A wealthy Brahmin, accompanied by his son and nephew, shows up at Cochin and requests permission from Vasco da Gama to take passage on the Fourth Armada to Portugal.

At first the Brahmin claims he seeks to learn more about Christian religion in Europe, but eventually reveals he is in fact a plenipotentiary ambassador of the Zamorin, and that he hopes to speak directly with King Manuel I of Portugal in Lisbon, and negotiate a permanent peace treaty between Portugal and Calicut, as (in the Zamorin's estimation) the Portuguese armada captains, coming and going every year, do not seem empowered to negotiate durable treaties.

Gama assures him he is fully empowered by the king, at which point the Brahmin then offers to mediate a peace treaty between Gama and the Zamorin.

Gama agrees, and the Brahmin returns to Calicut, coming back to Cochin shortly after accompanied by a Nair of the Zamorin's household, with an concrete offer to compensate the Portuguese for the goods lost in the Calicut factory.

It seems a fair offer, so Gama decides to personally finalize the arrangement.

On January 5, 1503, da Gama takes his cousin's ship, the Flor de la Mar, plus one caravel, to carry the Brahmin and the Nair back to Calicut, to finalize the peace treaty with the Zamorin.

Gama leaves the rest of the Armada in Cochin under Dom Luis Coutinho. (Rumors of the imminent peace with Calicut angers the merchants of Cochin, who feel they will be shortchanged by any agreement with Calicut; Coutinho has a difficult time securing the continued purchasing and loading of spices).

Gama is taking only a light escort, but he imagines Vicente Sodré is in the vicinity and will provide additional security.

However, as it happens, Vicente Sodré had left Calicut a few days earlier.

He had been maintaining a continuous blockade on Calicut harbor, and engaging in repeated cat-and-mouse chases with small Calicut fishing ships that dared venture out.

At one point, Sodré had given a couple of fishing boats chase into a side-channel, and sailed into a trap: forty armed Calicut paraus quickly surrounded him.

A lucky cannon shot on the lead ship had broken up the ambush, allowing Sodré to extricate himself from there quickly, sailing out and racing back to Cannanore to pick up the rest of his patrol.