_ 199 _ For navigation during the day salvos replaced fires(A). Those who did not respond to the signals would have to pay a fine of ten cruzados and be put in the cells without pay until their arrival in India(B). Some masters and pilots, whose negligence had caused collisions, were transferred to another vessel(C). These instructions were transcribed on an order which was countersigned by all the captains(D). Then they set sail again, for it was important to do their utmost to make up for their late departure. All these precautions would not protect the fleet from the storms that prevailed around the Cape of Good Hope, which they rounded at the end of June. The scattered ships ran adrift for two whole days, whipped by icy showers and lost in such a profound darkness that they could no longer tell day from night(E). When the darkness began to lift and they could at last see land, Lopo Soares tried to reassemble his ships. Each time they turned over the hourglass on the flagship two bombard shots were fired as a rallying signal, to which each one would have to reply in the same manner. In this way all the ships were (A) Regimento of Lopo Soares, CA, III, p. 187. (B) BM Anonymous, p. 116; Castanheda, I/90, p. 192. (C) Castanheda I/90, p. 192. (D) Castanheda I/90, p. 191. (E) Castanheda, I/90, p. 192; Barros, I/7-9, p. 281.
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