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In 1524, it was the [[flagship]] of [[Vasco da Gama]], on his third voyage to India.<ref>[[João de Barros]] (1563) ''Decadas da India''(Dec. III, Lib. 9, c.1, p.340) reports the voyage but not the name of the ship. For this, see [[Gaspar Correia]], ''Lendas da India'' (v. 2, p.815). Also Subrahmanyam (1997:p.311)</ref>
The ship disappeared somewhere along the route on the return journey to Portugal, which set out from India in April 1525. Its exact fate is uncertain. According to one rumor, D. [[Luis de Menezes]], the dismissed captain of the India naval patrol and brother of the disgraced governor D. [[Duarte de Menezes]] (who was returning on another ship on that same fleet), engineered a mutiny and seized control of the ship, setting off with it for a career of piracy in the Indian Ocean. Another rumor relates that it was seized by French [[French corsairs|corsairs]] somewhere on the final Atlantic stretch between the [[Cape of Good Hope]] and [[Continental Portugal]].<ref>Subrahmanyam (1997: p.346)
== Reports of the loss ==
The report of French seizure - which, if true, would be only the second
The chroniclers report that Duarte was under close watch, for fear he might order the ship to make a dart for Castile or France and avoid the justice awaiting him in Portugal. Reaching [[Mozambique Island]], they heard news from outgoing ships of the next [[Portuguese India Armadas|India armada]] that Duarte's affairs back in Portugal were not as dire as he feared. After rounding the [[Cape of Good Hope]], Duarte ordered his ship to stop and replenish water stores at [[Table Bay]] (''aguada de Saldanha''), instructing his brother Luis to go on ahead, that he would catch up with him at [[Saint Helena]]. As it turns out, a violent tempest hit the South African coast around this time. When Duarte reached Saint Helena, there was no sign of his brother, and he assumed that Luis de Menezes's ship had perished in that tempest.
In 1527, John III dispatched a Portuguese ship under [[Diogo Botelho Pereira]] to scour the South African coast, from the Cape of Good Hope to [[Cape Correntes]], in search for the remains of the ship of Luis de Menezes. Returning Portuguese ships had reported that they had seen from the distance cross-shaped fires along that stretch of coast, which they presumed were erected by shipwrecked Portuguese sailors. It was immediately assumed they were the remnant of Luis de Menezes's crew. However, after months of searching, Diogo Botelho found no trace of them.<ref>
However, in 1536, the Portuguese patrol captain [[Diogo de Silveira]] captured a French corsair off Portugal, who confessed his brother (also a pirate) had seized the Luis de Menezes's ship in the Atlantic a decade earlier. He reported that as his ship was struggling with leaks, Luis surrendered promptly to the French pirate, who after transferring its cargo, ordered the Portuguese ship burned and with its crew (including Luis) still on board going down to their deaths.▼
[[Diogo do Couto]] (1602) ''Decada quarta da Asia'' (Lib. VI, c.1 [http://books.google.com/books?id=Eqv7sVjXP5oC&pg=PT220#v=onepage&q&f=false p.96b]). See also Quintella (1839: [http://books.google.com/books?id=gftWAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA383#v=onepage&q&f=false p.383])</ref>
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This, according to Correia and Andrada, was the fate of the ''Santa Catarina de Monte Sinai''. Although it seems unlikely such a well-armed ship would fall so easily, it is worthwhile remembering she was also heavily-laden with India goods and battered by the tempest and reportedly springing leaks, making her dangerously unseaworthy and vulnerable at the moment of the French attack. This may explain why Luis surrendered her without a fight. (cf. the capture of other large Portuguese India ships, like the ''São Filipe'' by Sir [[Francis Drake]] in 1587, and the gigantic ''[[Madre de Deus]]'' by Sir [[John Burrough]] in 1592.)
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In the aftermath, Duarte de Menezes was called before the royal court at [[Almeirim]], and after a brief interview with the king [[John III of Portugal]], was promptly placed under arrest. He was imprisoned in [[Torres Vedras]], saved from execution by John III in the hope that Duarte could yet be made to confess where he had hidden his private treasure. Reportedly, teams of treasure-hunters, official and unofficial, scoured the beaches around Faro in the hope of finding where he had buried it.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{ru icon}} [http://ageofsailers.com/ships/?id=8 Ageofsailers.com]
* Quintella, Ignaco da Costa (1839) ''Annaes da Marinha Portugueza'', 2 vols, Lisbon: Academia Real das Sciencias, v.1.
* Subrahmanyam, S. (1997) ''The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama''. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press
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