Patrol (1503) In February 1503, Vasco da Gama returned with the 4th Armada to Lisbon, leaving Vicente Sodré behind in the command of the Indian Ocean patrol (five or six ships, one of which was under the command of his own brother, Brás Sodré). However, before his departure, Vasco da Gama ordered his uncles to keep the patrol near the Malabar Coast of India, to protect the Portuguese-allied cities of Cochin and Cannanore from any vengeful attacks by the Zamorin of Calicut. However, as soon as Gama left, Vicente Sodré invoked his regimento and ordered the patrol to leave India and follow him to the Red Sea. The Portuguese factors in Cochin and Cannanore protested, citing evidence of imminent preparations for an attack by the Zamorin. It said that two of the patrol captains refused to go along, and resigned the commands of their ships. Vicente Sodré dismissed the rumors and took the patrol with him. As expected, in March 1503, the Zamorin of Calicut arrived before Cochin with an army of 50,000, and seized and burned down the city. The Portuguese factors, along the Cochin's ruler, managed to escape to the nearby island of Vypin. They continued to hold out until August, when the next armada arrived. During the siege of Cochin, Vicente Sodré's patrol was nowhere to be seen. It had gone first north to Gujarat, where it captured a great merchant ship off Chaul. The patrol then sailed west into the Gulf of Aden, at the mouth of the Red Sea, to catch more prizes. Vicente Sodré's patrol captured around five Arab merchant ships at the mouth of the Red Sea. But the partition of the spoils left a lot to be desired - the Sodré brothers set about claiming the lion's share of the plunder for themselves, and leaving little for the others or even the crown(Brás Sodré, in particular, was accused of embezzling the royal fifth due to the crown). Already unhappy at abandoning their brethren in India, the patrol captains quarreled with the Sodrés and nearly mutinied. Around 20 April 1503, the patrol anchored in at Kuria Muria islands (off the coast of Oman). The local inhabitants warned them that a seasonal tempest was forming and that they had better move their ships to a safer shelter on the southern side of the island. Four patrol captains moved their ships accordingly, but Vicente Sodré