Memorandum of the Fleets

This book features, pictorially, the composition of the individual fleets sent out between 1497 and 1563. It also places us in a position to gain further information about the names of the individual vessels, the officers placed in charge, the frequency with which the expeditions were sent out, their route to and from the East Indies, the size and composition of the various fleets and the fate of individual vessels.

It consists of old drawings of caravels belonging to the first Portuguese naval forces which sailed on the maritime route to India and it is a facsimile of the original manuscript kept at the Library of the Academia de Ciências de Lisboa (Lisbon Academy of Sciences).