_ 229 _ As these matters gave me grounds for doing so, I wished to find out what was the state of the fleet. As it would not have been just to entrust a matter of such moment to anyone else, I myself, together with the Secretary and the Chief Treasury Officer made a tour of the whole of it, going down into the holds of the ships with spaces below the waterline; I looked at their joints, their ribs, the belly, their beams, their tonnage. I was accompanied throughout by the master of the shipyard, the master caulker and all the pilots, masters of the long-haul carracks and many captains and noblemen. As I carried out this task I came across seven galleys and three galliots, rotten to the point that they could be pulled apart with the hands. They were unserviceable and beyond repair. I likewise came across another galley built by António Correa(A), which everyone swore could not sail: her back was broken, she was very weak, she had already been to sea and was difficult to sail because she was badly built. This done, I toured the galleons and caravels and Your Highness's other galleys and found this fleet in a condition which you will see from a report by the shipyard officials I (A) António Correa was a wealthy casado of Goa, the owner of the houses where D João de Castro was welcomed by Martim Afonso de Sousa. (Correia, IV, p. 432).
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