_ 480 _ Out of consideration for Your Highness’s interests, I do not think that it would be out of place to seek friendship and more private negotiations with this King of Persia. The reasons are clear; the means could also be found. It would serve some purpose to respond to His Holiness’s wish that he should be given a report about this. The King of Castile’s sixteen galleys that recently arrived in Naples with soldiers left the said city on 20th June for Barcelona with four more from Naples, seven belonging to Antonio de Oria and two from Mari. Let Your Highness learn from a copy of a letter from Messina, attached to this one, what happened to seven galleys that came from Sicily to accompany the others. The captain of the nine galliots was known to be Dargut Arrais. The fact is that the reputation of the galleys in this region has been completely lost, and the enemy has thereby benefited enormously. As for the outstanding debt, the loss is estimated as equal to that of the “Gelves”. The Duke of Medina is a miser, and prosperous ministers are very important to the princes. The booty was very great for the enemy because, apart from the importance of the ships, they say that they brought merchandise that was worth a hundred and fifty thousand cruzados.
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