A gold brooch which was broken in two. Some 59 mm long and 46 mm wide, it is in the form of a wreathe, with a scroll-like banner wrapped around it. Visible in four places, writing in capital letters. Due to wear of the gold, as well as the fact that the banner is wrapped it is difficult to decipher.

The letters seem to run in four groups, along the following lines: " ...N R I... ...I A F T... ...T O V I... ...N O....I... ".

Letter from the King, 25/Jan/1533

(...) I wrote you saying how had for my service that this India fleet went in two waves, that is, four naos in this first [fleet] and three in the other; and that, in this first one, went as captain general dom Goncalo Coutinho, and with him Dom Joao Pereira, and Dom Francisco de Noronha, and Diogo Brandao, and by some things that I have respecting this matter, I want that the said Dom Joao goes as captain general of the said last three naos, and that the nao, in which he would have gone with Dom Goncalo goes any that gets vacated (...)


Letter from the King, 26/Jan/1533

(..) I have as for my service that the said fleet goes divided in two armadas, with two captain generals, that is, four naos in one, and three in the other; and the four will sail first, those would b the two [ships] of Jorge Lopes, that should be more readier, because they did not leave the shipyard, and the other two [ships] being two of mine, the newest ones, that are more readier; and in these I have for good that will go as captain general Dom Goncalo Coutinho that, for the qualities he has in him, will know how to serve me in that capacity, and with him will go Dom Joao Pereira and Dom Francisco Noronha in my two [naos], and Diogo Brandao in [the nao] of Jorge Lopes and his; I beg you much that, with the earliest brevity and hastiness possible, you order the said four naos to be ready, in order to sail, with the help of Our Lord, within the month of February on entering March, if they can, so that they can have to time to sail to to cape Guardafui, as you have written me that it should be done.And if it goes in there Goncalo, you will tell him from me that, in order to please him, I have for good to send him as captain general of these four naos until India, but he will go without any pay. And the said Dom Goncalo will go in the returned [nao] of Jorge Lopes, or in one of the two new naos, whatever looks the best to serve as admiral ship. And dom Joao will go in the other. And in theseI order you much that you haste as much as possible, and I will have the their Orders made and I will send them together with the letters, so that they cannot get delayed, and I have already sent message to the said Dom Joao and Dom Francisco to get ready to go(…)


Letter from the King, Évora, 5/Feb/1533

(...)I thank you much the news that you have sent me telling me how those naos are already so ready that they can depart in early March Their captains for them are already there [Lisbon] all except the one for the nao in which returned Diogo Lopes de Sousa, I will tell you on a later letter, if it is he who will go in it, if it will be Nuno Furtado (...)


Letter from the King, Évora, 10/Feb/1533

Regarding the nao Bom Jesus, the one you tell me was destined to dom Francisco de Noronha, this, it seems, was not done as you you have said, going the Cirne as admiral ship. You will to dom Francisco, from my part, that he is to go in the nao that you will give him, because we will not see in it any disrespect, and that he must be happy to go in the nao that you will give him, and also because I also order it to be so and I have it for my great service, and so I have it for good to be so, and that the distribution list of masters and pilots that you have made shall not be changed, because it looked very well made and I want it to be followed as it is (...)


Letter from the King, Évora, 16/Feb/1533

I saw what you have told me concerning the values [embarked] in this armada, and by the account that you make 70.000 cruzados should go on all seven ships, and because, by the letters that Nuno da Cunha [India governor] writes, as you know there is a great shortage of money for all the expenses that were made, and because we cannot have a money shortage for the embarkment of goods [the cargo from India to Lisbon] and to pay some debts to people that are there; I will have for my great service that 80.000 cruzados shall go, because all of them will be necessary.I trust you to arrange the said 80.000 cruzados in currency and that you try your best that no less than that will go;And in these four naos those 45.000 cruzados will go; and, if you can make it 50.000, I will have great pleasure in that, divided equally by all naos, because they will go earlier, and in the other three will go 30.000 cruzados, and by this way you will order it done, because I have for my service (...)


Letter from the King, Évora, 11/Mar/1533

(...) Fernao de Alvares told me how you wrote him, describing how the four naos sailed Friday, the seveb days of this month, and left the mouth [of the Tagus river] and went into high seas with very good weather (...)

The ANNT contains in the section Gavetas (Gav. 20-1-53) an important summary of the India letters of the year 1533 made for the use of the Secretary for India Pero d’Alcáçova Carneiro, soon after the arrival of the return fleet of 1534, with marginal notes of the said secretary regarding the answer to be given or not to be given and the steps to be taken on their account. As the 124 letters, of which summaries are given, are not preserved, these extracts are better than nothing. So, from that we know that in letter #64, Dom Joao Pereira writes from Goa on the 26th of October, 1533, giving an account of the whole trip, from Lisbon to India.

"[the King] ordered Dom Joao Pereira to be the captain of the first [fleet] that was made of four ships. He was the father of Dom Martinho Pereira, that in the time fo King Dom Sebastiao ruled the kingdom, and he came for the captaincy of Goa in the nao Frol de la Mar in which he sailed on March the 4th. The other captains were Vasco de Paiva in the Santa Barbara, Diogo Brandao in the nao Santa Clara, and in Sao Joao Dom Francisco de Noronha that was lost at Cape of Good Hope. After, on April the 6th sailed in the admiral ship Cisne, the captain Dom Goncalo Coutinho, that also had the captaincy of Goa, and Simao da Veiga in Sao Roque, and in the nao Bom Jesus Nuno Furtado."

in "Conquista da India per humas e outras armas reaes, e evangelicas em breves memorias de varões illustres e feitos maravilhosos em huma e outra conquista (Códice 1646 da Col. Egerton - Museu Britânico)"