_ 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.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy