e Noronha's ship had been wrecked off the coast
of Gujarat, and that, though Dom Affonso was drowned, most of his men
were saved and were detained in custody. The mere fact that such an
embassy was sent showed how far the fame of the great Portuguese
captain had already extended.

During this period of waiting, two other squadrons joined Albuquerque
under the command of Goncalo de Sequeira and Joao Serrao, making the
amount of reinforcements which had reached him during the year
fourteen ships and 1500 Portuguese warriors. But his difficulties
were not yet over. Two of these squadrons, those of Diogo Mendes and
Joao Serrao, had been sent for the express purpose, the former of
going to Malacca, the latter of exploring the Red Sea. These captains
wished to depart at once on their several missions, and desired not
to co-operate in a second attack on Goa. Goncalo de Sequeira, on his
part, declared that his ships were ships of burden and that it was
his duty to load them with cargo for Portugal.

Albuquerque knew how eagerly King Emmanuel expected his
merchant-ships, and, like Warren Hastings in later times, he was
forced to subordinate his political aims to the commercial objects of
his employer. He therefore sailed to Cochin, where he invested a new
Raja in the place of his deceased uncle and got ready the cargo for
Portugal. But, though he yielded to Sequeira's representations, he
insisted upon being accompanied to Goa by the squadrons of {85} Diogo
Mendes and Joao Serrao. Duarte de Lemos was greatly disgusted with
this decision, and demanded leave to return to Portugal instead of to
his station at the mouth of the Red Sea. Albuquerque acceded to his
request, and placed him in command of the squadron of cargo-ships
which was about to return to Portugal.

The combined Portuguese war-fleet then sailed to Honawar, where
Albuquerque was present at the marriage of his ally Timoja to a
daughter of the Raja of Gersoppa. Timoja pressed the Portuguese
Governor to attack Goa as soon as possible. He informed him that
Yusaf Adil Shah had now gone so far into the interior that he would
be unable to relieve the city, and also that the garrison of Goa
consisted not of more than 4000 Turks and Persians under the command
of a general named Rasul Khan, whom the Portuguese called Rocalcao.
Under these circumstances the Portuguese Governor resolved to attack,
and in the beginning of November he sailed once more into the harbour
of Goa wi