After being tossed about for some days, his ship sighted an island and landed. He wrote: Frederick described the island as a densely-populated, well-cultivated island inhabited by Moors. In 1923, Sri Rajkumar Chakrabarty mentioned in History of Sandwip the prevalence of 400 to 500 year old plants on the island. Early modern period The island of Sandwip was administered under the Sarkar of Fatehabad under the Mughal empire. At the start of the 17th century, the island was under the rule of Antonio de Sousa Godinho, a Portuguese pirate, though it had previously been ruled by Kedar Rai, a Bengali Hindu chieftain who controlled large parts of eastern Bengal. According to Pierre Du Jarric, Kedar Rai managed to reclaim governance of Sandwip from Godinho with the help of another group of Portuguese pirates. The Mughals and the Arakanese failed to annex Sandwip from Kedar Rai. By 1602, a Portuguese settler from Montargil in Kedar Rai's service, Domingos Carvalho, managed to earn the governorship of Sandwip after assisting Rai in battles against the Arakan and the Mughals. Emmanuel de Mattos came from Chittagong to aid Carvalho in the Portuguese annexation, and they divided the island between them and Gonçalves. Philippe de Brito also established a fort in the island. It is said that each year about 300 salt-loaded ships sailed from Sandwip for Liverpool. In addition to its salt industry, Sandwip also became known for its ship-building at the time. Eventually, the Portuguese held the island in conjunction with the Arakanese and Muslim rulers. Even today some of the architecture on the island reflects the island's history as a 17th-century pirate-stronghold. Philip III, the King of Portugal, ennobled Carvalho for his efforts. The loyalty of the Portuguese however, was suspected by the Arakanese. The Arakanese King of Mrauk U, Min Razagyi would execute many of the Portuguese settlers in his kingdom. In November 1602, the Jesuits fled to Sandwip following the imprisonment and execution of their head priest Fernandez in Chittagong (which was under Arakanese rule). Carvalho fled to Jessore for safety, but the city's ruler Pratapaditya, an ally of the Arakanese, had him executed and sent his severed head back to Arakan. Other sources say that Carvalho was not killed by Pratapaditya but was wounded in battle against the Mughals, and that he fled to Hugli. He was succeeded by Manuel de Mattos, but the Portuguese were defeated in Sandwip