42 because the other two(1) had been forced by weather and their bad condition to take shelter because the seas of this coast are very rough in winter, and only two of the remainder were at all effective, he resolved to go after the five enemy carracks. Off Bassein he encountered a Moorish carrack coming fromMecca and he captured it with its cargo and four hundred Moors who were travelling in it, and sent it with the fleet Auditor, Factor and Clerk and other officers, and everything it contained (without showing any sign of having mentioned this) to be handed over to the Chief Treasury officer at Bassein, where it was adjudged a prize. Continuing his way to Surat he sighted thirteen Moorish pagueis from Malabar carrying four thousand Moors, which he captured, and made them anchor with him. In the evening our oared fleet of the North arrived, and he handed them over to its Commander to be taken to the Chief Treasury officer, since he could not remain with the pagueis or guard them well at night with the galleons. When he came to Surat, he sighted the four enemy carracks and a top-soiled galliot which were in the deeps. Anchoring off the bar opposite them he fired cannon to draw them out, but as they would not come, he determined to go inside to attack them (first going in person to sound the channel and the sandbanks at the entrance. But as the wind did not allow 1- The other three. The “Santiago” was wrecked near Danu, but the men and some of the artillery were saved. The “Misericordia” and “Santo Antonio” were wrecked near Bombay (Livros das Moncoes 22 fo. 116-7). The other four galleons with the Commander were “Sao Francisco” (Flagship), “Sao Francisco”, (Admiral-ship), “Sao Salvador” and “Sao Pedro”.
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