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Sacramento Trail - 1 March 2009
On a windy Sunday we decided to take the family for a walk along the Sacramento trail. Named after the Portuguese Gallion which, after surviving a storm, ran onto the reef on the night of 29 June 1647.
This is an excerpt from the book The Guns of Sacramento by Geoffrey and David Allen recounting the ordeal.
"The galleon misstayed and would not turn completely about, in spite of the efforts which were made by unfurling the fore topsail and sprit sail. Her bow always turned to the shore, and she drifted towards it for two hours, in spite of the rudder and management of the sails, until rising on a great wave she struck from stem to stern and quickly went to pieces. The two galleries fell into the sea with the poop and the Chief Captain....and many others....seeing there was no hope, withdrew to the galleries to confess themselves; and only one of them escaped. Of the others, who had remained in the prow, some got ashore clinging to the yards, and some to pieces of timber, when it was daylight, amid great waves and reefs, to the number of seventy-two living souls..."
The 72 survivours decided to walk to Delagoa Bay (Maputo) in Mozambique, a 1 300km journey. Six months later seven of them arrived there but only 4 survived to make the journey back to Portugal.
