How the great Afonso Dalboquerque, owing to his great need of supplies, shaped his course for the Straits of Ormuz, and arrived at Mascate

The night being over, on the morning of the following day the great Afonso Dalboquerque sent word to his captains to steer straight to land and touch at Çalayate; for, on account of the great need of supplies throughout the fleet, he could not keep his intention of watching for the ships at that point; and also because the Moorish pilots told him that they considered that the ships had already gone by since the weather had been so bad, that if they had left Aden they would have finished their voyage in three days. And, with this determination, all steered to land, and three days afterwards sighted a point of land, which the Moors call Madrica, ¹ and kept continually coasting along with due precaution, keeping close to land by day, and by night standing out to sea, to make their voyage with greater safety, until they came in sight of the Cape of Maceiras. ² And, as they were coming one morning from the sea to the coast, the Moorish pilots did not recognise it; for some made themselves out to be on this side of the Cape of Resalgate, ³ and others on the further side, and they were perplexed to 61find the currents there very rapidly setting in towards the Straits of Ormuz: but, as the sea was calm and the wind improving every moment, the Moorish pilots ordered the ships to be drawn up as close as possible to the shore, and anchored in from twenty-five to fourteen fathoms of water; for, although the coast is full of hidden rocks, it is clear, and affords good anchorage: and all this land near the sea is barren and sandy, and the interior has very lofty and rugged mountain ranges. As soon as the Moorish pilots arrived here, they at once knew they were on this side of the Cape of Resalgate, and at the Maceira point. The fleet remained at anchor there that night; and when morning broke, the ship Taforéa, which was on the weather beam, fired two shots, and some went up the round top immediately to see what it was, and the man on the look-out said he saw three sails on the sea. Then Afonso Dalboquerque sent word to Antonio do Campo and Manoel Telez to set sail and see what those sails were: and, in case they should lose sight of the fleet, he told them to coast along, and they would find him at the Cape of Resalgate, for the Moorish pilot he carried knew the coast very well.