they returned to the coast, and sailed into the Gambia River once again. This time, they found no hostile opposition to their entry. They sailed probably up to 100 km upstream, and engaged in some petty trade with the Mandinka natives, but were disappointed to find little evidence of the abundance of gold or melegueta pepper they had expected to find upriver. Resolved to explore further, Antoniotto and Cadamosto sailed south along the previously unknown coast of Guinea, discovering the mouth of the Casamance River, Cape Roxo, the Cacheu River, reaching as far as the estuary of the Geba River and the Bijagos Islands (modern Guinea-Bissau). As the interpreters carried on board the Portuguese ships (probably Wolof and Mandinka) could not understand the language of the local peoples this far south, the captains were unable to make any deep inquiries of them. They set sail back to Portugal thereafter. Later career Apparently the second expedition turned out to be profitable enough for Antoniotto Usodimare to pay off his creditors, as he returned to Genoa shortly after. In 1458, Usodimare was sent as an agent of the commercial house of Marchionni to the Genoese colony of Caffa on the Black Sea. He died in 1462. The Italian royal navy named a 1929 Navigatori class destroyer after him. The Antoniotto Usodimare sunk in June 1942. Usodimare's Letter Upon his return from his first expedition, Antoniotto Usodimare wrote a famous letter, dated December 12, 1455, to his creditors back in Genoa, informing them of his recent journey - albeit laced with great exaggerations and half-truths. He does not mention Cadamosto in his letter, and instead gives the impression he sailed alone deep into the Gambia River. He says he reached within a few days of the seat of the Mali Empire and within traveling distance to the lands of Prester John (Ethiopian Empire). Usodimare claims to have come across a man of Genoese descent along the shores of the Gambia - ostensibly a descendant of the survivors of the 1291 expedition of explorers Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi. Antoniotto Usodimare told his creditors he had been sent to Gambia as an ambassador of King Afonso V of Portugal, to negotiate a peace treaty with the "King of Gambia", and that he was scheduled to return the next year to escort his counterpart, the Gambian ambassador, back home. More to the point his creditors were