Vasco de Ataíde (or Taide) was a Portuguese sailor whose ship was a part of Pedro Álvares Cabral 1500 expedition to India. His ship went missing early in the voyage and so was not present when the fleet accidentally became the first recorded European presence in Brazil.[1]
Vasco de Ataíde | |
|---|---|
 Coat of Arms of the Ataíde family | |
| Born | |
| Died | 1500 |
| Occupation | Sailor |
| Known for | Mysterious disappearance |
| Parents | |
| Family | Ataíde |
Little is known about him, even less than about his brother Pêro de Ataíde, although contemporary sources record that he was one of 4 illegitimate children (3 sons and one daughter) of D. Pedro de Ataíde, Abbot of Penalva do Castelo, himself an illegitimate son of D. Álvaro Gonçalves de Ataíde, the 1st Count of Atouguia.[2]
On Tuesday, 24 March 1500 the ship he captained and its one-hundred-and-fifty crew disappeared after sailing west toward Brazil. The ship had departed the day before from the Portuguese settlement at Cape Verde, off the coast of Western Africa.[3]
Pêro Vaz de Caminha, chronicler of Cabral's expedition wrote "On the night of Monday next, at sunrise, Vasco de Ataíde was lost from the fleet without any strong or contrary winds that could make it happen. The captain did his best to find it, but it appeared no more."