• Friday, 28th of May 1498
    The voyage was announced today. The proclamation was nailed on various buildings and the town crier made the announcement to the less educated members of the populace. The entire city must know of it by now. It has become a major event. I do hope that nothing goes wrong. My crew is very superstitious and if some mishap occurred they would believe it an ill omen for the voyage and would have difficulty obeying my orders. It would bode ill for the voyage if something went wrong

    Saturday, 19th of May, 1498
    Today we departed for the New World. The christening was magnificent. The Queen made a beautiful speech about the purpose of the voyage and everyone cheered on general principals. The Queen introduced me to the crowd and everyone cheered, getting into it now. I walked up the gangplank and saluted her and everyone cheered, in the knowledge that they had the right to cheer and were going to cheer and no-one was going to stop them. The bottle smashed, the crowd gave one final cheer and the East Winds Blessing sailed out of port. The only mishap was that the ships cat jumped overboard just before we left. Since then we have been favoured by good winds and are making good progress towards the strait.

    Sunday, 27th of May, 1498
    We have been sailing well for the last week, reaching the Strait of Gibraltar ahead of schedule due to unusually good winds and we are now on our way up the coast to Scandinavia. The crew is gaining confidence in me which is gratifying as I am very inexperienced. Little of consequence has occurred since leaving port.

    Sunday, 3rd of June, 1498
    I am just beginning to truly comprehend the length of this voyage. We are still on our way round the coast of Portugal. It is so large compared to our island nation. This is going to be a very long trip indeed.

    Sunday, 8th of July, 1498
    We have just reached Scandinavia and I have at last located the thief of this journal The mischievous cabin boy stole it as we approached Spain, to use the soft, thick paper as bedding. I believe I have located all the sheets and they do not appear to be any worse for wear. It has been an uneventful trip so far, with only small storms. We had little difficulty negotiating the English Channel and all members of the crew, save the cabin boy have been obedient. I have decided to choose punishments or specific crimes as hey arise, for example the cabin boy is to be without bedding for thirty days, the same length of time he had my journal. I have sent Robert to ask about Leif Erickson’s travels as he was the only person told of the true nature of this voyage and, as lieutenant, will have more authority than the rest of the crew. William has gone to haggle for supplies, more water mainly, but we could use some more meat. We would not want the men to starve, would we?

    Sunday, 15th of July, 1498
    The ocean is huge. Vast expanses of grey water extend in every direction. There seems no difference between one day or another. I am doing my best to keep morale up. I think I am succeeding According to my charts; we should reach Greenland in about three weeks. I have not told the men though. Three weeks is a long time on the open ocean. I hope the winds keep up. If they fell, the men might start to go mad.

    Sunday, 5th of August, 1498
    I have not written for some time. I was disheartened by the vast expanse of ocean, bare of any recognizable features. On Friday, the oldest member of the crew, Jake, died of pneumonia. He was a good man and a good sailor. My main regrets are that he could not be buried at home, but had to be commended to the endless waves. We reached Greenland yesterday but there was so little there that we had to continue. All of the men are freezing cold and everybody shivers during the night, when temperatures plunge. I hope we find land soon. We are running out of fresh fruit and all of the men are getting tired of fish and salt pork. We need more food.