later.) According to Pina, the Portuguese spent about a week raising a fortified siege camp on a hill west of Tangier. In a decision that later proved fateful, Henry ordered that the palisade protecting the Portuguese siege camp encircle the camp completely. This went against King Edward's advice to ensure the palisade extended down to the beach to offer the Portuguese besiegers protected access to the anchored ships, but given the unpopularity of the expedition, Henry probably calculated it was necessary to deprive the reluctant Portuguese levies of the temptation for an easy retreat to the ships. Before departure, King Edward had given Henry explicit instructions to take the city by assault within the first week, and that if Tangier had not fallen after one week, the Portuguese expeditionary force was to withdraw and winter in Ceuta and wait until the Spring for further orders. These instructions probably were given in light of the news of the mobilization of the Moroccan armies, knowing that the expeditionary force was inadequate to take on such an army in the field. There were also concerns about the lingering anchored fleet braving the worsening weather in the Straits of Gibraltar at this time of year. Henry would ignore these instructions. First assault (September 20) On September 20 (according to Ruy de Pina), Henry ordered the first assault on the city, attacking five points at the same time, with Henry personally leading one of the assault teams. However, it quickly failed – the scaling ladders were too few and, as it turns out, too short, to reach the top of the walls. The assaulters had to withdraw. Portuguese casualties amounted to some 20 dead and 500 wounded. The artillery had proven too weak to do much damage. In the wake of the assault, Henry ordered larger ordnance cannon to be shipped in from Ceuta. It took at least another week before they arrived, eating up precious time that the Portuguese could ill-afford. Back in Ceuta, the illness of governor Pedro de Menezes had taken a turn for the worse. With Henry's permission, Duarte de Menezes rushed back to receive his father's blessing on his deathbed before he expired on September 22. It was probably Duarte de Menezes who organized the forwarding of the artillery and supplies to Tangier and who was back at the siege shortly. First relief army (September 30) Soon after the first