After serving in Morocco, he fought in the campaigns of Afonso de Albuquerque in India and the Red Sea.

[3][4] In November 1511, after sending ambassadors to Pegu and Siam one month before leaving Malacca, Albuquerque trusted Abreu with the command of a fleet of four ships sailing in search of the "Spice Islands".

Abreu was captain-major in the ship Santa Catarina, the deputy commander was Francisco Serrão[1] on the ship Sabaia, and a third vessel, a caravel, was under command of Simão Afonso Bisagudo, having as pilot Francisco Rodrigues, an able cartographer who wrote about this expedition.

Abreu then sailed to Amboina whilst his deputy commander Serrão stepped forward to the Moluccas but sank, ending in Ternate.

Abreu returned to Malacca in December 1512, from where he departed for India with Fernão Pires de Andrade in January 1513, then sailing for Portugal.