_ 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
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