_ 192 _ preceded the departure were of a kind to give free rein to false news. Gian Francesco Affaitato had seen eleven vessels anchored at Restelo. It is said that the "Nunciada" was to have been replaced by two ships, each one measuring four hundred tons; but one of them was ordered in Biscay and would not be ready before the end of the month of April. The king, Dom Manuel, and his captains had decided not to wait for it and to send out the ships that were already armed as soon as the weather was favourable(A). On 22nd April, these eleven vessels crossed the bar of the Tagus. They were manned by one thousand two hundred men and by noblemen chosen from the best families in Portugal. Lopo Soares, the Commander-in-Chief, was the son of the Grand Chancellor of the kingdom(B), related to the Cabrals, to the Almeidas and to the Albuquerques. From 1495 to 1499, he had commanded the fortress of São Jorge da Mina(C). Designated to command the fleet for India in by fire - which was reported at Cochin on 24-XII-1504 by Alvaro Vaz (CA, III, p. 257) but which did not figure on the return inventory. (A) Sanuto, Diarii, VI, p. 26-27. (B) On this family, cf. Braamcamp Freire, Brasões II, P. 278, 336, 337, 402. Rui Gomes de Alvarenga,_father of Lopo Soares, was chanceler-mor of Dom Afonso V, from 1463 until his death. (C) His nomination took place at the end of 1494, cf. the mercé (grant] of Dom João II, made at Evora on 20.XII. 1494 to "Lopo Soares, E1dalgo of oux house, who is now going as captain to the city of são Jorge
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