information, and might connect you to his partners in India or in the other ports. You will need to forge such relationships when you are alone in those faraway places.'

Moses rolled up the map and gave it to Covilhã. At this point, Manuel felt that he had to end the meeting. ‘Hear me out, gentlemen. You will take this copy of the map with you, and you will treat it as a treasure. You must mark each city on the map, and gather as much information as you can about them. Our goal is to circumnavigate Africa and reach India to take control of the spice trade. You have two years to return. If you do not, we shall consider you deserters, and the crown shall seize all your properties. Your families will also be handed over to the Inquisition.'

He rested his arms on the table and continued. ‘Until you return, we will give your relatives letters protecting them
from the Inquisition, so that you may rest assured while on your mission. Now go, and prepare to leave, we do not have much time.'