The Portuguese in the Sea of Oman

_ 143 _ wind began to blow Alvaro Barreto’s ship, which was small and had many sails, could not withstand its force and had to take them down. As a result, it lagged behind the flagship, which was large and could withstand the force of the winds, so that it had no need to take down its sails. Alvaro Barreto proceeded in this way, and when the sun rise, he found himself before the islands of Tristan da Cunha, having lost sight of the flagship. Considering that it was sailing full sail in the same direction as Álvaro Barreto, the latter thought that the commander-in-chief might have come to one of the islands during the night as a result of the darkness he would not have seen it and his ship would have been dashed against it; and indeed this is what apparently happened, as it later transpired. There is nothing to tell about the other ships, except that Vasco Carvalho’s, went too far south to round the Cape of Good Hope, at a latitude of 47 degrees. This was in July, and there was so much snow that they were not able to remove it with shovels, and the cold was so bitter that eight people died when they were just sitting down, talking to each other. From here he went to Mozambique and then to India, where five cargo ships from the fleet arrived by the beginning of November the last. of these being Alvaro Barreto’s, who as he stopped

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