Porto Santo (discovery and origin of the name)

The discovery of our archipelago is the great and undying monument that truly marks the auspicious beginning of the wondrous odyssey the Portuguese undertook across unknown seas. It must therefore be especially remembered that the small island of Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) was the first maritime haven at which those daring navigators made landfall, the glorious starting point of one of the most remarkable events in the whole history of our country. This circumstance alone would be enough for the island to be regarded as the firstborn and beloved daughter of Portugal, deserving the most active and valuable protection from the mother country – which, in reality, has not always been forthcoming. As to its discovery, what was set out at some length on pp. 351–356 of vol. I of this Elucidário, in the treatment of the discovery of the archipelago, applies in full.

Dr Gaspar Frutuoso and other chroniclers, following the account João de Barros gives in his Asia, Década I, attribute the origin of the name Porto Santo to the fact that the first discoverers found safe shelter there from the violent storm that had beset them. We transcribe Barros’s words: ‘... For before they reached the coast of Africa, so great a storm broke upon them, with the force of winds contrary to their voyage, that they lost all hope of their lives: for the ship was so small, and the sea so heavy that it swallowed them, running under bare masts at the sea’s mercy. And since the seamen of that time were not accustomed to venture so far into the open ocean, and all their navigation was by day’s runs always within sight of land, and as it seemed to them they were very far from the coast of this Kingdom (reino, i.e. mainland Portugal), they were all so troubled, and so out of their wits, fear having taken hold of the greater part of them, that they could not judge at what spot they were. But it pleased the mercy of God that the weather abated, and although the winds had made them lose the course they were following according to the regulations (regimento) of the Infante, they did not turn them from their good fortune: for they discovered the island which we now call Porto Santo, the name they then gave it because it had kept them safe from the peril they had passed through in the days of the storm. . . ’

This is the generally accepted opinion. The only disagreements concern the time when the event took place and the navigators who were driven into the harbour of that island.