the separation of the ships shortly after Cape Verde. Diogo Fernandes was forced to sail on alone. The chronicler Gaspar Correia (p. 418) claims that after doubling the Cape of Good Hope by himself, Fernandes did not turn into the Mozambique Channel, but rather pushed east, sailing under the island of Madagascar, and then turned north, sailing up east of Madagascar. This would make him the first known ship to sail the 'outer route' to the East Indies. (Although there remains the possibility that Diogo Dias also did precisely that in 1500.) Although Correia's account is not corroborated by other chroniclers, Diogo Fernandes Pereira seems to almost certainly have missed Mozambique Island, the usual collection point for Portuguese ships, and where one of his squadron, Rui Lourenço Ravasco, was known to be waiting. Instead, we next hear of Fernandes up near Cape Guardafui, which strongly suggests that he did take the outer route, as, sailing north by that route, he would not have sighted African coast before the horn. Around Cape Guardafui, Diogo Fernandes stumbled on the island of Socotra sometime in late 1503. Although the island was long known to eastern merchants (Socotra aloe was a highly valued balm in the markets of Arabia and India), it was unknown to the Portuguese. Diogo Fernandes was also surprised to encounter a strong (Syriac) Christian community on the island (after all, this was a predominantly Muslim region). Diogo Fernandes spent the winter in Socotra, before crossing the Indian Ocean (again by himself) in early 1504. Diogo Fernandes arrived in India just as the Zamorin of Calicut was launching an invasion of Portuguese-allied Cochin. During the ferocious Battle of Cochin (1504), the commander of the Portuguese garrison, Duarte Pacheco Pereira, is said to have placed a certain 'Diogo Pereira' (possibly Diogo Fernandes?) in charge of the nau Concepção, protecting the city. Mascarenes (1507) Diogo Fernandes returned to Portugal in 1505. His report on Socotra generated much excitement in the Portuguese court. The strategic placement of the island at the mouth of the Red Sea made it an optimal location to station a Portuguese patrol. It could prey on Arab shipping and shut down the competing spice trade through that route. The existence of the isolated Christian community only made it even more appealing (the Portuguese had long hoped to find a Christian port of call in the Muslim-dominated Indian Ocean). Plans were