_ 270 _ withdrew in July and informed Dom Alvaro. Having learnt the real situation, he ordered all the food, water, firewood, timber, scaffolding and many other things to be stored inside the fortress. He dispatched Simão da Costa and Miguel Colasso in two light ships, with orders to take up positions off Cape Ras-el-Had till the end of August, in which the monsoon comes from Mecca to that Strait. Having sighted the galleys, if there were more than twenty of them, Simão da Costa was to return to India to apprise the viceroy while Miguel Colasso was to return to Ormuz and inform Kuryat, Kalhat, Muscat and all the other towns so that they would be ready and on the alert. When these ships left they stationed themselves off Cape Ras-el-Had where they kept a strict lookout. At the beginning of August, they caught sight of the five galleys which Piri Reis had sent in advance, in which his son was sailing, to discover if there were any Portuguese ships at the entrance to the Strait. On seeing the sails and confirming that they were galleys, Simão da Costa put to sea to ascertain if there were more of them, and when he saw there were no more, he returned to the port because he was unable to withstand
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy