_ 38 _ vessels in the seas between Melinde and Mozambique to be at the call of Afonso d’ Albuquerque if he required them, with severe penalties if they refused. Martim Coelho and Diogo de Mello obeyed this when Francisco de Tavora required them. These ships were loaded with provisions, most of which were maize. When they arrived, the Captain-in-Chief set sail at once and returned to Socotra, where he found the local people rebelling and fighting the Portuguese. He entered into this and fought so hard that they surrendered and agreed peace with the obligation to provide every year a certain number of goats and trusses of dates. When everything was at peace again, the Captain-in-Chief busied himself with beaching his ship and Francisco de Tavora’s repairing them, and their ship’s boats, which were no longer seaworthy /873/. These vessels were them very well repaired with a great deal of pitch and coir and wood and planks brought by Francisco de Tavora; and in addition, he built brigantine with fourteen benches. While this was being done winter arrived, and there was great danger of losing the ships in the winter storms, so much so that the castles of the Rey Grande, which was Francisco de Tavora’s ship, had to be dismantled.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy