Would it not, he thought, be ingratitude to God, who thus moved his mind to these attempts, if he were to desist from his work, or be negligent in it?
He resolved, therefore, to send out again Gil Eannes, one of his household, who had been sent the year before, but had returned, like the rest, having discovered nothing.
He had been driven to the Canary Islands, and had seized upon some of the natives there, whom he brought back.

With this transaction the prince had shown himself dissatisfied; and Gil Eannes, now entrusted again with command, resolved to meet all dangers, rather than to disappoint the wishes of his master.

Before his departure, the prince called him aside and said, "You cannot meet with such peril that the hope of your reward shall not be much greater; and, in truth, I wonder what imagination this is that you have all taken up--in a matter, too, of so little certainty; for if these things which are reported have any authority, however little, I would not blame you so much.

But you quote to me the opinions of four mariners, who, as they were driven out of their way to Frandes or to some other ports to which they commonly navigated, had not, and could not have used, the needle and the chart: but do you go, however, and make your voyage without regard to their opinion, and, by the grace of God, you will not bring out of it anything but honour and profit." GIL EANNES' SUCCESSFUL VOYAGE.
We may well imagine that these stirring words of the prince must have confirmed Gil Eannes in his resolve to efface the stain of his former misadventure.

And he succeeded in doing so; for he passed the dreaded Cape Bojador--a great event in the history of African discovery, and one that in that day was considered equal to a labour of Hercules.