_ 339 _ were no more galleys anywhere in the Strait, except for those belonging to Zafar, which were beached in Suez. In February of the same year the governor received news by letters from the captain of Ormuz, that the seven galleys of the company of Piri Reis, that had remained in Basra, were being equipped to make their way to the Strait of Mecca. He also received other news from the king of Basra, to the effect that the Turks had taken the kingdom and those of the lords of the islands of the Gizares their allies. These begged him with great insistence that he should assist them with a fleet, because they had surrounded the Turks and had burnt two of their galleys and placed them in such a predicament, that if they only had a fleet at sea to help them they would end up by destroying them all and would recover their city. For this help, they would once more offer the fortress on the bar and half the revenues from the custom house to our Lord the King, just as they had earlier offered them to the viceroy Dom Antão de Noronha, when he sent Dom Antonio de Noronha there with a powerful fleet. Nothing came of this, for the reason mentioned earlier. Having put this matter to the council, it was agreed that the offer should be accepted, and that a sizeable
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