the latest news from India) June 7, 1502 - The third squadron of Estevão da Gama is caught in a terrible storm around the Cape and splits into two groups - Estevão da Gama (Flor) and the ships of Lopo Dias and Thomaz de Carmona (with Bergamo on board) hold together as a trio, while Lopo Mendes de Vasconcellos (Julia) and the ship of Buonagrazia (with Lopes on board) form a separate pair. Contact with Sofala, Factory in Mozambique c. June 10, 1502 - Chronicles differ on what exactly happens after the first squadrons double the Cape. Following the account of Gaspar Correia (p. 272), Vasco da Gama was the among the first ships to arrive in Mozambique Island, the pre-arranged meeting point. Gama is immediately recognized by the local sheikh (with whom Gama had a tussle on his first journey back in 1498). The Mozambique ruler immediately offers his pardon for that affair and puts supplies at the disposal of the tempest-tossed Portuguese. Vasco da Gama remains in Mozambique for a while, waiting for the rest of the battered fleet to trickle in, one by one. The only known loss is the small nau Santa Elena, captained by the novice Pêro de Mendonça, which captured by bad currents around Cape Correntes, ends up running aground near the banks of Sofala. However the crew is safely rescued by the passing ships of Francisco da Cunha Mareco (Bretoa) and Fernão Rodrigues Bardaças (Santa Marta). With surfeit of crew from the capsized Santa Elena, Gama orders the construction of a whole new caravel from scratch on Mozambique Island. Although not mentioned in all sources, the caravel of António do Campo ('Antão Vaz' in Correia), is said to have been badly battered at Cape Correntes, and drifted backwards into Delagoa Bay (Maputo). Campo will not rejoin the 4th Armada on time for the Indian Ocean crossing, and thus remain stuck in Africa until next year. See below. According to Correia, while repairing on Mozambique Island, Vasco da Gama dispatches Pedro Afonso de Aguiar (captain of the Leitoa) and two caravels south to the city of Sofala, the entrepot of the Monomatapa gold trade. Sofala had been missed by all prior armadas, but not this time. Following up on the scout report of Sancho de Tovar from the previous year (see 2nd India Armada), Aguiar leads the first Portuguese ships into Sofala harbor. Aguiar