_ 193 _ Chapter: 40 When Tristan da Cunha arrived at Cape Guardafui he veered round towards Socotra, which he reached in April, during Lent. He immediately proceeded to the tip of Calancea to take water, since he had by now no more than a barrel-full of it. On the same night he came before Soco with the entire fleet, and on the following day took his barge to have a look at the fortress. He was accompanied by Lionel Coutinho, Rui Dias Pereira and an Arab from Brava who was to show him where he could disembark. The commander-in-chief then sent this Arab to tell Sheikh Abraham that the fleet belonged to the King of Portugal, who had ordered him to take the fortress at Socotra. He demanded the Sheikh to surrender it to him, and if he were to do so the Portuguese would be his friends. Otherwise, he would capture it and do what he had done at Brava. Abraham replied that his father had not given his authority to surrender the fortress but to defend it to the death, which he was determined to do. He added that if our men were so brave, they should come ashore and try to capture it if they could for, they would not obtain it in any other way. While these messages were carried back and forth the commander-in-chief had time to observe the fortress site.
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