_ 311 _ a few days, after enjoying continuously fine weather, he anchored in the port of El Katiff, two months after Manuel de Vasconcelos had arrived there. He learned from him about the plight of the fortress and the following day gave orders to disembark. When he reviewed his troops, he found 1,100 Portuguese (because none remained in Ormuz except those looking after the fortress) and 3,000 Persians and Ormuzians, amongst whom there were many emirs and captains from the kingdom of Ormuz. The next day, the captain-major transferred all the men of the fleet to the small ships and the small-boats of the galleons and placed Manuel de Vasconcelos in the vanguard. When they arrived ashore with their ships at high tide, our men came across some Turks on horseback who had sallied forth to oppose the disembarkation. They engaged these in a fierce skirmish and, with a swift charge, drove them backwards, forcing them into the fortress. The captain-major also disembarked all his men with standards unfurled. He divided them into two squadrons, one made up of Portuguese the other of Persians, and he stationed them close to each other, right next to the fortress. He fortified the camp with trenches, earthworks and parapets and built emplacements on which he positioned five pieces of artillery. With these, he began
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