Pé de Pau
Name given by Gaspar Frutuoso to a French corsair whose seven galleons called at Funchal in the time of the donatary Simão Gonçalves da Câmara; his men traded peacefully while the captain kept the city under guard.
Gaspar Frutuoso gives this name to a French corsair who put in at the harbour of Funchal (Porto do Funchal) in the time of the donatary Simão Gonçalves da Câmara, Count of Calheta (‘small cove’). Two hundred Frenchmen landed from the corsair’s galleons, which numbered seven. They bought provisions in the city and sold many things they had with them, ‘bringing Jaques Soria as their captain to punish them should they get out of hand.’ The ships lay eight days in our port, and during that time ‘Captain Simão Gonçalves da Câmara watched, and had others watch, the city by night with his guard posts, notwithstanding the friendship and peace that the corsair had promised him’.
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 01
- Harbour of Funchal
Funchal. Harbour where the corsair's galleons stayed eight days.
Funchal Bay, the largest harbour of the Madeira archipelago and the leading port of the Adjacent Islands. The islet lies at its western end, and it lies 4 miles from the port of Câmara de Lobos. The Elucidário gives its shipping statistics from 1901 to 1943 and records episodes such as corsair and warship visits.
People
People mentioned · 03- Gaspar Frutuoso1522–1591
Azorean chronicler whose account is the source for the corsair Pé de Pau's visit to Funchal.
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Captain placed over the two hundred French sailors who landed at Funchal to keep them in order.
- Simão Gonçalves da Câmara1579–1580
Captain-donatary of Funchal and Count of Calheta, who had the city watched at night while the corsair was in port.