That day's Portuguese fleet council reached an agreement after long discussion. First, the fleet had to replenish its food and prepare for the return voyage.
Second, aside from the weapons used by the crew, they could trade all their "spare military supplies" with the natives. Between the two ships, that came to 40 standard sabers, 10 matchlock muskets, 10 breastplates, 1 two-pounder cannon, and 2 sealed barrels of gunpowder. Every item would be sold at ten times the price! Sabers, 1 gold coin apiece; matchlock muskets, 10 gold coins apiece; breastplates, 20 gold coins a set; two-pounder cannon, 200 gold coins each; gunpowder, 2 gold coins a barrel. Altogether, that was at least 544 gold ducats, an astonishing 2 kilograms of gold!
Of course, the natives might not have that much gold. If they brought out pearls, spices, or dyes, the fleet could accept those too. It was just that they would have to resell them once more, making them troublesome to turn into cash, far inferior to hard currency like gold.
All the gold traded back would be divided according to the goods each ship had put forward. And on each ship, thirty to forty percent of the transaction would be set aside for the palace steward and the Portuguese royal family—in other words, handed upward. Of the rest, the captain alone would take twenty to thirty percent, and the crew would then divide the remaining forty-plus percent evenly by headcount. Important crewmen counted as two shares, ordinary sailors only one. And crewmen who participated in the trade with the natives would be counted as another two shares for that day's profit distribution...
In short, after many years of maritime "trade," the Portuguese navy was quite seasoned and fair when it came to distributing profits! At the very least,