_ 72 _ de Sá, João Teixeira, João Pacanha and other reliable gentlemen to escort the skiff, and to call to the other boats that they were all to go in among the ships and do as much damage as they could, throwing fire and killing the men who were in the sea, those on land and in the terradas. This they did, and the damage done to the Moors doubled and in great disarray they abandoned their vessels and took to flight, swimming towards the land. João da Nova cast off his Moorings and went towards a large ship which belonged to Malik Ayyaz, the captain of Diu, and set fire to it before he received the Captain-in-Chief’s message. The Moors, unable to do anything about the fire because the men in the crow’s nest pelted them with stones, cut the cables and made for land, and fouled another which also cut its moorings to flee from the fire and make for land; and they ran aground with the boats after them, making many holes and killing many people. It was now almost evening, and no Moorish ship was left to shoot at them, and they could only shoot at a few ships in which they saw Moors. To show the others what they should do, the Captainin-Chief hauled in the cable that ran between the ships to get closer, and ordered that the King’s palace should be fired at. The other ships followed suit, and all fired at the city, which had many fine houses along the shore, and
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