some lists, his co-captains were Brás Sodré (Vicente's brother), Pêro Rafael, Diogo Pires and Fernão Rodrigues Bardaças. Correia gives a different list, and says Pêro de Ataíde was assigned the small nau brought to India by a certain João Fernandes de Mello. It is uncertain who brought Ataíde's carrack, the São Paulo, back to Lisbon. The naval patrol was ordered by Vasco da Gama to remain close to the Indian coast and protect the Portuguese factories in Cochin and Cannanore. However, after the armada's departure, Vicente Sodré invoked his credentials and led the patrol across the ocean, into the Gulf of Aden, to prey on Arab ships going in and out of the Red Sea. The patrol captains, already upset at leaving the factories unprotected, nearly mutinied when the Sodré brothers set about claiming the lion's share of the booty from captured Arab ships for themselves. In April 1503, the patrol anchored in at the Khuriya Muriya Islands (off the coast of Oman). They were warned by local inhabitants that a seasonal tempest was forming and that they had better move their ships to a shielded part of the island. Most of the captains went accordingly, but Vicente Sodré and Brás Sodré refused. As predicted, the tempest sunk the ships of the Sodré brothers. The remaining captains elected Pêro de Ataíde as the new captain-major of the patrol. He oversaw the repairs and organized the partitioning of the remaining crews and supplies among the four ships, and then set the patrol on course back to India. Bad weather and contrary winds made it a difficult journey, and they were forced to stop in Anjediva island off the Malabar coast for lengthy repairs. Four days after they arrived, they were surprised to be joined by the caravel of António do Campo (he had been part of the 4th Armada, but had gotten separated back in 1502). Questions have been raised about the lengthy immobilization of the patrol in Angediva. Given communications along the Indian coast, it would be almost impossible for Ataíde not to be aware that, at that very moment, the Portuguese factory in Cochin was being besieged by the Zamorin of Calicut, and that their compatriots were desperately holding out. It must be assumed that the damage to the patrol ships was too severe to prevent them from sailing to the rescue. [Alternative accounts (esp. Gaspar Correia) however state