ABSTRACT
As soon as the great Afonso Dalboquerque was informed of this fleet which was being prepared in Julfar, he wrote immediately to Diogo de Melo to be upon his guard and keep up his communications, lest they should fall upon him unawares; and in case so many ships should come that he would be unable to cope with them, he was to send him word at once, for he would come in person to help him. 247And he told the other captains that he had news that two captains of the Xeque Ismael had reached Nabande, bringing men to reinforce the King of Ormuz, they must therefore make themselves ready, for he was determined to go thither and fight with them; and he ordered D. Antonio de Noronha to embark in his ship’s boat with a portion of the men, while he, with the remaining portion, would go in the fusta. And lest the ships should be seen to be deserted by their companies in the sight of the city, and lest the renegades should perceive, by the absence of the ships’ boats, that they were left empty (a stratagem these fellows themselves knew well enough how to practise), he agreed that this attack should be made at night, for the moon was very bright, and then they could return in time, that they might not be missed at the ships. He also posted several men to guard the ships, and left two gunners in each.
