Manuel Pessanha

In 1316–17 Manuel Pessanha reached an agreement with king Denis of Portugal, who appointing him to reform the new[2] Portuguese Navy.

In a royal charter of 1 February 1317, Pessanha was appointed with the title of Admiral of Portugal[3] (which would become hereditary in his family), entitled to a pension of 3,000 pounds, divided into three equal payments due in the months of January, May and September, and from rural incomes from several land possessions in Portugal.

On 30 October 1340 he commanded the Portuguese fleet that helped Castile in the Battle of Río Salado, fought off Cádiz, while the Moors' ships blocked Tarifa.

His performance in this confrontation led to the Pope Benedict XII praising him in a bull which was sent to the Portuguese king.

Carlos and Bartolomeu, had no heirs, so the admiralty title passed through both of Lançarote's sons, Manuel II and Carlos II, until the 1430s, when lacking male heirs, the Admiral title would pass through the family's female lines through several Portuguese noble houses, ending up with the house of Azevedo in 1485 and the house of Castro (Counts of Resende) after 1660.