DOWNTON FIGHTS WITH THE PORTUGUESE 47 On December 6, 1614, Downton heard that the Por- tuguese viceroy at Goa was equipping a great force against him. It was to be on a scale sufficient to crush, without hope of escape, the insolent intruders into the Asiatic seas. Best's fight had taught the Portuguese the unwisdom of engaging the English with anything like equal forces, and the viceroy gathered the naval strength of Portugal in Indian waters for one over- whelming attack. While collecting his armada at Goa he sent on some light vessels to occupy our attention, and on December 23, 1614, twenty-two Portuguese " frigates/ 9 or rowed galleys, anchored during the night in the shallows between our ships and the river mouth. They were protected from us by sand-banks, and as traffic with the shore was forbidden by the native gov- ernor, Downton could not victual or refit to enable him to take to sea. Moreover, like Best in 1612, he realized the advantage which the more skilful handling of the English ships gave amid the mud-banks and currents of the Tapti estuary. The Portuguese thought they had shut him in among the shoals, and he made the shoals fight for him. By January 18, 1615, the whole Portu- guese fleet had arrived, including six great galleons, three smaller ships, two galleys, and sixty " frigates," or rowed barges, with " twenty soldiers apiece and eighteen oars a side." The Viceroy of Goa, Dom Jero- nimo de Azevedo, commanded in person, flying his flag as admiral of the Indian seas. The English were cruelly overmatched. The largest Portuguese galleon was of 800 tons burden and carried
