Journeys

This chapter looks at the brief period from 1794 to the summer of 1796, in which the ex-Jesuit community began to explore ways to resolve the crisis in which it found itself. Several short trips to Macao failed to yield any further missionaries for the Padroado Catholics, and so an attempt was made to send two men to Europe to make a direct appeal. Binh conducted a significant and successful fundraising effort among the members of the Padroado community. When the men are finally able to embark for Europe, their mission is turned back after reaching Goa, and its members are beset by pirates on their return voyage, reducing them to rags. The chapter then describes a renewal of this effort, this time led by Binh himself, who, along with three of his companions, set sail for Europe in mid-February of 1796. It describes their five-month journey from Macao through the Straits of Malacca, around the Horn of Africa and to the island of St. Helena. There they transfered to a Portuguese vessel on which they are able to continue their voyage directly to Lisbon, where they arrived in late July of that year.