_ 236 _ gave him, and in how much greater esteem he held him than the other captains who had gone there up till then. At that time, he was judged to have shown great discretion and sound judgement in this matter, and it could not be denied that he was greatly gifted with these. As soon as the Pasha of Basra learned that Piri Reis had disembarked in Muscat and Ormuz, against the orders that the Grand Turk had given him, he immediately sent news of this post haste to Constantinople. When Piri Reis, who had already arrived in Basra hotfoot from Ormuz and the island of Kishm, was informed of this, because he was a wise and prudent man and knew the Grand Turk’s character, he thought to himself that if a message from the latter was awaiting him in Basra, he would have his head cut off. So he embarked with all his booty (which they say was worth more than a million in gold) in three well-equipped galleys, clapped all the Portuguese whom he had captured in Muscat in irons and left Basra for Constantinople. He convinced himself that he could placate the Turk with this enormous bounty and receive his pardon. He had proceeded as far as El Katiff when one of his galleys struck a sandbank at night on which it broke up. As this happened in darkness and the Portuguese did not
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