_ 233 _ the bottom. The officers rushed below, saw the galleon was sinking, and requested the captain-major to change course, because they were going down. Dom Diogo agreed to this, though against his better judgement, and the officers changed to another course and hurriedly plugged the leaks. It was at ten o'clock in the morning when the wind began to drop, and the galleons remained scattered over the sea without steering, separated and dispersed in such a way that the galleons of Gonçalo Pereira Marramaque was stuck on the Persian side, isolated at a distance of a cannon shot from the rest of the fleet. When Barbarossa saw that the moment was favourable, he set sail and went with all his galleys in the direction of Gonçalo Pereira's galleon. On arriving there, they surrounded it completely and began to bombard it furiously, discharging into it a prolonged barrage of cannon balls. After they had fired all their charges, they withdrew and then resumed the attack, using this tactic repeatedly. Gonçalo Pereira Marramaque had one hundred and twenty men in his galleon, amongst whom were many fidalgos and courageous and noble knights. Seeing that the galleys were bearing down on them they armed themselves and protecting the galleon from the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy