ABSTRACT
As soon as he had provisioned the fortress of Calayate, as I have already mentioned, the great Afonso Dalboquerque made himself ready to go to Ormuz, and set out on the fifteenth day of the month of August with the intention of steering to the straits, and getting news of the viceroy, and of India, for it was now some time since he had heard of them; and then, after doing what he could on that coast, he meant to make his way to India. He gave an account of these intentions of his to D. Afonso de Noronha, his nephew, captain of the fortress, and also notified them to the captains in his company. Diogo de Melo, and Martim Coelho, as they were misinformed by Francisco de Tavora of the troubles the fleet had undergone in the conquest of the kingdom of Ormuz, and so were anxious to avoid the like, made a protest to Afonso Dalboquerque, which stated that they had come from Portugal to remain in the company of the viceroy, and were not under any obligation to him, and therefore they desired him to grant them the favour of a licence to sail away to India. He told them to show him their instructions, and because therein the king’s order was contained that on arriving at the place where Afonso Dalboquerque was stationed they were to obey him, he obliged them to remain in obedience to him and ordered them, under penalty of death, to follow him, and not to quit his company, for they could see what a need he had of them after the flight of the captains, and he bade the scriveners of his ships to prepare papers upon this penalty which he had laid upon them.
