Joaquim Magalhães de Castro
One of the most daring initiatives of the 16th century had, as protagonist, João da Gama, Captain-General of Malacca from 1579 to 1582 and grandson of the illustrious Vasco da Gama.
Between 1589 and 1590 he commanded the first Portuguese ship that dared to cross the Pacific, an epic voyage with a departure point in Macau and Acapulco as its final destination.
The choice fell on Gama because he was a person of high regard and, at the time, he occupied the desired post of “Captain of the trip to Japan” in that Portuguese city. The Senate had even sent a letter to the king asking him to reinstate Gama in office and authorize the residents of Macau “to go with their goods to New Spain with the excuse that with the proceeds of that trip they could support churches, a Misericórdia (Mercy House) and two hospitals, one being for lepers,” as historian José Manuel Garcia reminds us in his study; a request from which, moreover, no affirmative answer was expected.
Naturally, everyone was astonished when it was learned that the large 600-ton ship that the son of the second Count of Vigueira had set up, instead of going to India, was heading to Mexican lands, where business was much more profitable and consequently always coveted by ambitious Macau residents.
João da Gama was aware of the illegality of the decision, and it is even possible that he made it in the hope that it would be tolerated, “as before had happened on previous trips made by Spaniards”; in reality, the nobleman was at a dead end. He knew that if he returned to Goa, where he was being accused of serious irregularities, an iron chain and a dark cell awaited him.
Proof of this is the letter of February 6, 1589 sent by the dual monarch to the viceroy ordering him to have the nobleman arrested as soon as he arrived from China, and to ship him immediately to the kingdom in the ships of the armada; moreover, already in 1587, he revealed great irritation at the crimes committed by João da Gama.
One thing is certain: during his tenure in Malacca, Gama maintained numerous political conflicts with the city’s administrative bodies, which would give rise to a judicial process. He was accused of harming the interests of that stronghold and therefore called to Lisbon to answer for his actions and present his defense.
Despite such a gray panorama, our character was unharmed, married to the daughter of D. João de Meneses Baroche, captain of Cochim, and who from that city had headed to the mouth of the Pearl River in the company of his brother Paulo da Gama; at least judging by the content of the letter that, in November 1588, he would send from Macau to the king informing him of his intention to reach Spain by way of Mexico, as he wanted to personally give him an account of his mission in China “and to show how easy it seemed to him to undertake its conquest.”
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