September 13, 1500

50 men. It seems so little to anyone, but to me, it is a sad and horrible loss. I can't even look at their bodies. We were attacked by Muslims when we landed in Calicut, India. They didn't want any competition on the spices. Nevertheless, my men and I fought bravely, although we lost 50 men. I have already lost almost 7 ships (we encountered one ship wreck), and each ship had many noble men. And the fact that we were through another bad storm and lost the ship of Diogo Dias deeply saddens me. Am I a good captain or not?

Pedro Alvares Cabral