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How many of Vasco da Gama’s original crew members survived the first voyage to India and back?
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Vasco da Gama
Knight of the Order of Christ, detail identified as Vasco da Gama, Portuguese school, first half of the 16th century; in the National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon.
Out of Vasco da Gama’s original crew of 170 men who departed from Lisbon on his first voyage to India in 1497, only 55 survived to return to Portugal. The high mortality rate during the expedition was largely due to scurvy, which claimed many lives throughout the journey.1