Caravel to the Cape by Shiloh

I read the book Caravel to the Cape by Eve Merchant. I rate this book 3 out of 5 because the plot is good, the way the book is told is great and the writer is creative. I decided to read this book because we are studying South African history. The main characters are Luis, his friend Pinto, his brother Jaime, Pero D'Alamquer the pilot and Bartolomeu Dias, the Commandante. The setting of the story was from 1487 to 1488 and they traveled from Portugal around the southern tip of Africa.

The book begins with a boy named Luis in Portugal playing in the river by his school. I liked the character Luis because it was fun reading about him running away on the caravel. It was very unrealistic when Luis grabbed a fish out of the water because fish are very slippery and water makes everything harder to hold. I think my brother is like Luis because they both have an adventurous spirit and both of them would like to be sailors. They are different because my brother would have not trusted a man that he did not know. The most exciting part was when Cacuto kidnapped Luis. The thing I like best is when Luis went in the Monikongo's palace. The thing I did not like was when Dias killed a Khoi-Khoi.

This is the knotted rope that was used for soundings

This is the dinghy that they would row to shore.

This is the tiller they would use to push the rudder.

In 1988, the 500th anniversary of Dias's landing in South Africa was celebrated by making a replica of the caravel that Dias rode and riding it down to South Africa where it was transferred to the Maritime Museum. This is the info on how the caravel "Bartolomeu Dias" got in the Maritime Museum. While we were staying at "The Crags" we went to Mossel Bay to see the Maritime Museum. (to read more about the ship getting into the museum, right click on the picture (above), select open link in new window and wala!)