_ 160 _ Item 28- When I did not show up because I had been taken on board the caravel, the Commander suspected me of going over to the Moors. However, when he saw me in the nau, he asked my forgiveness and gave me a letter of enfranchisement, with all the powers that Your Highness possesses. You can learn about this from many nobles and gentlemen who witnessed it. Translation pp. 366-372 Item 29: When we were preparing to sail to the Straits...... the Commander- in-Chief said to me that...... Arab pilots. I answered him that if he gave me a Moorish nau anchored there, that we had captured near Socotra, I would go on ahead and take it through the Straits for him. I would carry an Arab pilot with me as far as Jidda, because there was no way of sailing through those Straits without pilots from the gateway to the Straits. Other pilots who sailed to and from India did not know how to navigate the Straits, and they were not obliged to take any Moorish ship beyond the entrance, known as Bab Al Mandab. The Commander replied that if I brought him an Arab pilot, he would reward me well. So, I got into the nau, which was crewed entirely by Moors, apart from half a dozen Portuguese. I anchored in front of the place and I asked them to give me a pilot for
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