That would have been a very suitable idea if it could have been executed during the season for navigation.

Juan Gallegos went to Macan, and thence to the Strait of Cincapura, where he found six Dutch galleons and one patache.

They seized him, and learned from him of the coming of Don Juan de Silva with so large a force.

They did not dare await the latter and so left the Strait.

Shortly after Don Juan de Silva arrived, two ships of Goa came from China with the goods and merchandise from India, which it was our Lord's will to save in that way.
Before the enemy happened to seize the patache of Juan Gallegos, they had negotiated with the king of Hachen, a country located in the island of Samatra, near the Strait, in regard to uniting with them to attack Malaca with more than four hundred craft, that would hold more than forty thousand men.