_ 88 _ trying to break his rudder. A shell from Meliquia’s pinnace hit Dom Lourenco’s ship at the base of the hull, making a hole which began to let in a great deal of water. But our men neither saw nor felt this, because they were very busy defending themselves and trying to counter-attack, at this point the wind died down. The current was very strong because the tide was ebbing, and since there was no wind to help steer the ship, it was thrown against a fishermen’s stockade on the opposite side of the river, which was made of palm tree trunks, The ship’s master was to blame for this, because when he hoisted the sails, in fear of passing close to the enemy fleet as he should have done, sailing straight ahead, as the others did he veered so much to one side that the ship moved towards the bank, near the stockade. Since there was no wind, he was dragged against it, which would not have happened, had he followed the others. Payo de Sousa who was close to Dom Lourenco’s ship immediately threw it a cable so that he could tow it, but to no avail, because the prow of the ship was very inclined, owing to the water it had let in, and it became stuck in the stockade. No effort of Payo de Sousa’s men to tow it away from the stockade was of any use. The men in Dom Lourenco’s
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