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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 December 2023
With the Castilian naos thus lying at anchor, and the galleys close to Santos, the Castilians often rowed past the city, along the river towards Xabregas, firing many cannons and bolts at the Portuguese fleet, which was beached near the city walls: the [local] naos lay alongside the wall of the Paço da Madeira, with masts crosswise and other defences forward, because of the cannons that were being fired at them; the galleys were quite close by. Nevertheless, it pleased God that not one was harmed, nor the men inside.
The King of Castile sometimes went in his galleys, to examine and reconnoitre the city; then the galleys would return, and the king would go back to his siege camp. When the king saw how the Portuguese galleys floated up with the flowing tide, and were left stranded at low water, and likewise the small number of men who manned them as guards, he thought of a way in which he could capture them all. He summoned masters, galley commanders and others who were expert at this, and revealed to them all what he intended to do and what his thoughts were in this regard.
They all praised the king's words, recognising that he had given thought to this, and considered the galleys as good as captured, in the way that the king had said. They asked him if he wanted them all to be burned, or to be brought away just as they were found. The king said that they should not burn those galleys, but bring them to him as safely as possible. ‘For the galleys are mine’, said the king, ‘and I’ve no wish to lose them like that.’ He said this in order to make it clear that the galleys, and the entire realm and everything in it, belonged to him.
Then those masters and seafaring men with whom the king had discussed this decided on the following: that on 27 August, when there would be a spring tide, and high tide coincided with dawn, the men of the galleys should all arm themselves at night and, taking along a few galley-oarsmen, many crossbowmen and men-at-arms, all the large boats from the naos should be fitted out and made ready.
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