Two years later, when D’Alboquerque returned to Goa with reinforcements, he returned to a much-changed situation. The men had mingled with the natives, marrying some and many had converted to Islam. The general was furious, deciding to punish Fernando Lopes along with all the other men for the betrayal of his trust.
D’Alboquerque promised he would be lenient, and all the traitors came to him without resistance. Lopes and the men were savagely tortured, with half of the men dying within three days, but that was only the beginning for Lopes. Since Lopes was a nobleman by birth and he was in charge of the group, he was to receive the most brutal of all the punishments. His legs and arms were bound with rope and he was tied to two wooden posts. His nose, ears, right arm, and left thumb were cut off (although, it was said that his index and middle finger were also cut off) and all his facial hair was plucked out. After the punishments, the men were free to go where they wanted and both Lopes and the men fled to the jungles where they were left alone, hiding their deformities. In 1515 General D’Alboquerque died, and the new Governor allowed Lopes to book passage on a ship home to his family in Portugal.
The sea route from Lisbon to Goa was around the coast of Africa, past the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean. One of the stops on the voyage was the island of Saint Helena. Saint Helena had been discovered in the year 1502 on St Helena’s Day, by Admiral Da Nova, who named it for the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor of Rome. The island was uninhabited, so it became a stop on the way to the Orient. In 1582 the English took control of the island, since it was one of the most strategic islands en route to India and the Orient. Before the construction of the Suez Canal in the 19th century, it became an important stop for the trip to the Orient. Perhaps Saint Helena is better known for being Napoleon Bonaparte's last kingdom. After his escape from exile on Elba and his brief return to power for 100 days, and his final defeat at the infamous battle of Waterloo, he was exiled from 1815 there until his death, by unnatural causes, some say, in 1821.
Lopes’s ship stopped at Saint Helena for food and water. In the early days of exploration, if a ship stopped at deserted island they would leave livestock, plants and other provisions so other ships would find sustenance if necessary. The ship took what it needed and was about to leave, when it was discovered that Lopes was not aboard. The sailors looked all over the island, but they found no trace of Lopes. Unable to find him, they left a barrel of biscuits, some dried meat, a tinderbox and a saucepan. Then they went on their way back to Portugal.
At the time, Saint Helena was a very fertile place, full of trees, grasses along with goats and birds, but had many barren plains. Although it did rain very frequently and the wind was biting, the weather was very mild. Lopes acclimated himself to his new home. It was nearly a year until another ship docked at Saint Helena.
The following is from a contemporary account of the first ship to encounter Lopes after he had been left on Saint Helena, found in the Hakylut Society journal:
“The crew was amazed when they saw the grotto and the straw bed on which he slept...and when they saw the clothing they agreed it must be a Portuguese man.
So they took in their water and did not meddle with anything, but left biscuits and cheeses and things to eat and a letter telling him not to hide himself the next time a ship came to the island for no one would harm him.
Then the ship set off, and as she was spreading her sails a cockerel (a young male chicken) fell overboard and the waves carried it to the shore and Lopes caught it and fed it with some rice which they had left behind for him.”
The cockerel that Lopes saved from the ship became his only friend on the island. During the night, it roosted above his head and during the day it followed behind him, and would come if he called to it. As time went on, Lopes began to be less and less afraid of people. Ships when a ship would lay anchor in Jamestown Harbour, Lopes would greet the sailors, talking to them as they came ashore. Lopes began to be considered a saint, because of his deformities and the fact that he would not leave St. Helena for any reason. Many people thought him to be the epitome of human suffering and alienation, and they took pity on him. The travelers that went to St. Helena gave Lopes many things, animals, livestock, and seeds. Eventually, Lopes became a gardener and a keeper of livestock.
The soil of Saint Helena at the time was rich (much of Saint Helena was depleted during the 18th and 19th centuries due to the over planting of sugar cane and the overgrazing of livestock), due to the island's volcanic origins. This is not to imply that life was easy on Helena, because as stated above, much of the island was barren and windswept. Lopes began to work the soil of Saint Helena, planting fruit trees, grasses and many other forms of vegetation. In a few years, the island was changed full covered in trees where once there had been only a few, all thanks to Lopes.
Eventually Lopes returned to Portugal to see his family and then visited the Pope in Rome, for his final absolution. The Pope was very impressed with Lopes, and decided to grant him a single wish. Lopes had one desire, and that was to return to his home on St. Helena. Lopes returned there, never to leave there again, dying in 1530. Lopes was buried on the island of St. Helena and remains there today.