Volume Ten
The Portuquese in the Sea of Oman Annals of History 1497 CE – 1757 CE Volume Ten by: Al Qasimi Publications Author: Dr. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi (United Arab Emirates) Publisher: Al Qasimi Publications, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Edition: First Year of publication: 2025 ©All rights reserved * ISBN: 978-9948-715-27-6 * Printing Permission: UAE Media Council No. MC 03-01-7592362, Date: 17-03-2025 Printing: AL Bony Press- Sharjah, UAE Age Classification: E The age group that matches the content of the books was classified according to the age classification issued by UAE Media Council * Al Qasimi Publications, Al Tarfa, Sheikh Muhammad Bin Zayed Road PO Box 64009 Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Tel: 0097165090000, Fax: 0097165520070 Email: info@aqp.ae
_ 5 _ Contents Introduction to Volume Ten 7 • Episodes of the year 1552 9 • Episodes of the year 1553 165 • Episodes of the year 1554 249 • Episodes of the year 1555 341 • Episodes of the year 1556 349 • Episodes of the year 1557 355 • Episodes of the year 1558 357 • Episodes of the year 1559 361 • Episodes of the year 1560 365 • Episodes of the year 1561 459 Researchers’ Guide 537 Volume Ten Reference 551
_ 7 _ Introduction to Volume Ten This volume covers the events of ten years, from 1552 to 1561. The early part of the volume details events in Algeria, Iraq, Basra, and Qatif, followed by the presence of the Ottoman fleet in Suez and the occupation of Aden. After these events, the narrative shifts to the Ottoman fleet's presence in Muscat and Khor Fakkan, followed by the siege of Ormuz and the destruction of the Ottoman fleet near Ras al-Hadd. As the Portuguese assisted the Sheikh of Basra against the Ottoman occupiers, a storm struck the Portuguese fleet, pushing it away from the Basra area. However, the Portuguese later succeeded in capturing Bahrain after expelling the Ottomans. The volume concludes with the story of the Ottoman capture of Sheikh Ali bin Aliyan, the Sheikh of Algeria in Iraq, who was taken in chains to Constantinople. Dr. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi
_ 9 _ (1) Document no. and reference. Episodes of the year 1552 Dom Afonso de Noronha sent a letter to King of Cochin, on the 27th of January 1552, informing him of the situation in the region:(1) This letter from the Viceroy D. Afonso de Noronha suggests a perhaps ill-founded optimism. Before the passage relating to the three Chrisian Kings(A) D. Afonso relates the following facts: 1. D. Antão de Noronha had attacked and destroyed the Turkish fortress at EI Katiff. 2. There was another fortress, at Basra, which could also (A) Transilator’s note: These were Kings of Ceylon (son of the old king by a sister of the queen, who had been brought up by the Viceroy) the Lord of Trincomalee and the King of the Maldives, claimed as convers by the Jesuits.
_ 10 _ be taken and destroyed, or the tribute which would then certainly be offered by those in command could be accepted on condition that no harm was done to the commerce of Ormuz. 3. News from Suez was good, as the Turks showed no sign of wanting to go on to India this time, having neither men nor vessels for such an undertaking. 4. According to information from Ormuz, he knew that both the Shah of Persia and the Grand Turk were going to send ambassadors to Goa in order to treat for peace. He had some grounds for optimism.
_ 11 _ In the same year (1552) A letter was sent from D. Afonso to the king on the 27th of January 1552, mentioning the battle of Qatif and the Turks in the Shatt al-Arab:(2) Senhor, Good news have taken precedence, and should be announced first and then give an account of how these events came about, and this news of the taking of Catifa I hold as such, and so great that I have no doubt in qualifying them as such. Dom Amtão de Noronha whom I sent out with the fleet as Captain in Chief of her and which was to proceed to Catifa, took the place after a combat of eight days defending her from the Turks which were in her and had fortified her as much as they judged would suffice for defending her against the whole power of India, and after (2) Document no. and reference.
_ 12 _ raizing her to the ground, as I had ordered him to do, he entered with some rowing vessels the River Eufrates in the middle of which stands the island of Morzy, so greatly renowned, and which the Turks hold in such regard, and he likewise raized to the ground the fortress they had made there, and from then he went up the river to Baçora and close upon it he captured two vessels; and he leisurely examined all the river and the land and all things appertaining to them and which were necessary should be investigated. In doing this the Turks took great affront, and were so startled that though he took but a small fleet because the large vessels he had sent on to Ormuz, and in them some of the men and the wounded and sick for there only remained to him the rowing vessels, yet nevertheless Baçora was held as taken, and the Turks remained so discredited at beholding the fleet so close upon them, and the Arabians with such courage by its favour, that they of themselves without Portuguese fell upon a Fortress which the Turks held on the side of Persia and took it and broke it down. Dom Amtão served in this so honourably Your Highness, and all those who went with him, that in truth he is to be envied both on account of the feat they performed,
_ 13 _ as for the reason Your Highness will have for showing him favour. Last year, I wrote to Your Highness that on reaching this, there came the news that the Turks had taken Catifa which the Arabians had given them of their own accord, and that they were fortifying it, and that it also seemed as though they would give them Baram also: the Captain who should be placed there to be a Parsee (?) a nephew of Rex Harafa, and that they came with the intention of going along conquering the coast of Arabia, and take Mascate, and that I had held a council on the subject and all those who discussed with me seemed to judge it very necessary to retake Catifa and strive to cast the Turks out of that coast, and then I departed for Goa to issue orders for so doing. As soon as I reached Goa, I began to make the fleet in which it seemed there should go a thousand Portuguese men, and three thousand Moors, vassals of the King of Ormuz, and this appeared to be a sufficient number for such an undertaking, and whereas it is a thing of so much importance and of service to Your Highness. I ordered that there should proceed in this fleet as Captain in Chief Dom Amtão de Noronha both on account of the experience I had of him, as because for such an affair
_ 14 _ a person was needed with whom the men would be pleased to go, and serve in his company, because the people of India are so badly accustomed and so full of pettishness that unless with the Governor, or his son, or nephew, they venture out with difficulty and very unwillingly. In Goa I mustered seven hundred men all picked ones and I then arranged with Ormuz to muster ready the three hundred that were waiting to complete the number, for at that place there were sufficient men, and I wrote to Ormuz to the King and to the Guazil, to get ready the native men, and I sent Jeronimo Ruiz in advance with this message and with powers from the Comptroller of the Exchequer to make ready the ships, men and food supplies, so that as soon as Dom Amtão should arrive, he must be able to depart. The fleet was got ready with such diligence, that albeit he had arrived to Goa at the end of February and there was found there such great news and in all India, as I already wrote to Your Highness, Dom Amtão departed on Easter Day, the fleet he took consisted of the Galleon in which he went, and a ship with munitions and artillery with which to combat Catifa and set the camp, and four caravels of which the Captains were Manuel de Vasconcellos and João Fernandes de Vasconcellos, and Martinho de Melo, and Pero Affonso do Alvalar, and eight foists with their
_ 15 _ respective Captains, Garcia de Saa and Dom Jeronimo de Castelo Branquo and Jeronimo de Moraes and Belchior Botelho son of Symam Botelho. Besides all this I had some vessels taken belonging to merchants who were proceeding with goods to Ormuz in which I told off some men which had been unable to go in the ships of the fleet, and food supplies. I had very good weather from Goa to Ormuz, and we went in very few days, and found all very nearly ready of what was needed for the fleet to take, both the one taken from Goa, as for the one that was made in Ormuz to proceed in its company, and for as much as he would have to delay at Ormuz some days he sent before hand Manuel de Vasconcellos with certain vessels to defend any relief that might come by sea to Catifa. In order to sight the land and reconnoiter where the disembarkation could best take place, and departed from the day he arrived to Ormuz in eighteen days with a thousand Portuguese men, and who by the way they carried out the action fully proved themselves to be such, and there went with him Rex Harafo who, despite his advanced age, would not allow his son to go instead of him, and Mirmama Haa a very honourable Moor, and a Knight cousin of the King of Ormuz with some of the native men.
_ 16 _ Reaching Catifa on the second of June, and what he did when taking the land and in the fighting at the fortress and its destruction, and from thence to the island of Marzy and in the journey to Baçorá he writes so extensively to Your Highness and as truthfully as one who went through it, that I do not write about it here. I would kiss the hands of Your Highness to remember to show favour to him, because independently of the labour he went through, and the danger he passed, he spent in this voyage so much that I know not when there will be enough to be able to repay him, and therefore also you will confer a great favour in sending thanks to those who went out with him, and show favour to those who shall demand it, conformably with their services and merits, for they went out to serve you in this, because India is in such a state and the people there, that it made it necessary for me to send fidalgos under arrest to Cochin from Goa, because they did not wish to go with him when proceeding to fight with the Turks. And as I state, of all he went through he would write to Your Highness in detail and fully yet I will say what I think of Baçorá, for it is a thing of so much importance and one that ought to be attended to for your service and upon which great consideration should be had.
_ 17 _ In my humble judgement in regard to Baçorá, two determinations should be taken, the one, to order it to be taken at once, for it can be taken according to what Dom Amtão says as well as those that came with him, for I questioned them, and also those two young men who cast themselves with him and warned him of the treachery that the Vigiers wished to work, but which I take no account of so as to treat of the affair of Baçorá, because as soon as they shall see power coming that can take it, they will at once side against the Turks like men who perforce are obliged to keep friends with yet very much against their will. The other reason is, that in the event of Your Highness not deeming it well to order it to be taken, that you should accept and agree to peace, should he demand it, so long as they shall not be allowed to take anything else of the coast of Arabia, nor have war made to us, and that trade in merchandize should continue as it used to formerly, and that they do not venture out of the Strait in vessels nor in any warlike guise whatever, and that there be business established because when by the advantages they should thus receive, and perceive how without war and trouble they can have the merchandize of India, and what other things there come over here thence.
_ 18 _ Which are necessary to them, they will neglect warfare, and what by other ways more laboriously they had to employ unnecessarily, and Ormuz will be rendered as strong as it is needed she should be so as to be under no fear, and the Custom House would yield far more, and there would be no longer such heavy expenses and needs as there arises with warfare, and it is even judged that should any Moors, Parsees or Arabians, on account of any grievance they receive have some evil thought of surrendering to him by any means, they would not attempt it. When they should see peace established and business, and trade flourishing, and then advices could be had of Baçora, and all else that passes there, and they could either attend nor order me anything which should not be known, because albeit that at present trade is forbidden them by the direct road and open one of Baçorá along which it was followed. Nevertheless they do not thereby cease to have all they wish for from India because all merchandize that proceeds to Ormuz bound for Baçorá go from thence to Reixell a port of Pethamaas, which cannot be prevented because if this were forbidden them, they say that Pethamaas who at present is our friend, would order war to be made to Ormuz and would prohibit sweet water so that there is no
_ 19 _ prohibition available unless the Captains would be satisfied with as little money. As I expect to take from Goa, a thing which could not be, because the greater share of the profits are theirs and those of Baçorá would come to know that trade is forbidden them, and that all they wish for from India and Ormuz should go to them is a great discredit, and with the dread they have of our goods upon Baçorá there will always exist their pretending to have places on the coast of Arabia, and a war with which to occupy us to keep us from going to it, and in warfare much money is spent and men, once it needs every year to have fleets made and it would be better to conclude this affair in one year, either one way or another, and not labour at many. And on taking Baçorá although it might not be able to be sustained in some respects, chiefly by reason of the vicinity of Bagodaa, and on account of being so far from India, and thereby incurring great outlays, it has other inconveniences which would be, it appears, sufficient to stop up the Straits of water from the river they use for drinking, in order to prevent its ever being repopulated, and further if Your Highness should deem it right and consider it to your service to make a fortress in the island
_ 20 _ of Marzy and fortify it in such a manner that they should lose the hope of again navigating freely there. Because it is said there is much fitness for one and a stronghold it is calculated easily sustained, and the dues there would yield a good revenue when trade should be established, and merchandize circulate with which all expenses of the said fortress would be defrayed; I am again writing to Dom Alvaro de Noronha respecting the prohibition of the trade of Baçorá and likewise about Reixel to write to me and tell me if any remedy can be had about this, and that it is better to have no news of Baçorá than to know them via Reixell. When I arrived here I found news that the Turks were projecting entering into Muscat, owing to its being the principal port of the Coast of Arabia to which all or the greater number of the ships and vessels going to Ormuz resort and those coming from it to India, necessarily make for it to take water, and they take shelter there and often times the fleet winters there, more especially on the occasion of being at war with Cambaya and the fleets went to the Strait, and whereas it would be so prejudicial a thing to Ormuz should the Turks enter her owing to the character of the land and the bay such that they could render themselves strong so that with small cost they
_ 21 _ could not be ousted out on account of the character of the land, and the place secured. I saw from the sketch and from information which I gleaned from many who go there every year, and I took counsel with persons whom I summoned for this purpose; and I am in the habit of taking, and they all agreed that I ought at once to see about this and they ought to have a bulwark made upon a rock which stands at the entrance of the bay, which could easily defend the port, and its entrance, and safeguard the ships that might lie there and the place; and I sent Dom Amtão to view it on the way and Francisco Pires with him, and that in viewing the land and its character he should discuss it with Dom Alvaro and with the Guasill of Ormuz, and should it seem necessary to them as it did to us here, to requisition the King of Ormuz from the revenues of Calayate and Mascate to afford help to do so. It also seemed to him that from the rentals of the said Mascate itself to give them to defray the said bulwark until it should be concluded. I gave the charge of this work to João de Leiboa, because he was a honourable man and a Cavallier and he knew much about the land as he was there a length of time and it being (?) a work Your Highness can take good pride in, because it is the security of the port, and
_ 22 _ land, and of the navigation of Ormuz, which, believe me, should be lost were the Turks to enter there, and which would not only be prejudicial to Ormuz should they form there any power, but to the whole of India. Dom Alvaro Noronha Captain of Ormuz now writes to me that there had come to Ormuz a Portuguese Jew evidently coming from the Rua da Conceicão of Lisbon, who gave him news that along the shores along which he came there was no war ship of any kind, nor any being made, there were nothing more than a few barges for loading which take little depth of water, as they can navigate no other way which are of no good for war fare, nor are they meant for it, yet despite this I sent in the company of Luiz Fiqueria, who goes to obtain news of the Strait. Francisco Fernandes who was once a Jew as by another letter I have already written to Your Highness, and I ordered him to go to Alexandria along the said place of Arabia and along the River Eufrates down, and bring me trustworthy news of all things what there were there, and what could be done. The said Francisco Fernandes gave me information, for he had but very recently come from thence, that in Suez there were no more than forty sails between galleys and galliots, and that the others had been broken up in order
_ 23 _ to repair these that were no more Turks than those that were on guard of these vessels which might number two hundred between officers and men at arms; these same informations were sent me by Coje Camecadim, and given me also by another ship that came direct from Meqa now in fifteen days, which was a great sorrow to me to learn that they came in so short a time from Meqa to Goa. Dom Alvaro likewise wrote to me from Ormuz that Amrique de Macedo who had been sent by Jorge Cabrall to the Pethamaas, of which I wrote to Your Highness last year, had come and was at Ormuz, and with him an Ambassador of the same Pethamaz who was coming to me, and he also informed me that another Ambassador was coming from the Turk via Baçorá which it appears must be coming in respect to peace; I await him daily, because news of this can no longer go by this, but others shall go, please God, by the first that comes that departs from India. And so that this letter be one altogether of good news, as I desire it to be with the assistance of Our Lord always to send you in respect to this land, I also wished to give you the further one which I deemed of such service of our Lord, and for which Your Highness by your zeal for His service which you manifest and in which you place such jiz, and this is, that I have here with me three Christian Kings who, on account of their age when coming for baptism
_ 24 _ and with which they seemed to have received the milk of Christianity, I hope in Our Lord that they will yield fruit such as Your Highness desires, and which is so opposed to that of the King of Tana as for the salvation of Your Highness and the increase of your faith is necessary. One of them is the true King of Ceilão, as he is the son of the old King by a sister of the Queen, as I by the letter I wrote to you on the subject of Ceilão Your Highness can see, in which I stated the reason for this being so, and the motive why I accepted him, and sent for him to India, he was brought up in my house being a child of four, more or less, and of a disposition from whom all good may be hoped for, and as soon as I shall reach Goa I will provide for his bringing up, and safety of his life, for he is, Senhor, the Lord (?) of the whole island by right, and in reason. The other King is the Lord of Triquina Malee who has been recently converted, and is of the same island of Ceylon, but on the side of Choromandell, a very fertile country and very populous, this one is about seven or eight years of age, I deliver him up to Padre Antonio Gomez, for him to bring up and educate in the College of Sam Paulo, as the work of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, because he was baptized by them in the fishery as I have already written to Your Highness by another letter.
_ 25 _ The other is the King of the islands of Maldiva who became a Christian here, convinced and instructed by the Fathers of the Society; he is about 18 to twenty years of age, a young man of good…... and it seems, if he is instructed and admonished, that he will yield good fruit, he placed (?) himself in my hands so that in the name of Your Highness, and like to a thing of your own, to watch over him and yield his life, all which I thought good; it is the opinion of the Bishop and of Antonio Gomez, and of the Fathers of the Order of Saint Dominic, that I ought to marry him to a Portuguese woman because if he was guided, and lived like a Christian. He would forget the customs and life of the Moors, and my opinion was to await for this instructions from Your Highness. They constrained me with so many reasons that I should have him wedded to a daughter of Francisco de Mariz and of Maria Penheira, his relative Amrique de S (?) urging me to deliver up to him the islands for him to govern for whom he should wish, it did not seem to me to be in reason that they should be governed unless by ordinance of Your Highness, and by he whom in your name, I should be ordered to choose as the one most fitted and judged the best one to serve Your Highness, and would do what should be in reason, and act justly in the Land; and owing to the
_ 26 _ young woman being only nine years of age and not of a marriageable age. I did not agree to this: I am taking the King with me to Goa, should I find a person with whom to marry him that should be fitted for him and of rank, I will do so if for in truth by marrying him to a Christian woman he would be one, and should he return to the islands he would be sure to get entangled with some Moorish woman, and would be a Moor himself as formerly, and I take him with me also for him to learn our customs and witness our divine offices, and obtain knowledge of the things necessary for a Christian. I, Senhor, wrote to Your Highness to send Gyll Fernandes de Carvalho to the coast of [in pencil] Quedua and Pendam and the reasons why I did so, as you will see by the general letter; and that when any message came from Malaqa to attend to it, for it was besieged and in great necessity, and truly does it seem that Our Lord remembered this land on account of the many virtues of Your Highness, and of the zeal for His Service, and because you so chiefly and particularly ordain it, and enjoin, should be kept to in all things, and that our sins should not prevail with Him to permit that He should neglect such holy reasons as those of Your Highness.
_ 27 _ For He willed and permitted that I should send Gyll Fernandes to that voyage, with such very different ideas of what should result from it and occur, and being there, I knew by a letter of Dom Pedro of the position he was in, and then made ready with a ship and two foists, and departed the best equipped he could, and he arrived in time, which can well be said according as I have information of those who were there present, that after Our Lord in whose Hands are all things, that of His Mercy He so willed it thus, he was the Salvation of Mallaqa which was besieged with many slain, and without food supplies, or with the necessary things the town taken and a great quantity of goods and many of the people slain, and that belonging to the Christians placed in great want and strait, and well nigh desperate. After his arrival and landing with his men he ran upon the entrenchments which were held by the enemy with such courage, and he chiefly fought in such a manner, that, despite the many wounds received, he gained it with the loss of some of his men, and in this, as well as in all else that he performed in this undertaking, winning as much honour for himself as he could desire in a similar affair, and he rendered such service to Your Highness that he is truly worthy of much honour and favour, so much so, that
_ 28 _ with his and that of his men, and with that which was had from Malaqua. The Malays were ousted out and the Jaos, and the city was cleared out, and the siege was put an end to at the fortress and saved it from being taken, but it remained such a wreck and in such a bad state, and so many merchants dead and others in captivity, and so many goods stolen, that it will take a long time to reform it, and much justice done in order to be able to repopulate it, and I hope in Our Lord that as soon as I arrive to Goa to make a fleet, and send it to succour, and provide what is necessary so as to render it secure and free from the dread that despite India should be in such great need. There will be no lack of money for such a necessary work. The number of dead during this siege of Malaqua were a hundred and twenty Portuguese of which they slew some eighty, among these being Dom Garcia de Meneses, son of the Craveiro who was going to Maluqo, and happened to be there going out with some men to take a small portion of artillery with which the enemies were firing the fortress, and with him eighteen men of whom one was Pero Vaz Guedes, another Antonio Ferreira and Antonio de Lugo and Gaspar de Paiva and others: I would kiss the hands of Your Highness to bear in mind
_ 29 _ these men who died for your service, and to the brothers of Dom Garcya to show them some favour because they are men who deserve it, and moreover they have this plea for better doing so. From Maluqo, I had likewise news through Cristovão de Sa who came from thence and was Captain there, and through a provision which was sent over by Jorge Cabral he delivered up the fortress to Bernadim de Souza who was there; who, after being captain, went with a hundred and eighty Portuguese to besiege the fortress of Gildo and took with him the King of Maluqo with the two thousand native men who aided him very much, and he had it under seige for three months, and he caused much damage and slew a large number though receiving small loss of his own, and he straitened them so, that despite its strength, through want of food it surrendered with all artillery, muskets and arms that were in it, and he destroyed it down to the ground, and all the broken stones cast into the sea by his command. The King of Gildo remained a vassal of the King of Maluqo and that of Sumbaya, he having been formerly the most powerful King that in the land existed, and who much greatly harassed the fortress of Your Highness, thus the land remained quiet and pacified without there being any thing from whence to receive prejudice or damage
_ 30 _ whatever, and therefore the Castilians no longer have there anyone to harbour them, and whereas the King of Ternate served very well in this war with many men and vessels, without whose aid such a large undertaking could not have been carried through. I am in suspense as to what to resolve upon to do with him, and I deem it right to await for instructions from Your Highness, for there go the Autos, however, at Goa I will take my determination in respect to this. Master Francisco came from Japan and arrived well satisfied with the land and the people, and he seems to think that much profit will be done over there, he brought with him a Japanese bringing a letter of the King for Your Highness, and some arms which Diogo Lopes de Souza will deliver. Written in Cochin on the twenty second, I mean seventh of January one thousand and five hundred and fifty-two. I kiss the royal Hands of Your Highness. Dom Affonso On the Supercription For the King our Lord.
_ 31 _ In the same year (1552) The events of the fleet of twenty-five ships occurred in 1552, where the Turks achieved control over Iraq and occupied Qatif and Bahrain:(3) The fleet of 25 galleys Encouraged by this success [the conquests of Mesopotamia], Grand Sultan soon wanted to be (lord) of the whole of the Persian Strait as far as Ormuz, which never left his mind. (Couto). He ordered the advance to continue with the successive conquests of El Katiff and the island of Bahrain. Persuaded by threats and corruption. The Arabs of El Katiff, did not support Sheikh Murad, who found himself forced to abandon its besieged walls and take refuge inland, still accompanied by 300-400 followers. (3) Document no. and reference.
_ 32 _ D. Antonio de Noronha (transferred from Ceuta to Goa as a reward), had already been Viceroy since 1550. He saw through the dangerous designs of the Turk, decided that the situation had gone beyond what was acceptable, and sent his nephew D. Antão to Ormuz. This expedition, comprising 1,200 men in galleons and 12 oared vessels, departed on 1 April 1551. It was just one among the many hundreds of amphibious operations which, more than the rare battles engaged in on the high seas, fill the pages dedicated by the chroniclers to the naval actions in the East with light and sound. What a great pity it is, no longer to be able to count on sufficient time to apply oneself to a new venture devoted to the great many outstanding military-naval exploits! Having arrived in Ormuz, D. Antão sent Manuel de Vasconcelos ahead with 12 light ships to attack El Katiff and he followed them two months later in July. In all, there were 1,100 Portuguese, with 3,000 Persians and Ormuzians, under the command of Reis Sharaf, the guazil of Ormuz,and of [Emil Maxet], the guazil of Moghistan. They disembarked and attacked the fortress. After eight days' resistance the (400) Turks fled by night. D. Antão wanted to hand over El Katiff, which had been reconquered in this way to Reis Sharaf; but he refused the onerous task, and so much so that the fortress was
_ 33 _ destroyed, with the loss of 40 of our men, buried by a premature explosion of a bastion. D. Antão sent the ocean-going ships to Ormuz with all the local reserves and followed with 18 foists as far as the mouth of the present-day Shatt-al-Arab through which the Tigris and the Euphrates (reunited upstream) flow. But our captain, disgusted by the intrigues in which the Pasha of Basra involved him, abstained from further operations and returned to Ormuz. The Portuguese were never either masters nor admirers of intrigue, even in war, where it is allowed. In Constantinople, the Sultan could not resign himself to the loss of El Katiff. He correctly attributed it to the control that the Portuguese exercised over the sea with their fleets, even when composed only of small foists or light cutters, and he decided to renew the naval offensive, but limiting it to the waters of the Gulfs of Persia and Ormuz with no more oceanic flights of fantasy. Thus 25 of the best and most powerful Mediterranean-type galleys sailed from Suez under the command of the already famous admiral Piri-bey, with strict instructions to make directly (and if possible secretly) for Basra, where orders awaited them.
_ 34 _ These instructed Piri-bey to hide a large number of terradas within his squadron, in which 15,000 soldiers, who had been assembled in Basra and earmarked for the conquest of Ormuz, would embark. But the news leaked out. D. Alvaro de Noronha, the new captain of Ormuz, already knew in May 1551 that Piri-bey would attack in July and the best possible preparations were made in the fortress. At the same time, he sent Fernão Dias César with a light ship to reconnoiter the ports of El Shihr and Kishm. César returned with confirmation of the rumor, so Simão da Costa and Miguel Colaco left once more to scout the waters as far as Cape Ras-el-Had. The latter returned to Ormuz with a warning of the galleys ‘approach, while the former continued on his way to India with information intended for the Viceroy. And so it happened, and at the beginning of August, five galleys of the advance-guard were sighted under the command of the Turkish admiral's son. He arrived in Muscat with his entire naval force. After entering, he disembarked fighting men with heavy artillery, which he had purposely brought for a siege and with a bombardment he invested the tiny stronghold (which had only 60 garrison troops) that captain João de Lisboa had started to build only three months earlier
_ 35 _ by orders from Portugal, relayed through the Viceroy D. Afonso de Noronha. After an eighteen-day barrage the small fort was almost destroyed, food was short but especially water because the cistern had not yet been finished. Using a captive, who was now a renegade, by the name of João da Barca, whom he had brought along, Piri-bey proposed an honorable surrender to João de Lisboa, which our captain felt compelled to accept. But hardly had the handover been concluded than Piri-bey put his men ashore and seized everything, without forgetting the artillery of the fort. Having performed this easy task, he advanced against Ormuz and disembarked in the city abandoned by the civilian population which had taken refuge on the island of Kishm. He immediately laid siege to the stronghold where the captain had 900 Portuguese, the king of the country and some prominent people. D. Alvaro dispatched two ships one after the other with a warning to India. Then he evacuated the carracks anchored in the port and moored them alongside the fortress with only the artillerymen. The walls were pounded in such a way and with such fierce onslaughts that at the end of three weeks of bombardment and assaults, paid for at a very high price, the Turks gave up. They reembarked their survivors and went on to Basra. But heavy damage had been done in the
_ 36 _ city of Ormuz and on the island of Kishm, both having been sacked. In India, the news from D.Nuno excited everyone and many immediately rushed impulsively to Ormuz at their own expense. Antonio de Sá (the Mamluk) travelled from Bassein in a cutter in just 20 days. D. Diogo de Noronha (the Hunchback) and his cousin D. Antonio, the brother of D. Alvaro, immediately embarked with 50 men each. The Viceroy sent Fernão Farto at once to announce his departure in person. He went to the Town Council of Goa to ask for help, which they gave him to the tune of 20,000 pardaus in gold and he embarked at the end of October with more than 30 heavy ships and 50 smaller ones. However, he received news in Diu of the withdrawal of the Turks, so he returned to Bassein with the rest of the fleet after sending a reinforcement of 12 heavy ships and 20 light ones under the command of his nephew D. Antão to Ormuz. The latter arrived there at the end of November and he assigned Gomes de Siqueira and Luis de Aguiar, both fine cutter commanders, to reconnoiter Basra(A). (A) Note the resolution and speed with which help was sent to threatened garrisons, provided unfavorable monsoons did not prevent them.
_ 37 _ Meanwhile, Piri-bey found himself poorly received by Pasha Marcate, who was so annoyed by his sharing in the plunder that he informed Constantinople that the admiral had disobeyed the specific instructions that had been given him. Out of fear of being arrested, and sent there by overland courier, Piri-bey embarked in three light galleys with the plundered valuables, more than a million in gold, together with the Portuguese captives from Muscat, in the hope of thus being reconciled with the Sultan. The voyage went badly because just in sight of El Katiff, he lost one of the galleys which ran aground. He was pursued at sea by D. Antão, who was notified by Luis de Aguiar (while Gomes de Siqueira remained to keep an eye on the other 22 galleys), and on arriving in Constantinople, he was strangled or beheaded by order of the Sultan, who would not tolerate the least infringement of his orders. Thus, the renowned Piri-bey came to a rather sad end. Diogo do Couto calls him a great pirate, but he was, in fact, a most cultured man, a writer, poet, geographer and hydrographer, the author of two famous books, one about the Aegean Sea, the other about the Mediterranean. The Grand Sultan was worried about the security of the rest of his galleys which had fled to Basra and he ordered
_ 38 _ 15 of them to withdraw to Suez, under the command of Murad-bey, who arrived in Basra at the end of July 1552 and immediately set sail. At that time, D. Antão and D. Diogo de Noronha occupied the land and sea captaincies respectively. The two commanders of the cutters, Gomes da Silva and Luis de Aguiar, continued the blockade of Basra. At the end of August, one of them caught sight of the 15 galleys and notified D. Diogo, who attacked them at sea off the coast of Persia. When the wind dropped, the galleon of Gonçalo Pereira Marramaque became separated. The 15 galleys maneuvered with their oars and concentrated intense fire against Marramaque. He resisted bravely and set examples of almost superhuman courage. His galleon was completely destroyed, so much so that it is difficult to understand how it remained afloat, but it avoided or repelled the repeated attempts to board it. All the chroniclers describe the battle with the utmost praise for the captain and his men. It is gratifying to transcribe part of Diogo do Couto's account: All the top rigging was smashed to bits, injuring everyone in the galleon. The mizzen was totally destroyed, both the masts split in many places and the booms were
_ 39 _ with their sails in the sea. But that was how the pitiful galleon looked in the middle of all the galleys, like a beautiful and powerful redoubt, emitting flames and fiery sparks in all directions; and all the soldiers, even though burdened with many wounds, were so keen and eager that they wanted the galleys to attack them broadside-on, so as to give vent to the fury with which all were imbued against the Turks. "On that day, Gonçalo Pereira Marramaque showed the superior quality of his blood and zeal..." "Always in the most dangerous places ... He bore three cruel arrow wounds on his body ... The master and the pilot, who worked like elephants on that day, were killed by musket shots." When night fell, a sea-breeze sprang up and D. Diogo assembled his squadron. The Turks withdrew, hugging the coast so closely that it was impossible to pursue them with the galleons, which were wary of the shallows. It was the second time that Murad-bey, earlier defeated by us in El Katiff, saw the fortune of arms turn against him if the outstanding bravery of the Portuguese can be thus described. Suleiman also would not tolerate strokes of bad luck and replaced Murad by Aleque-lubi. In August 1553,
_ 40 _ the latter encountered our men near Muscat, commended by the Viceroy's son, D. Fernando de Meneses, who was returning from Sofar and the mouth of the Strait, where he had no success. The fleet in which D. Francisco had left Goa in February consisted of six galleons, six caravels and 25 or 26 foists, though it was not known for certain, even in August, whether it was considered sea-worthy for the action which was known to be imminent. Since the commanders of our cutters, while reconnoitering in the vicinity of Basra, had come to report the departure of the galleys, D. Antão in a galliot with 50 men and Bernaldim de Sousa with a galleon belonging to Gomes Farinha and three or four merchant ships which were anchored in Ormuz, went to join as volunteers. He put artillery and fighting men aboard them. The advance guard of cutters saw the galleys off Cape Mussendom and attacked them with broadsides. The Turkish admiral, under sail, was drifting towards the surf on shore and concentrated his attack against the galleon of Gomes da Silva, who was short of crew, but D. Antão went to take him a reinforcement of 20 men in his galliot. The galleys retreated to the gulf of Lima, which the galleons and carracks could not enter because it was too
_ 41 _ shallow. D. Fernando left them guarded by the oared vessels and tacked hard with the heavy ships in order to gain the windward. He arrived in Muscat and rejoiced when he caught sight of them once more at 9 a.m. on 25 August among the islands of Sohar. Aleque-lubi rowed in line-ahead along the coast, with the wind on the prow. D. Fernando attempted to cut him off but the Turk speeded up the oar stroke of the nine lightest galleys and escaped him on that occasion. The other six galleys were captured by a boarding attack and the combatant’s taken prisoner and beheaded. D. Fernando withdrew to Muscat, dressed his wounds and repaired the galleys. He blessed and baptized them with the following names: St. Helena, St. Lucia, Conceição, Vitória, Santiago and S. Miguel. They had 47 bronze cannon, some firing stone balls weighing 40 arretels. The five caravels had gone in pursuit of the other nine galleys. In a clever maneuver, they cut off their route to the Strait of Mocha and pursued them as far as India, where seven fled to the port of Surat. The last two were lost, having run aground on the coast of Daman. The news soon arrived. Francisco de Sá (the Bespectacled),the captain of Bassein, and João de Mendonça (the
_ 42 _ Shark) of Chaul, advanced towards the line of blockading caravels with ten small rowing boats each. On 10 October, the Viceroy ordered a fleet of two galleons and thirty rowing boats to leave, under the command of his nephew, Fernão Martins Freire, as captain-major of the Indian Ocean, to relieve the captains of Bassein and Chaul in the blockade, but keep their twenty ships. [Caracem], the son-in-law of the celebrated Khwaja Sofar was captain in Surat, and Freire began by asking him to hand over the galleys and the Turks. In fact, the Sultan of Cambay's captain answered him that the Turkish crews of the galleys had already surrendered and as for the galleys, he hesitated to hand them over for fear of his cargo ships, anchored in Gidá, being seized in retaliation. Finally, he agreed that the seven Turkish galleys would be sawn into three, then into six, with each one quartered, which was equivalent to burning them, under the personal supervision of Rui Freire and the chief coxswain of India. This was done with the agreement of the Viceroy of the Council. D. Fernando de Meneses arrived in Goa in November 1553, which he entered in triumph with the six captured galleys. These he afterwards incorporated into his naval force.
_ 43 _ With the total destruction of the fleet of 25 galleys, the Turks abandoned their attempts, to seize control of the Western Indian Ocean from us on a larger scale. It is clear that they never tried anything at any time in the Eastern Indian Ocean. Suleiman the Magnificent survived for 13 years after the destruction of this fleet, (which was courageously defended to the death by the palatine count Nicolau Zrinji), since he only died on 8 September 1566, "in harness" so to speak, despite suddenly falling ill during the siege of Sziget. During that period he enjoyed a great victory in the Mediterranean and suffered a great disaster. The victory was gained for him in 1560 by Admiral Piali against the combined Christian squadrons, mustering 200 keels, which were armed by the Pope, Genoa, Florence, Malta, Sicily, Naples and the principality of Monaco. These sailed to Jerba along the southern Tunisian coast and then to Tripoli, under the command of the Genoese Admiral Doria and the Spanish general D. Alvaro de Sande. Piali left the Dardanelles and en route collected the squadrons from Rhodes (captured in 1522 and already Turkish) and Mitelene. He attacked Doria in the waters of Jerba on 14May 1560, and routed him completely. Twenty galleys and twenty-seven transport ships were destroyed and seven
_ 44 _ other galleys captured. The remainder of the naval arsenal was put to flight. The Christian disembarkation troops, who were already occupied in the construction of the fortress in Jerba, surrendered to the Turks. Piali entered Constantinople in triumph with his plunder but especially his prisoners, amongst whom was included the Spanish general The reverse suffered in Malta was serious. In April 1565, Piali sailed with 180 ships and on 20 May disembarked 20,000 men with siege artillery. Right away on the first day of battle, Piali lost his vice-admiral, the celebrated Dragut, who had nursed personal ambitions concerning the Moroccan Atlantic seaboard and especially about Larache. Fear of these aspirations helped the Moroccan party in the Court of Lisbon, which had taken D. Sebastião to Alcácer-Quibir, to greatly increase. The fort of St. Elmo fell a month later at the cost of innumerable lives on the part of the besiegers. To intimidate the garrison, the serasker (General-in-Chief) Mustafa Pasha, gave orders for the prisoners to be quartered. The Grand Master La Valete replied by loading his cannon with the heads of the Turkish prisoners. Piali set sail in September 1565 after losing 20,000 men.
_ 45 _ So, it was this great warrior nation that Portugal vanquished completely in all the actions that it undertook in the Indian Ocean. The squadrons of Emir Usseni in 1509 and the 15 galleys commanded by Aleque-lubi in 1553, were totally destroyed and not a single mast with the Turkish standard escaped. The squadron of Suleiman Pasha of 1537-1538 sailed from Aden to Diu with 76 to 85 sail hurling the direst threats, but it ended up fleeing in the morning when it sighted the 20small foists and cutters which it took to be the advance guard of the fleet of the Viceroy of India, D. Garcia de Noronha. Did the isthmus of Suez make the naval preparations difficult for them? Undoubtedly. And what about us? We had our main base in Lisbon. The carracks took at least five or six months on the most favorable crossing to Goa. We were surrounded by enemies in India. In the capital we depended upon 15 districts, as opposed to the 250 much larger sanjacos of the Turkish empire. All in all, the disproportion of material forces was enormous. But the spiritual forces of our people were invincible. That is the only conclusion that can be reasonably arrived at. We have nothing to hide in our history. After this stupendous victory (as had happened before) we suffered some small reverses.
_ 46 _ Suleiman had at his command in the Red Sea a low-ranking sea captain of enormous courage and good fortune, called Zafar. He was so talented that the Sultan even considered him preferable to Alequi-lubi. In 1551, this commodore with five galleys ran into Luis Figueira in the Strait with five very much weaker foists, which tried to retire. However, the flagship was boarded and despite the fact that Figueira fought like a raging lion, he was killed by a musket shot and his foist captured with few soldiers surviving. The captain of another foist, Gaspar Nunes, greatly saddened at not being able to save his chief or die with him, went to Massawa, dumped the small pieces of artillery overboard and, with no desire to return to Goa, travelled into the interior of Abyssinia with his men, where they all remained and died in the wars against the Galos (Abyssinians) and Turks. Still unaware of Aleque-lubi's defeat, the lucky Zafar left Suez in August with two galleys, one brigantine and the galliot of the unfortunate Luis Figueira. He went in search of booty to the point of Diu, where he captured four merchant ships with 150,000 cruzados, which he ordered to proceed to Mocha escorted by the brigantine, while he continued his operations as a pirate. Baltasar Lobato's
_ 47 _ galliot appeared out at sea on its way from Ormuz. At the sight of this, the captive Portuguese revolted, attacked and killed the Turks and set fire to the brigantine. But fickle fate contrived to allow Zafar another encounter with the carracks, which he once again captured, together with Lobato's galliot, and he took all of them to Mocha. Zafar crushed us because he devoted himself exclusively to piracy. He possessed the guile to avoid larger fleets and he only ventured against our warships when he surprised them in complete inferiority of numbers and power. He harassed us again on two more occasions before disappearing from the chronicles. However, he left a successor in his method of naval warfare, the celebrated Mirale-beg, whose history, transcribed from the Etiópia Oriental of Friar João dos Santos, is related in an earlier chapter. The prowess of Zafar, following in chronological order just like the foregoing, had no military importance, but is also mentioned so that nothing is hidden, either for or against. It was in 1560 that the Viceroy D. Constantino de Bragança, ordered the Jesuit father Fulgencio Pires to be taken to Abyssinia. He was the bearer of a large quantity of religious objects destined for the new churches already built or under construction by our
_ 48 _ missionaries. He followed in the squadron of Cristovão Pereira Homem, which was made up of three small ships, probably foists. Cristovão observed that Massawa was then occupied by the Turks engaged in a second attempt to conquer Abyssinia, whom the Portuguese who were still living in the Abyssinian empire (erstwhile companions of Cristovão da Gama and descendants of these and others found there) helped effectively to repel. Cristovão Homem sailed to the island of Kamaran, was beset by rough seas but weathered the storm, and suddenly encountered the four galleys of Zafar. One of these was camouflaged and pretended to be a carrack. Without a shadow of a doubt, there is nothing new. Our ships continued taking evasive action to escape but on the following day Zafar, who was a superior seafarer, managed to board Cristovão's ship. The thirty Portuguese fiercely attacked the Turks but almost all of them were killed. The survivors were captured and taken to Cairo, together with Fr. Fulgencio, where they were ransomed by way of Italy. It is pertinent to relate that despite continuous war in the Mediterranean between the Muslims and Christians,
_ 49 _ the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, always sent specially marked galleys to Alexandria without hindrance, first from Rhodes and later from Malta, with plenipotentiaries engaged in the ransoming of captive Christians. These were deliberately taken for that purpose from the whole of the Turkish empire to that port. The fact is that ransoms generated good money for the followers of Islam... The two other foists from the squadron of the wounded Cristovão Pereira Homem, commanded by Victor Carvalho and Roque Pinheiro, managed to escape and arrived in Goa at the end of April of that same year; but their captains were arrested and punished by D. Constantino, who would have preferred them dead rather than fugitives, even from an overwhelmingly superior force. That was the chivalric excellence required of all Portuguese soldiers. Zafar's final sortie appears to have been in 1561 during the Viceroyalty of the Count of Redondo, who ordered D. Francisco Mascarenhas to leave in November with two galleons, twenty-three foists and six hundred and fifty men, to protect the carracks of Ormuz against the pirates. The fleet went to take on water in the island of Vacas off Jakad. Immediately afterwards, Zafar arrived with the same idea, but warned by some fishermen, he fled to his hideout in Mocha, without any possibility of his being
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