The Eight Armada had a simple mission, just like the seventh. With smooth political sailing in India, at least for now, no issues were expected. However, it was fate and the Lord's Unknowable Ways that would doom the prospects of matching the seventh's profits: a great storm on the South Atlantic condemned two of the fleet's largest carracks to a watery grave; two others ran aground and were irreparably abandoned in the Straits of Mozambique. The rest of the fleet made it to India, damaged but whole.

In India, the patrol fleet had charted out the western coast to the north up to an island group held by the Sultan of Gujarat, and a city known as Mumbai. Furthermore, the Indian Armada was joined by carracks from the Persian Gulf, who reported that Afonso de Albuquerque had successfully established a stranglehold on trade from Arabia through the Gulf of Hormuz, as well as pushed through administrative reforms. However, the measures were far from as effective as hoped. The Treaty of Lisbon with the Ottomans and Venice had given Arab merchants access to import pepper free from Portuguese interference; they used (or abused) these same documents to then export Arabian horses to India without paying taxes ("protection money") to the Portuguese as well.

Albuquerque was not sure what to do with these merchants; the Ottomans had occupied Basra and Portuguese holdings there were in a tenuous position. Without knowing the line from Lisbon, he was hesitant to provoke a war by attacking merchants who had real Portuguese paperwork. Nevertheless, not all merchants could subvert Hormuz in this way, and a decent amount of money began to trickle in.

The India Armada effectively bribed the rulers of Kannur, Kozhikode, Kochi and Kollam with rich gifts, and for the second year in a row confirmed that the best port for spices at the moment was Kollam. However, the Zamorin of Kozhikode was rebounding very quickly. An air of peace had settled over the Malabar Coast, however unreal it felt.

Results:

• 4 gun carracks lost.
• Mumbai & Goa charted.
• Gulf of Hormuz Taxation (holding) established.
• India Armada revenue: 165,120 fl. (civilian) & 522,880 fl. (military).