26 the provisioning, the commander left Bassein on 6 January 1625, with eight fighting galleons. These were his flagship and his admiral-ship, in which Francisco Borges de Castel Branco was sailing as admiral, the galleon “Sao Sebastiao” captain Antonio Telles de Meneses; the galleon “Trindade”, captain Francisco de Sousa de Castro; the galleon “Sao Salvador”, captain Francisco de Tovar da Cunha; the galleon” Santiago”, captain Simao de Quintal de Carvalho; the galleon “Misericordia”, captain Francisco de Costa de Lemos; the galleon” Santo Antonio”, captain Antonio Godinho Coelho. Having ascertained that there was no enemy carrack in Surat and that twelve of the European enemies had left for the strait of Ormuz, he sailed with all speed towards Muscat, in accordance with his instructions. They encountered may contrary winds, so strong that they were comparable to those of the coast of Natal, which broke the topmast and yard of the flagship, and finally Split the mainmast. Because they were late and he was afraid of missing the enemy, the commander was unwilling to stop to make repairs or to take on water, although there was a great shortage of it throughout the fleet and it had been rationed for many days. So, without anchoring or stopping anywhere, but going within hailing distance of Muscat, he made for Ormuz, sighting that island and twelve enemy ships at Gombroon(1) 1- “Zuijt-Holland”, “Nieuw-Bantam”, “Dordrecht” and “Weesp” (Dutch) with “James”, “Jonas”, “Eagle”, and “Star” (English carracks) and “spy” and “scout” (English patachos or frigates). The other two belonged to the Moors of Surat.
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