The condition of affairs on the shores of the Indian sea, as reported by Vasco da Gama, was such that it was evident a display of force would be necessary to carry on trade, as the Mohamedans were nearly everywhere hostile. The whole kingdom of Portugal, however, was as resolute as the monarch himself in the determination to secure the eastern commerce, so that no difficulty was experienced in getting together what was believed in those days to be a very strong armament. And indeed, though a modern gunboat could in less than half an hour send to the bottom the whole of the fleet that King Manuel despatched on this occasion, the Mohamedans on the Indian ocean — even if they could have combined — had nothing fit to oppose it. The approximate time at which the different monsoons set in was now known, and to take advantage of them it was necessary that ships should leave Lisbon in February or March. Preparations were therefore made with all possible haste, and in the first week of March 1500 thirteen ships of different sizes, fitted out in the best manner, lay at anchor at Rastello ready for sea. Twelve hundred picked men, between soldiers and sailors, were on board, and an able officer, Pedro Alvares Cabral by name, was in chief command, with another named Sancho de Toar as next in authority.