and eventually caught up with it near Cannanore. Ataide personally led his little crew in boarding and defeating the much larger smugglers' crew, and brought back the seized ship with its cargo nearly intact (one pachyderm died in the fighting). Cabral handed the ship and the elephants over to the Zamorin as a gift. Relations between Cabral and the Zamorin however deteriorated not long after, and the Portuguese were expelled from Calicut. In April, 1501, on the return journey from India, while pausing at Mozambique Island, the ships were reshuffled and sent off in different waves. Pêro de Ataíde was ordered by Cabral to give his ship, the São Pedro, over to vice-admiral Sancho de Tovar (Tovar had run his own ship aground). Ataíde was given command of the larger unnamed nau (or carrack) of Nicolau Coelho (who was in turn transferred over to another ship.) Ataíde was instructed to accompany Cabral and another captain, Simão de Miranda, on the return to Portugal. But Ataíde had difficulties with his heavy-laden, less-maneouverable ship and got separated from the other two around Cape Correntes. He hurried to the usual watering hole, Aguada de São Brás (Mossel Bay) hoping to find them there, but to no avail. At São Brás, Ataíde wrote a letter relating the state of affairs in India, and warning future Portuguese captains to avoid Calicut, which was now hostile. Ataíde placed the letter in a shoe at Post Office Tree, which he hung by the watering hole in Mossel Bay. Ataíde's letter was found later that year by João da Nova, admiral of the outgoing 3rd armada. Ataide proceeded on his return journey by himself, finally catching up with the others at Bezeguiche (Dakar, Senegal) in late June. They arrived in Lisbon in July, 1501. Second journey to India Pêro de Ataíde set out again for India in February 1502, commanding a carrack, the São Paulo, as part of the 4th India Armada of admiral Vasco da Gama. He participated in the many events related to that armada. In February, 1503, as the armada was about to return to Portugal, Pêro de Ataíde was appointed as captain of one of the six caravels that were to remain behind in India as a naval patrol under the command of Vicente Sodré (uncle of Vasco da Gama). This patrol was the first permanent Portuguese fleet in the Indian Ocean. According to