São Bento (Saint Benedict), commanded by captain Fernão de Álvares Cabral, the son of Pedro Álvares Cabral, was a Portuguese carrack of 900 tons wrecked in April 1554 near the mouth of the Msikaba River, midway between Port Edward and Port St. Johns on the Transkei coast of South Africa.

The ship had left Cochin on 1 February 1554 and was en route to Lisbon with a cargo of spices, coconuts, silks, porcelain, cornelian beads, cotton cloth and other luxury goods.

"[6] On 28 April 1554, after crossing the Msikaba River on rafts made from barrels lashed together, a party of 224 slaves and 98 Portuguese headed north along the coast to the Portuguese trading post established at Inhambane in 1534, and a distance of some 970 km (600 mi) as the crow flies from the site of the wreck.

"Having crossed the river, we put ourselves in marching order, carrying a crucifix bound upon a lance… We arranged ourselves in single file, and set our faces towards the interior by a path made by elephants, directing ourselves towards a height where it seemed to us we might discover some settlement.

"[citation needed] Only twenty Portuguese survivors and three slaves managed to reach safety in Mozambique.