5th Portuguese India Armada ( Albuquerque , 1503 ) The Fifth India Armada was assembled in 1503 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque . It was Albuquerque ' s first trip to India . It was not a particularly successful armada - navigational mistakes scattered the fleet on the outward journey . Ships spent much time looking for each other and several ended up travelling alone . The vanguard arrived in India just in time to rescue Portuguese - allied ruler of Cochin from a land invasion by the Zamorin of Calicut . Anticipating a new invasion , the armada erected Fort Sant ' Iago in Cochin , the first Portuguese fort in Asia ( under the command of Duarte Pacheco Pereira , its first captain - general ) . It also established the third Portuguese factory in India at Quilon . One of the squadrons of the armada , under António de Saldanha , missed the crossing to India , and ended up spending the year preying along the East African coast . Captains of this squadron made several significant discoveries - such as Table Bay ( South Africa ) and , more importantly , the strategic island of Socotra ( near the Gulf of Aden ) . They also exacted tribute from Zanzibar and Barawa . The Fleet . The 5th Armada was composed of nine ( in some accounts ten ) ships split up into three squadrons . The first squadron was led by Afonso de Albuquerque , the second by his cousin Francisco de Albuquerque and the third by António de Saldanha . The exact composition of the three squadrons differs in the various accounts . The following list of ships should not be regarded as authoritative , but a tentative list compiled from various conflicting accounts . [ Almost all Portuguese chronicles suggest that the first squadron was composed only of three ships . However , the account of Italian passenger Giovanni da Empoli , the only eyewitness account of this armada , claims there were four and gives their names and tonnages as listed above . The list of captains is principally based on João de Barros ' s " Décadas " , Damião de Gois ' s " Chronica " , Castanheda ' s " História " , Faria e Sousa ' s " Asia " and Quintella ' s " Annaes da Marinha " . The " Relação das Naus da Índia " swaps around Fernão Martins de Almada and Pedro Vaz da Veiga The chronicle of Gaspar Correia places nephew Vicente Albuquerque ( son of Francisco ? ) in command of one of the naus of the first squadron , shunting Almada to the second squadron , in place of Vaz da Veiga ( who is omitted ) . ] Afonso de Albuquerque and his cousin Francisco de Albuquerque were knights of the Portuguese Order of Sant ' Iago , Nicolau Coelho is the old veteran captain of the India expeditions of the 1st Armada ( Gama , 1497 ) and 2nd Armada ( Cabral , 1500 ) . This is his third known trip . It may also be the second trip of Duarte Pacheco Pereira , as he may have travelled as a passenger / man - at - arms on the 2nd Armada . It is known that at least one of the ships was privately outfitted by the Marchionni consortium . The Florentine Giovanni da Empoli ( João de Empoli ) , who would later write an account of the voyage , was a private factor of the Marchionni house and was aboard their ship ( Empoli doesn ' t actually reveal which one , although , deducing from his account , it was probably Fernão Martins de Almada ' s " São Cristóvão " ) . The fourth ship of the first squadron , which Empoli idenfies as the " Catharina Dias " , was probably also privately outfitted ( probably a nickname ; Catarina Dias de Aguiar was a wealthy Lisbon merchant woman who had outfitted India ships before , and was probably responsible for this one ; the captain of this ship is unknown ) . It is curious that Empoli is the only writer who mentions the " Catharina Dias " , none of the later Portuguese chroniclers were aware of its existence . António de Saldanha was a Castilian nobleman in Portuguese service , Diogo Fernandes Pereira an experienced sailing master , probably commanding a ship outfitted by the merchant community of Setúbal . The mission . The 2nd India Armada ( 1500 ) under Pedro Álvares Cabral had opened hostilities between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Zamorin of Calicut ( " Calecute " , Kozhikode ) , the dominant maritime power on the Malabar Coast of India . News of the war had arrived in Lisbon too late to affect the 3rd Armada ( 1501 ) , but the 4th Armada ( under Vasco da Gama in 1502 ) had been dispatched with more purpose . Gama terrorized the coast , bombarded Calicut and organized a naval blockade of the city , hoping by these means to bring the Zamorin to terms . But the Zamorin refused to yield . Instead , he hired an Arab privateer fleet to break the Portuguese blockade . Although the Calicut - Arab fleet was destroyed by Gama in an encounter before Calicut harbor in late 1502 , it was a close - run thing . The Zamorin ' s resilience and resourcefulness made it clear to Vasco da Gama that a show of force alone wasn ' t enough to reduce Calicut to obedience , that this was going to be a longer fight , which required more men and firepower than the 4th Armada had brought . Another worrisome development was that two Italian passengers on Vasco da Gama ' s fleet had jumped ship in Cannanore and made their way to the court of the Zamorin in Calicut . Both were military engineers and probably secret agents of the Venetian Republic . Thus far , the greater range and firepower of the Portuguese naval artillery had rendered Indian cannon mute and allowed the Portuguese to dominate the coasts with impunity . But the Italians promised to help the Zamorin forge European cannon and close the technological gap . The Portuguese presence in India was on borrowed time . So after formally renewing treaties with his regional allies , Cochin ( " Cochim " , Kochi ) and Cannanore ( " Canonor " , Kannur ) , Gama ' s 4th Armada left India , intent on requesting a stronger fleet from Lisbon , with enough men and arms to , if not reduce Calicut , at least set up a strong Portuguese position in the allied cities . Gama left behind a small armed naval patrol of six or so caravels under his uncle Vicente Sodré , with strict instructions to harass Calicut shipping and , above all , protect the allied cities from Calicut ' s revenge . Gama ' s 4th Armada arrived in Lisbon in the late summer of 1503 , too late to affect the outfitting of the 5th Armada , which had departed that April . So the 5th Armada of Afonso de Albuquerque was assembled and organized without any news of the results of Gama ' s expedition . It is uncertain exactly what instructions were given to the 5th Armada . The chroniclers report that Albuquerque was given instructions to construct a fort in Cochin , and that one squadron ( Saldanha ' s ) was given instructions to remain in Africa , patrolling the mouth of the Red Sea and harassing Arab shipping . But that conclusion was reached with the benefit of hindsight . It is not obvious that those were the original instructions or intent . Certainly the 5th Armada carried materials for the construction of some sort of timber fortress in India , although that could very well be for Calicut ( should Gama ' s mission have succeeded ) . Secondly , Saldanha ' s patrol seems more accidental than purposeful - having missed the summer winds for an ocean crossing , there was little else for them to do . The armada was certainly not a massive or well - armed expedition - only nine ships . If three were indeed designated to remain in Africa , that would leave only six ships ( one or two of which were privately outfitted ) to handle what was by then an out - and - out war on the Indian coasts . Compared to Gama ' s 4th Armada ( 20 well - armed ships ) , it doesn ' t seem that the 5th Armada expected to encounter much trouble or do much fighting in the Indian Ocean . One possible conclusion is that the 5th Armada of 1503 was expected to be a rather uneventful commercial India run - that as Gama 4th Armada was supposed to have pacified India , there was little to do other than deliver building materials , load up with spices and return home , at best leaving behind a couple of ships to bolster the Indian Ocean coastal patrol . The outward voyage . April 6 , 1503 - The first squadron of the 5th Armada , three ( or four ) ships under Afonso de Albuquerque , departed Lisbon . ( Chronicler Diogo do Couto places it in mid - March ) April 14 , 1503 - The second squadron of the 5th Armada , three ships under Francisco de Albuquerque , departed Lisbon . ( Couto places it in early April ) Early May , 1503 - The third squadron of the 5th Armada , three ships under António de Saldanha , Rui Lourenço Ravasco and Diogo Fernandes Pereira ) , departed Lisbon . ( Couto places it in mid - April ) May 1503 - After making a stop at Cape Verde , the first squadron of Afonso de Albuquerque struck out into the south Atlantic , following the South Atlantic Gyre . Along the way , Albuquerque came across Ascension Island . Although the island had already been discovered back in 1501 by the Third Armada of João da Nova ( and named " ilha da Conceição " then ) , Albuquerque renamed it " ilha da Ascensão " on account of it being Ascension Day ( May 21 ) , the name that has since stuck . Strong south - westerly winds pushed them towards the coast of Brazil , where Albuquerque made a brief stop to take on water ( exactly where is uncertain ) , before making his push across the Atlantic Ocean towards the Cape . May / June 1503 - In the meantime , the Third Squadron was a pilotage disaster . Caught by a storm off Cape Verde , two of the ships , those of António de Saldanha and Rui Lourenço Ravasco , were caught by the equatorial counter - current and sailed by mistake into the Gulf of Guinea . They ended up at São Tomé island , with no idea where their third ship ( that of Diogo Fernandes Pereira ) might have been . ( The story of their subsequent misadventures will be told separately below ) . June / July 1503 - The second squadron of Francisco de Albuquerque , apparently having had a generally less troubled trip than the others , was the first to round the Cape of Good Hope - albeit losing one ship , that of Pedro Vaz da Veiga , in the process . Francisco Albuquerque ' s squadron seems to have been the first of the three squadrons to arrive on the East African coast ( Malindi ) . August , 1503 - Afonso de Albuquerque ' s first squadron rounded the Cape of Good Hope , tossed by terrible storms . According to Empoli ( p . 222 ) , the " Catharina Dias " was sunk , and the remainder were separated . The ship Empoli was on ( probably d ' Almada ' s ) was forced to stop in the " Angra de São Brás " ( Mossel Bay ) for repairs and resupply . Empoli ' s ship would go on to make a stop in Sofala , before heading on to Malindi , the prearranged rendezvous point , to await Albuquerque . However , the monsoon season was sufficiently advanced , that Empoli ' s ship would be forced to make the Indian Ocean crossing without the captain - major . The chaotic , scattered manner in which the squadrons had rounded the cape , had created great delays in the armada . It seems they arrived in Malindi , the launching point for the Indian Ocean crossing , quite late in the summer . They could not wait long for the others , for fear of missing the summer southwesterly monsoon winds to take them across to India - a delay which could add as much as an extra year to their journey ( see Portuguese India Armadas ) . So the Indian Ocean crossing of the 5th Armada was to be done in separate waves . The second squadron , the ships of Francisco de Albuquerque and Nicolau Coelho , were the first to cross the Indian Ocean in August 1503 . They were followed soon after by the solitary ship of Duarte Pacheco Perreira ( of the first squadron ) , followed soon after by d ' Almada ' s " São Cristóvão " ( on which Empoli probably is ) and , a couple of weeks later , by the captain - major Afonso de Albuquerque himself . All three ships of the third squadron ( Antonio de Saldanha , Rui Lourenço Ravasco and Diogo Fernandes Pereira ) would miss that year ' s summer monsoon and would only cross the Indian Ocean the next year ( 1504 ) . Albuquerque in India . The First Siege of Cochin . The 4th Armada of Vasco da Gama had left India in the early months of 1503 with little resolved . Despite terror , bombardment and blockade , Calicut remained defiant , and the two fledgling Portuguese factories in allied cities - one in Cochin , the other in Cannanore - were vulnerable to her revenge . And revenge was not long in coming . In March , 1503 , as soon as Gama ' s fleet had gone , the Zamorin of Calicut led a powerful army of some 50 , 000 armed troops overland against Cochin . Cochin was notionally a vassal of Calicut . More precisely , at least according to some authors , Cochin was a junior family appanage of the mainland kingdom of Edapalli ( " Repelim " ) ; the Trimumphara Raja of Cochin was not a ruler in his own right , but a prince , somewhere down the line ( probably second heir ) to the ruling throne of Edapalli . It seems the Portuguese had come at a moment when the Trimumpara Raja was in midst of a quarrel with the elder members of his family . Edapalli had , indeed , been a long - time vassal of the Zamorin of Calicut and owed him some sort of obedience . The Zamorin certainly seemed to avail himself of that same family quarrel to secure Edapalli ' s cooperation in reducing the rebel prince of Cochin . The Zamorin seemed to have no trouble marching his massive army across that territory , and it was from Edapalli that Zamorin dispatched a message to the Trimumpara Raja of Cochin , ordering him to hand over the Portuguese traders in the city . When this request was refused , the Zamorin ordered an assault on the city . The small Cochinese army stood little chance against Calicut ' s much larger army ( probably bolstered by auxiliaries supplied by Edapalli ) . Nonetheless , Trimumpara ' s son , Narayan , is said to have rallied the Cochinese and valiantly held his position on the Vembanad shores , repelling two massive assaults , before being finally overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers . Narayan ' s brave stand gave his father and his Portuguese guests ( the factor Diogo Fernandes Correia and a handful of assistants ) enough time to evacuate Cochin city and flee across the outlet to Vypin island with the core of the Nair guard . Vypin ' s position at the mouth of the Vembanad lagoon , with its natural defenses , proved a daunting prospect for the besiegers . But weather also played its part - the worsening Spring monsoon winds and heavy rains severely complicated the operations of the besieging Calicut army . The launching of assault boats against Vypin was almost impossible in these conditions . Frustrated , the Zamorin ordered his army to lift the siege - but not before burning down Cochin city to the ground , and vowing to come back in August , after the weather improved . Throughout this siege , the Portuguese coastal patrol under Vicente Sodré had been absent . Ignoring the instructions he had been given by Vasco da Gama , Sodré had decided to sail out to the Gulf of Aden in the Spring of 1503 , to prey on Arab shipping coming out of the Red Sea , hoping thereby to reap a little bundle of plunder for himself . Alas , seasonal winds had trapped the fleet there . In April , 1503 , two of the ships - those of Vicente Sodré and his brother Brás Sodré - fell prey to a tempest and sunk by the Kuria Muria islands ( off the coast of Oman ) . The four remaining storm - battered patrol ships , now under the command of Pêro de Ataíde , decided to return to India . But battered by storms , they had to inch their way painfully against contrary winds . They only managed to get as far as Angediva ( Anjadip ) island , before being forced to stop for repair ( soon joined by a fifth ship , that of António do Campo , which had been separated from the 4th Armada back in 1502 ) . It was at Angediva ( or Cannanore , according to Correia ) that the crippled patrol was finally found by the vanguard of the 5th Armada in August 1503 - that is , Francisco de Albuquerque and Nicolau Coelho . Finishing repairs , Albuquerque placed the patrol caravels under his command and set sail south towards Cannanore . Along the way , they were caught up by the ship of Duarte Pacheco Pereira ( of the first squadron of the 5th Armada , who had undertaken a solo crossing of the Ocean - the captain - major Afonso de Albuquerque probably decided to remain behind in Malindi as long as possible , to see if Saldanha ' s third squadron showed up ) . By this time , as promised , the Zamorin of Calicut had reassembled his army and resumed the siege of Cochin ( or rather Vypin island , Cochin itself being a smoldering ruins ) . Receiving the alarming news at Cannanore , Francisco de Albuquerque wasted no time and rushed his fleet of eight ships - the three of the 5th Armada , the four caravels of the old coastal patrol plus Campo - down to relieve Cochin . Francisco de Albuquerque ' s makeshift squadron arrived at Cochin , to find the Trimumpara Raja and the Portuguese factor Diogo Fernandes Correia once again holed up in Vypin island , besieged by the armies of Calicut . Seeing the approaching fleet , the besieging army began to dissolve . Fearing Portuguese retribution , the auxiliary troops ( of Edapalli , etc . ) were probably the first to abandon the siege , leaving the Calicut army without local support . The Zamorin realized he had little choice but to lift the siege and withdraw his army back to Calicut . Fort Sant ' Iago in Cochin . August – September , 1503 - Cochin rescued , a conference was immediately called between the Portuguese commanders and the Trimumpara Raja to assess the situation . It is clear that the Zamorin had relied on the collaboration of the rulers of Edapalli , and other neighboring princelets , for the siege . So a punitive expedition of four caravels set out ( under the commands of Nicolau Coelho , Duarte Pacheco Pereira , Pêro de Ataíde and António do Campo ) to tour the Vembanad lagoon and pay a ' visit ' to the collaborators . Notably , Edapalli ( " Repelim " ) and Kumbalam ( " Cambalão " ) were severely dealt with . The punitive expedition seems to have put an end to the Vembanad family quarrel and established the Trimumpara Raja as ruler in his own right over the lagoon . More precisely , senior members of his family were probably deposed and it is from this date that Trimumpara formally took the Edapalli throne for himself , thereby becoming recognized overlord throughout the Vembanad lagoon . However , unlike previous Edapalli kings , the Portuguese insisted that Trimumpara Raja remain based in Cochin city rather than move to Edapalli . Thus 1503 is commonly cited as the foundation year of the Kingdom of Cochin . In the meantime , Francisco de Albuquerque persuaded Trimumpara Raja to allow the Portuguese to erect and garrison a fortress in Cochin . The timber fortress was named Fort Sant ' Iago by Afonso de Albuquerque , in honor of the knightly Order of Santiago to which he belonged ( it was also the name of his ship ) . It was erected in a part of Cochinese peninsula , known to the Portuguese as " Santa Cruz " ( or " Cochim - de - Baixo " , ' Lower Cochin ' , now known as Fort Kochi ) , just a little northwest of the old city of Cochin proper ( " Cochim - de - Cima " , ' Upper Cochin ' , now Mattancherry ) ( the seat of Trimumpara Raja ) . Fort Sant ' Iago was the first Portuguese fort in Asia . The timber would be replaced by stone in 1505 by Francisco de Almeida and renamed " Fort Manuel " ( after the Portuguese king ) . The Portuguese were also given permission to erect what is arguably the first Roman Catholic church in Asia , " São Bartolomeu " , within the fort in 1504 ( later rebuilt in stone and rededicated several times , it currently stands as St . Francis church in Kochi ) . Brief Peace with Calicut . October , 1503 - Setting out from East Africa by himself , Afonso de Albuquerque , captain - major of the 5th Armada , crossed the Indian Ocean and arrived in Cochin ( just in the nick of time - as the monsoon was on the point of reversing . ) Hearing of the events that had occurred in the past month , Afonso immediately assumed command from his cousin , Francisco , and oversaw the finalization of the construction of Fort Sant ' Iago and the arrangements with the Trimumpara Raja of Cochin . The new priority taken up by Afonso de Albuquerque was the preparation of the return fleet - that is , loading up spices . The siege of Cochin had disrupted the spice markets , and the Zamorin of Calicut had used his authority in the Kerala hinterlands to cut off the supply of pepper to the Portuguese - allied cities of Cochin and Cannanore . Nonetheless , attracted by profit , pepper ships from the Kerala backwaters continued arriving in Cochin . It is at this point that peace feelers were sent through the backchannels between the Zamorin and the Portuguese captain Francisco de Albuquerque . Some Portuguese chroniclers assert it was initiated by the Zamorin , alarmed at the erection of the fort and frustrated by his apparent inability to shut down the pepper supply to Cochin . On the other hand , the chroniclers also report difficulties in finding enough spice supplies to load up the ships , and so Albuquerque may have opened up negotiations in an effort to have the pepper blockade relaxed so they could load up their ships and maybe even secure a modicum of peace for the Portuguese factories after the armada leaves . Whomever initiated it , the peace terms were soon agreed upon in mid - December 1503 : the Zamorin is to deliver 1500 " bahars " of pepper as compensation for the Portuguese factory in Calicut , to expel the Arab merchants from Calicut ( some say only shutting out the Arab merchants for the duration of the armada ' s stay ) , to make peace with the Trimumpara Raja of Cochin and , most difficult for the Zamorin , to hand over the two Italian engineers who had been helping the Calicut army with cannon . The first installment of the Zamorin ' s pepper payment was picked up at Cranganore by Duarte Pacheco Pereira without a hitch . But when the Portuguese return to Cranganore to pick up the second installment , a skirmish broke out aboard the delivery ship between the Portuguese and the Zamorin ' s men . The truce broken , a state of war resumed and the pepper blockade was immediately reinstated . [ The Portuguese chroniclers blame the Zamorin for breaking the peace - that either he changed his mind ( ultimately realized he didn ' t want to lose the Italian engineers ) or was intending to break the peace all along , and just agreed to it in order to save Calicut from being bombarded once again by the Portuguese . However , others blame the Portuguese , suggesting they only agreed to the peace so long as they needed the pepper supplies to load the ships , but wanted the state of war to resume soon after . Both hypotheses might be correct - that is , that both the Zamorin and Albuquerque entered the peace cynically , knowing fully well it was not likely to hold , but nonetheless found it useful enough to buy some time ; the skirmish itself might have been unplanned , a simple misunderstanding , but neither side seemed to be in a hurry to rectify or restore the peace . ] Factory in Quilon . The resumption of the pepper blockade seems to have put a crimp in Albuquerque ' s preparations of the return fleet , much of it having still lacked spice cargoes . Albuquerque dispatched two ships down to Quilon ( " Coulão " , Kollam ) , with the factor António de Sá , to see if more could be procured there - Quilon having been better connected to Ceylon and points east , its spice supply was not as dependent on the Zamorin ' s sway and had often invited the Portuguese before . But soon after their departure , Albuquerque heard that the Zamorin of Calicut was preparing a Calicut fleet of some 30 ships for Quilon . Afonso de Albuquerque left Cochin and hurried down to Quilon himself . Albuquerque arrived in Quilon , and instructed the Portuguese factor to hurry his business along , and sought out an audience with the regent - queen of Quilon . They were still docked when the Calicut fleet arrived , carrying an embassy from the Zamorin with the mission to persuade ( or intimidate ) Quilon from abandoning the Portuguese . The regent queen of Quilon rejected the Zamorin ' s reuqest , but also forbade Albuquerque from engaging in hostilities in the harbor . Albuquerque , realizing Quilon was the only spice supply he had access to , acceded to her request . Albuquerque resigned himself to negotiating a commercial treaty and establishing a permanent Portuguese factory in Quilon ( the third in India ) , placing it under factor António de Sá , with two assistants and twenty armed men to protect the factory . That settled , Albuquerque returned to Cochin on January 12 , 1504 to make final preparations for his departure . Saldanha in Africa . Throughout much of this , the third squadron of the Fifth Armada were still fruitlessly looking for each other in Africa . Diogo Fernandes Pereira had long disappeared from sight somewhere after Cape Verde , and had hurried on ahead by himself , while the other two ships , António de Saldanha and Rui Lourenço Ravasco , ended up by mistake at São Tomé . Table Bay . In the Summer of 1503 , while the Albuquerques were doubling the Cape , the third squadron was probably still making is way painfully down the African coast , tacking against contrary winds and currents . Somewhere along this process , Saldanha lost track of Ravasco as well . Again , by poor piloting , Saldanha miscalculated his Cape crossing , and ended up making landfall just north of the Cape of Good Hope . To check if the cape had been surpassed , Saldanha anchored in the hitherto unknown Table Bay , and went ashore . He is said to have climbed Table Mountain and observed Cape Point and the vast expanse of False Bay beneath it . Saldanha thus became the first European to set foot in what is to become modern Cape Town . During this landing , there was an apparent skirmish with local Khoikhoi , in which Saldanha got slightly wounded . What happened from this point is a bit obscure . By one account , as chance would have it , the two other ships of the Third Squadron - Rui Lourenço Ravasco and Diogo Fernandes Pereira - may have found each other on the other side of the Cape , at another watering hole , the " Agoada de São Brás " ( Mossel Bay ) . From here , they decided to proceed together to Mozambique Island , the pre - arranged collection point for Portuguese ships , hoping to find Saldanha there . But Saldanha was , of course , behind them , still trying to get around the Cape . It is possible that at this point Rui Lourenço Ravasco decided to stay in Mozambique Island to wait for Saldanha , while Diogo Fernandes Pereira sailed north , presumably to Malindi , to see if he could catch up with the Albuquerques . However , this hypothesis rests almost fully on a report , from Albuquerque , that , on his return , he found a note ( or notes ? ) at São Brás reporting that both Ravasco and the " ship of Setubal " ( i . e . Fernandes ) had been there . Whether it was one note ( both together ) or two separate notes ( left separately ) is unclear . Most authors ( e . g . Theal ( 1902 : 163 ) ) assume Ravasco and Fernandes did " not " find each other at any point , that Diogo Fernandes Pereira had long given up any hope of reconnecting his own squadron , and just went along on his own . Discovery of Socotra . A more curious hypothesis is proposed by chronicler Gaspar Correia - namely , that after crossing the Cape by himself , Diogo Fernandes Pereira did not turn into the Mozambique Channel at all , but rather pushed east , sailing under the island of Madagascar , and then sailed north , up the east coast of Madagascar - thus making Diogo Fernandes Pereira the first known captain to sail the ' outer route ' to the East Indies . Although Correia ' s account is not corroborated by other chroniclers , it has an element of plausibility . We do not actually hear of Fernandes stopping at Mozambique Island ( where he would have found Ravasco ) or any other major African town . Rather , the next we hear of Fernandes is up near Cape Guardafui , which strongly suggests that he did take the outer route as , sailing north by the outer route , would only have seen African coast again precisely around the horn . It was around Cape Gauardafui that , late in the year , Diogo Fernandes Pereira made another breakthrough - discovering the island of Socotra , hitherto unknown to the Portuguese . With the monsoon already reversed , Fernandes anchored in and spent his winter on the island . Socotra was , however , well - enough known to eastern merchants , having been the principal source of " Socotra aloe " , a highly - valued balm in the markets of Arabia and India . More interesting to Fernandes was its strategic location ( optimal for a Red Sea patrol ) and the existence of an isolated but strong Christian community on the island - Syriac Christians ( quasi - Nestorians ) to be precise . Fernandes ' s reports would be excitedly received back in Lisbon , and one squadron of the 8th Armada of 1506 would be given the mission of conquering it for Portugal . Extortion of Zanzibar , Barawa , Mombassa . Of the other two , we know that in October , 1503 , António de Saldanha was still stuck in South Africa - for he had left his own note at the watering hole in Mossel Bay ( " São Brás " ) with that date . Rui Lourenço Ravasco , in the meantime , had left Mozambique Island and moored his ship in Kilwa ( " Quiloa " ) , waiting for his captain . The summer monsoon winds were long gone by then , so there was no hope of an Indian Ocean crossing that year . The third squadron was stuck in Africa until the next summer . So they contented themselves with plucking prizes . Rui Lourenço Ravasco quickly made a nuisance of himself . He grabbed a few ships off Kilwa , before being reminded that Vasco da Gama had already extorted ' tribute ' from Kilwa and thus the city was protected . So Ravasco sailed up to Zanzibar to find some more prey . There he was challenged by the Zanzibari fleet , but Ravasco got the best of it and took a few more ships . In the aftermath , the sheikh of Zanzibar agreed to submit and pay a yearly " tribute " of 100 " maticals " ( gold coins ) to the King of Portugal . Ravasco is said to have proceeded to Portuguese - allied Malindi , to find it under siege by the army of Mombassa . Ravasco jumped into the fray and captured a fleet that had come from Barawa ( " Brava " ) to assist the Mombassans . Finding several leading nobles of Barawa aboard , he compelled their ransom and extorted an annual tribute from the Somali city . By that time , Saldanha , who had been taking some prizes of his own , also reached Malindi , finally catching up with Ravasco . They proceeded together to attack Mombassa ( " Mombaça " ) . Although they didn ' t reduce it to tribute , they nonetheless compelled the ruler of Mombassa to agree to withdraw his troops and make peace with the sultan of Malindi . With much of the East African coast having paid them off , Saldanha and Ravasco ran out of targets , so they proceeded north to the Gulf of Aden to look for new prey . Although Diogo Fernandes Pereira was just nearby , quietly wintering in Socotra , they never came across him . Saldanha and Ravasco are said to have entertained themselves preying on Arab shipping coming in and out of the Red Sea up until the next summer . In the early Spring of 1504 , Diogo Fernandes set sail out of Socotra for India by himself , and is said to have arrived in Cochin during the great battle . Saldanha and Ravasco started their crossing only in the summer of 1504 , and did not get past Anjediva , where they were found by the arriving 6th Armada . Return voyage . Late January , 1504 - Arriving at Cochin from his sojourn in Quilon , Albuquerque made the final preparations . He placed Duarte Pacheco Pereira in charge of Fort Sant ' Iago of Cochin , with a garrison of some 150 armed men and two caravels , ( one of which was the " Garrida " of Pêro Rafael ) and one nau , the " Concepção " . January 30 , 1504 - Noting that his cousin Francisco de Albuquerque was still delayed loading up with spices at Cannanore , Afonso de Albuqurque decided to divide the fleet into two return squadrons . Afonso de Albuquerque set out with the first squadron for Portugal , which included the ships of Fernão Martins de Almada ( probably carrying Giovanni da Empoli ) , Pêro de Ataíde ( bringing back Duarte Pacheco ' s ship ) and the ship of António do Campo ( overhang from the 4th Armada ) . However Barros ( p . 97 ) suggests António do Campo was sent out earlier , ahead of the others , to urgently report the situation to King Manuel ( Campo would arrive in Lisbon in mid - July , 1504 , too late to affect the outfitting of the 6th armada ) . Ataíde ( in his February 1504 letter ) mentions he set out together with Campo , and makes no mention of the other two . In light of this , it is probable that Campo and Ataíde set out together a few days or even weeks before Albuquerque and Almada . On February 5 , 1504 , having finally finished loading up at Cannanore , the second return squadron of three ships departed India . This included the ships of Afonso ' s cousin Francisco de Albuquerque and great captain Nicolau Coelho ( the old veteran of Gama ' s 1497 expedition and Cabral ' s 1500 armada ) . The third captain is uncertain ( possibly Fernão Rodrigues Bardaças , one of the patrol captains ? ) . They would never be heard from again . It is presumed that F . de Albuquerque and Nicolau Coelho were caught by bad currents in the Mozambique Channel and shipwrecked or sunk off the coast of South Africa . A rescue expedition would be launched in late 1505 ( under Cide Barbubo & Pedro Quaresma ) to search for them . In February 1504 , Afonso de Albuquerque ' s squadron made its first stop at Mozambique Island . But things had not gone well . On the Indian Ocean crossing , the ship of Pêro de Ataíde " o Inferno " seems to have sailed on ahead at too much speed and capsized on the East African coast , somewhere south of Kilwa . Leaving behind the greater part of his shipwrecked crew on a nearby shore , Ataíde and a handful of men managed to make it to Mozambique Island on longboats , hoping to procure help for the remainder . But by the time he arrived , either Albuquerque had already gone or it was determined that Ataíde , having fallen deathly ill , could not be taken back to Lisbon . In either case , Ataíde remained in Mozambique , where he would die soon after . On his deathbed , Ataíde wrote his final testament , giving a full and exact account of his time in India , including the travails of Vicente Sodré ' s Indian coastal patrol in 1503 ( placing much of the blame for that debacle on the shoulders of Brás Sodré ) and condemning the behavior of António do Campo ( for refusing to help him and his shipwrecked crew in Mozambique . ) Reduced to two ships , Afonso de Albuquerque and Fernão Martins de Almada ( Campo having gone on ahead by himself ) , set sail out of Mozambique for Lisbon . They were unaware of the tragic fate of the squad of Francisco de Albuquerque and Nicolau Coelho ( and possibly unaware of Ataíde too ) . Almada ' s ship began to have trouble , and they were forced to make a stop at the watering hole of São Brás ( Mossel Bay ) ( there , Albuquerque found a message from António de Saldanha , the captain of the third squadron , saying that he had been there the previous October ) . While at São Brás , they realized that the ship of Albuquerque had rotted through and they were forced into lengthy repairs . On May 1 , 1504 , Afonso de Albuquerque and Fernão Martins de Almada finally set out from São Brás and rounded the Cape of Good Hope and sailed into the South Atlantic . The return passage through the equatorial doldrums , turned out to be a horrific experience . According to Empoli , they drifted at sea without wind for sixty four days , quickly running out of supplies . Thirst and scurvy decimated the crews - 130 died , leaving only nine on each ship . In the calm of the doldrums , barnacle s had eaten away at the hulls , and the ships began to spring leaks . They were rescued from their dire straits by a passing Portuguese slaving ship bound for Guinea , which replenished their supplies and escorted them to Santiago , Cape Verde . After resupply and repairs on Cape Verde ( and taking on slaves to help make up for the missing crew ) , the ships set sail again , taking the route through the Azores islands , towards Lisbon . They were battered by storms and another wave of crew deaths on their final approach to Portugal . On September 16 , 1504 , the two remaining ships of the Fifth Armada , Afonso de Albuquerque ' s " Sant ' Iago " and Fernão Martins de Almada ' s " São Cristóvão " , in a terrible shape , hobbled into Lisbon harbor , with their handful of crew and leaking hulls . They were well received . Albuquerque is said to have presented some splendid specimens of Persian horses acquired in the Indian markets to the king . Aftermath . By and large , the 5th Armada was a disaster . Of the ten ships that set out , only two were known to have returned on time ( Afonso de Albuquerque , Fernão Martins de Almada ) . Two were lost around the Cape on the outgoing voyage ( " Catharina Dias " and the ship of Vaz da Veiga ) , two ships were lost on the return ( F . Albuquerque , Coelho ) and a third ( the ship captained by Ataíde ) was shipwrecked . A further three had been separated and gone wandering ( Saldanha , Ravasco , Pereira ) , and would not return until the next year ( although this may have been intentional , they seemed to be a navigational mess nonetheless ) . Human losses were staggering – four of the ships went down with all their hands , one ( Ataíde ' s return ship ) lost most of its shipwrecked crew on an abandoned shore , and two ships ( Albuquerque ' s & Almada ' s ) lost the bulk of their crew during the doldrums crossing . These heavy losses , as well as the generally poor navigation and command of the fleet — straying ships , lost ships , separated ships — could not have reflected well on Afonso de Albuquerque ' s reputation as an admiral , particularly when contrasted with the follow - up 6th Armada , whose admiral Lopo Soares de Albergaria kept a very disciplined fleet and suffered minimal losses . This may have been a factor that prevented the appointment of Albuquerque to command another armada ; he joined the 8th Armada of 1506 , but only as the head of a squadron subordinate to the overall command of Tristão da Cunha . Yet , despite his apparent shortcomings as a fleet admiral , Albuquerque was appointed the second governor of Portuguese India , so his reputation as a commander on land did not seem to have suffered . How this conclusion was reached is uncertain . The saving of Cochin from the Zamorin ' s first siege , the ruthless punishment of the Vembanad princelets and the erection of Fort Sant ' Iago were due more to his cousin Francisco than him . Afonso de Albuquerque deserves credit for efforts to procure spices against complicated odds in India and the negotiation for a factory in Quilon , but the losses of so many ships ( and so much cargo ) couldn ' t have made this a profitable run . Nonetheless , Albuquerque ' s later overachieving heroics in Hormuz in 1507 - 08 and Malacca in 1511 have since overshadowed his shaky start . The loss of Francisco de Albuquerque and Nicolau Coelho weighed heavily in court , and in late 1505 , a small search - and - rescue mission led by Cide Barbudo was sent out to scour the South African coast for their traces . None were found . Of the seven ships of the 4th Armada which had been left behind in the Indian Ocean by Vasco da Gama in early 1503 , one returned ( Campo ) , two were lost ( Sodré brothers ) , two remained in India ( Pires , Rafael ) and the fate of two is uncertain ( Bardaças , Ataide ' s original caravel ) . Albuquerque left India in a precarious situation . The peace he ( or rather Francisco ) had negotiated was broken before he even left . It was certain that the Zamorin of Calicut would come bearing down on Cochin again in the Spring of 1504 . Cochin , and the Portuguese future in India , was to be defended by a minuscule garrison of 150 under Duarte Pacheco Pereira , a timber fort in Cochin and a slim patrol of three ships — one nau ( under ' Diogo Pereira ' ) and two caravels ( Pires , Rafael ) . Predictably , as soon as the 5th Armada left , the Zamorin would come bearing down on Cochin with an army of some 57 , 000 - 84 , 000 men and 260 vessels , and force Duarte Pacheco and his tiny Portuguese garrison into the incredible heroics of the Battle of Cochin ( 1504 ) . Sources . Secondary