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VICTORIES OF ALBUQUERQUE AND DA CUNHA 99 first Indian expedition in 1503 - 1504, had impressed his own magnificent ideas on the royal mind. In 1506 he was sent out as second in command to Tristao da Cunha with a fleet of sixteen ships to secure the mouth of the Red Sea against Egypt, while King Em- manuel despatched an- other powerful fleet to assail the Turks in the Mediterranean. The Medi- terranean expedition was somewhat irrelevant; the Grand Turk at Constan- tinople being as little likely to aid the -rival Sul- tan of Egypt as Venice was honestly to help the Portuguese. But the double attack in European and Asiatic waters, if dis- closing a flaw in Emman- PORTRAIT OF APFONSO DK ALBUQUERQUE. Uel 'S foreign intelligence From the 1774 edition of his Commentaries. attests the thoroughness of his strategy. The fleet under Da Cunha and Albuquerque, after further strengthening the Portuguese line of communication up the East African coast, took Socotra from the Mus- sulmans near the mouth of the Red Sea. Da Cunha then sailed to India to collect cargo, leaving Albu- querque with six ships in supreme command in the Arabian waters, in August, 1507.