On his return, Gonçalo Velho and his crew made port in "Praia dos Lobos" on Santa Maria before embarking; Cabral and his Algarvean sailors eventually discovered a large island on 8 May 1444. On this first expedition, the crew ported in the small islet (today near Vila Franca do Campo) naming the large island in honour of the apparition of the archangel Michael (or "São Miguel". In a secondary expedition the captain investigated the northern coast of the island, before landing at the mouth of a large ravine in the southeast corner of the island, that settlers would eventually name "Povoação Velha" ("old settlement"). As with Santa Maria, he deposited herd animals on the island, and sent to Portugal tree branches, pigeons, a box of dirt and other signs of the new land. Settlement of Santa Maria and São Miguel began in earnest, and Gonçalo Velho became the Donatary-Captain of both islands (Santa Maria was settled in 1439, and colonists started arriving on São Miguel in 1444). During this period, he ordered the burning/clearing of lands and donated vast tracts of lands to family members and loyal servants, who began to cultivate wheat, raised honey-bees and planted grapevines from Crete. At the same time the Infante Henry had ordered Moorish peoples () with Cabral to immediately settle the newly discovered lands of São Miguel, who found signs of attempted earlier settlement of the island. In 1445, Cabral returned to the waters of São Miguel with nobles and settlers (bringing with them herd animals, birds, wheat and vegetables) in order to settle the island. Arriving in a period of seismic activity, his crew discovered floating pumice stone and tree trunks as arrived closer to their port. Making landfall on 29 September they encountered the Moorish settlers who, over time "perished" (but likely became intermingled in the ensuing population).