The two-month delay between the Third Armada's…

The two-month delay between the Third Armada's reputed arrival in India (August) and their first recorded activities in India (November) is unusual and been subject to some speculation.

As suggested by Correia, the Third Armada seems to have simply lingered in the area between Batecala and Mount d'Eli,to do some trading and maybe some piracy too, before heading south to Cannanore.

On the other hand, it has been hypothesized that during this interlude, Nova might have launched some exploratory ventures in the area during, in particular taken a wide swing far south, below Cape Comorin, to see if he could locate the fabled island of 'Taprobana' (Ceylon), the world's main source of cinnamon.

Arriving in Cannanore in November, the Third Armada is well received by the Kolathiri Raja of Cannanore, who immediately urges João da Nova to load up his ships with spices from the city's markets.

Nova sidesteps the offer courteously, noting that he must first collect the supplies already acquired by the Portuguese factory in Cochin.

Nonetheless, before setting off, Nova drops off a few agents, with instructions to initiate arrangements to purchase spices (principally ginger and cinnamon) in the Cannanore markets, to be picked up later.

It is sometimes said that Nova established the Portuguese factory in Cannanore at this point.

However, the factor he leaves behind is Paio Rodrigues, is a private agent of D. Álvaro of Braganza and the Marchionni consortium, not an employee of the Casa da India (the crown trading house).

The Casa (and thus the Portuguese Crown) will only install a factor in Cannanore during the following expedition.

While in Cannanore, João da Nova receives an embassy from the Zamorin of Calicut.

Accompanying them is Gonçalo Peixoto, a Portuguese survivor of the previous year's massacre, who had remained stuck in Calicut for the past year.

In his letter, the Zamorin expresses his sadness at the Calicut Massacre of December 1500, blaming it on old hatreds between Muslims and Christians that he never understood, and that he, a Hindu prince, has only a desire for friendship and peace with Portugal.

He reports that the ringleaders of the riot have already been rounded up and punished, and invites Nova to Calicut to collect the wares left behind in the Portuguese factory and receive compensation.

He also proposes to dispatch a pair of his own ambassadors with Nova's fleet back to Lisbon, to make a final treaty with King Manuel I of Portugal.

The Kolathiri Raja of Cannanore is impressed, and recommends that Nova take up the offer.

However, Gonçalo Peixoto warns Nova not to believe a word of it, that the Zamorin is luring him into a trap, and is currently preparing a war fleet in Calicut.

Nova decides not to reply to the Zamorin's entreaty.

Peixoto, seeing no reason to return to Calicut, joins Nova's fleet.

Correia reports this event differently.

He asserts that Peixoto had not come and that Nova had taken up the offer from the Zamorin's emissary to Cannanore and sailed to ...