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Death Defying Trek
Approximately 500 souls are believed to have reached the shore after the Sao Joao was wrecked, injuries from the maelstrom through which they fought for life must have been severe. Ahead of them lay a walk of hundreds of miles north to Delagoa Bay during which most succumbed to exposure, heat, exhaustion, thirst and starvation. They were subjected to attacks by wild animals and encounters with indigenous tribes. The latter were not always confrontational but they were curious and keen to acquire the strangers’ possessions. Stripped of her clothing, Dona Leonor, the finely-bred Castilian wife of the captain, Manoel de Sousa Sepulvede, chose death before dishonor, burying herself alive in the sand. Her husband buried their two dead children and, a broken man, walked into the bush never to be seen again, Why attempt to reach Delagoa Bay? The initial plan was to build a small caravel on the beach to send to Sofala for help, but there were insufficient usable timbers from the wreck for this purpose. Table Bay, equally far off, held memories of d' Almeida and Fifty of his men killed by Hottentots in 1510. Delagoa Bay was chosen as o known stopping point for Portuguese ships for water and trade. They kept a close to the coast as possible, to make use of mussels and other such foods, but the coastal bush frequently forced them inland, as did the need for fresh water. They crossed rivers and estuaries, ran the gauntlet of snakes and beasts, and as they neared the tropics the sun grew hotter. The account of the boatswain's mate reveals that it took them three months to reach Delagoa Bay, at a rate of about 4,2 miles per day, Only 22 of the original 500 survived — 8 Portuguese and 14 slaves, the latter presumably being experienced in survival against all odds.