Page 37 - Journal of Asian History_Neat

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GO SALilt OZDARAN

dian Ocean. He visited Aden, and sailing to tho western coast of
India, besieged Din in Gujarat, the siege was unsuccessful, but it left
a strong impression on the Portuguese of tho potential danger of the
Ottoman naval forces at Suez. The Ottoman control over Aden and
Zcbid in the Yemen was also established on this occasion. Three years
r
later, Estavao da Gama, the son of the famous Vasco da Gama, sailed
i
up tho Red Sea to attack Suez, but without success. The Ottomans
thus remained masters of the Red Sea, having now, in addition to 1
•l
Suez, a second nival base at Aden.53
In Cemazielewel 959/April 1552 tho veteran sailor, Piri Reis, set ■3
sail from Suez with twenty-five galleys (kadxrga), four galleons (kalyon)
and one other ship carrying 850 soldiers. An order sent out from Istan­ i
-=1
bul to Basra-dated 18 Zilhicce/6 November 1552-for the information
of the beylerbey of Basra, Kubad Pasha, sets forth the instructions to ■r
be given to Piri Reis. He was to capture Hormuz and then, if possible,
X
to take the island of Bahrayn.54 Couto, tho Portuguese historian, states • -J
ii
that the main purpose of this campaign was to secure “the strait of
Basra.”65 However, in the beginning of August the Ottomans appeared ■ u
•5
before Muscat. First came Mehmed Bey,56 the son of Piri Reis, with ■it
.x
five galleys, then Piri Reis himself. Muscat was defended by Joao de -J
• c
Lisboa, whom the governor of India, D. Affonso de Noronha, had sent 4
to build a fortress for the greater safety of the Portuguese. The fort, at '■1
that moment, held sixty Portuguese.57 The Ottomans captured Muscat
3
without difficulty, took the garrison as prisoners and proceeded to
Hormuz, arriving there on 19 September. The governor of Hormuz
was Alvaro de Noronha who had held this appointment since 1550. The i
Portuguese governor had almost complete control of the island, al­ i

though there was a prince (Shah) and his vizier nominally ruling over
■.*
Hormuz itself, over the southern coast of Persia along the strait of 3
Hormuz and also over certain territories on the shore of Arabia. -4 j
S-
44 Lopez Lobafco, the Portuguese agent at Hormuz, in his letter to the gover­ '3
nor of India, dated 31 October 1646, mentions that four Turkish ships went in 'I
1546 to calayaU, i.e., Kolhat. The ruler of Kalhat refused to hand the town over. •1
Then the Turks sailed to Muscat and set it on fire (Col. Sdo Loureru^o, TV, fol. 3
479r, 485r).
■8
64 Kogu§lar 888, fol. 487v, published in C. Orhonlu, “Hint Kaptanligi ve
Piri Reis,” in BdlcUn, XXXTV, (Ankara, 1970), p. 279. Cf. also the letter of : i
Ra*is Sharaf al-Din, the yuazil of Hormuz (see Appendix II). i
;s
44 Doc. VI, Liv. X, pp. 405-406. *
44 Ibid., p. 407; Kogu^lar 888, fol. 488r. *
47 Couto, p. 408.

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