Fernando Lopes © 1997 Jacques du Bois This may be freely distributed on condition the copyright notice is retained along with the following contact information, and the author is notified of its appearance. For more information or if you wish to contact the author please e-mail at jacquesdubois@rocketmail.com or visit his website at http://welcome.to/jacquesdubois In the year 1510, Alfonso DÕAlboquerque, a powerful Portuguese general, set sail for the city of Goa, on the western coast of India. After a few months, he arrived in Goa, and after a brief battle, he claimed both that city and all of India for Portugal. DÕAlboquerque realized that he did not have enough soldiers to maintain a proper garrison, so it became necessary to return to Portugal for reinforcements. Before DÕAlboquerque left, a few men of the force that took Goa stayed behind to keep the peace, and among these men was Fernando Lopes. Lopes was a nobleman in Portugal, who had a family and a wife back in Lisbon, the Portuguese capital (Some scholars believe Lopes was a black man and a slave, however most people believe him to be a nobleman). Lopes was left in charge of the garrison and General DÕAlboquerque sailed for home. Two years later, when DÕAlboquerque returned to Goa with reinforcements, he returned to a much changed situation. The men had mingled with the natives, marrying some and many had converted to Islam. The general was furious, deciding to punish Fernando Lopes along with all the other men for the betrayal of his trust. DÕAlboquerque promised he would be lenient, and all the traitors came to him without resistance. The men and Lopes were savagely tortured, with half of the men dying within three days, however that was only the beginning for Lopes. Due to the fact Lopes was a nobleman by birth and he had been put in charge of the group, he was to receive the most brutal of all the punishments. His legs and arms were tied with rope, tied to wooden posts. His nose and ears were cut off, along with all of his facial hair being plucked out. His right arm was cut off, and his left thumb was cut off (although, it was said that his index and middle finger were also cut off). After the punishments, the men were free to go where they wanted and both Lopes and the men fled to the jungles where they were left alone, hiding their deformities. In 1515 General DÕAlboquerque died, and the new Governor allowed Lopes to book passage on a ship home to his family in Portugal. The sea route from Lisbon to Goa was around the coast of Africa, past the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean. One of the stops on the voyage was the island of St Helena. The island had been discovered in the year 1502 on St HelenaÕs Day, by Admiral Da Nova, who named it after St. Helena, the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. The island was uninhabited, so it became a stop on the way to the Orient. In 1582 the English took control of the island, since it was one of the most strategic islands en route to India and the Orient. Before the construction of the Suez Canal in the 19th century, it became an important stop for the trip to the Orient. Also, after the 100 days, and his final defeat at the infamous battle of Waterloo, NapolŽon Bonaparte was exiled from 1815 there until his death in 1821. LopesÕs ship stopped at St. Helena for food and water. In the early days of exploration, if a ship stopped at deserted island they would leave livestock, plants and other provisions so other ships would find sustenance if necessary. The ship took what it needed and was about to leave, when it was discovered that Lopes was not aboard. The sailors looked all over the island, but they found no trace of Lopes. Unable to find him, they left a barrel of biscuits, some dried meat, a tinderbox and a saucepan. Then they went on their way back to Portugal. At that time St. Helena was a very fertile place, full of trees, grasses along with goats and birds, but had many barren plains. Although it did rain very frequently and the wind was biting, the weather was very mild. Lopes acclimated himself to his new home. It was nearly a year until another ship docked at St. Helena. The following is from a contemporary account of the first ship to encounter Lopes after he had been left on St. Helena, found in the Hakylut Society journal: ÒThe crew was amazed when they saw the grotto and the straw bed on which he slept...and when they saw the clothing they agreed it must be a Portuguese man. So they took in their water and did not meddle with anything, but left biscuits and cheeses and things to eat and a letter telling him not to hide himself the next time a ship came to the island for no one would harm him. Then the ship set off, and as she was spreading her sails a cockerel (a young male chicken) fell overboard and the waves carried it to the shore and Lopes caught it and fed it with some rice which they had left behind for him.Ó The cockerel that Lopes saved from the ship became his only friend on the island. During the night, it roosted above his head and during the day it followed behind him, and would come if he called to it. As time went on, Lopes began to be less and less afraid of people. Ships when a ship would lay anchor in what is now called Jamestown Harbour, Lopes would greet the sailors, talking to them as they came ashore. Lopes began to be considered a saint, because of his deformities and the fact that he would not leave St. Helena for any reason. Many people thought him to be the epitome of human suffering and alienation, and they took pity on him. The travellers that went to St. Helena gave Lopes many things, animals, livestock, and seeds. Eventually, Lopes became a gardener and a keeper of livestock. The soil of St. Helena at the time was rich (much of St. Helena was depleted during the 18th and 19th centuries due to the over planting of sugar cane and the overgrazing of livestock), due to the island's volcanic origins. This is not to imply that life was easy on Helena, because as stated above, much of the island was barren and windswept. Lopes began to work the soil of St. Helena, planting fruit trees, grasses and many other forms of vegetation. In a few years, the island was changed full covered in trees where once there had been only a few, all thanks to Lopes. Eventually Lopes returned to Portugal to see his family and then visited the Pope in Rome, for his final absolution. The Pope was very impressed with Lopes, and decided to grant him a single wish. Lopes had one desire, and that was to return to his home on St. Helena. Lopes returned there, never to leave there again, dying in 1530. Lopes was buried on the island of St. Helena and remains there today.