32 they did the first day. Even so, they lost one of their carracks, which was used as a fire-ship(1), and were badly damaged, and suffered the ignominy of flight. In this engagement, Commander Rui Freire twice sent men to the flagship of Nuno Alvares Botelho to replace those who were dead and wounded, and it is noteworthy that in the midst of the fighting Commander Nuno Alvares Botelho was concerned to ask personally how the captains of his fleet were doing, talking to them from the top of the boarding net. When he learnt that the admiral had been killed he entrusted the ship to Antonio da Cruz, and because of the death of Francisco de Tovar he put Manuel Dinis in charge of the “Sao Salvador”. The two Commanders judged that the fleet was at risk, being anchored so close to the spit of Ormuz, and agreed that using the land breeze we should move to Larak to make necessary repairs and take on provisions, and this was done under sail a little before daybreak with lanterns to entice the enemy. When it was daylight the enemy also hoisted sail but did not approach, although our fleet was moving under torn foresails only, while they had more sail. Going towards the shore and tacking in order to go slowly, we dropped anchor off Larak, firing our cannon to draw them closer. But they would not engage and made for Gombroon as usual. That day Nuno Alvares sent D.Francisco Coutinho to be captain of the admiral-ship because he had volunteered for 1 - The “John”. This ship was a Portuguese one from Goa, of 250 tons, which had been captured by the English on the journey from Chaul on 11 November 1624.
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