Portuguese Muslims avoided enslavement by negotiating overland exit instead of sea passage

Evidence

The Portuguese Muslims were therefore well advised to avoid if they could a similar fate, and to keep clear of the Lisbon docks if at all possible. They opted instead to negotiate permission to leave overland. As we have seen, their probable fate if they had tried to leave by sea would have been slavery: they had no guarantee that shipping could be found before the deadline, indeed, it was unlikely in the extreme that they would all have managed to secure passages. The centuries-old community of Portuguese Muslims was in this way brought to an end overnight, but at least the children of the Portuguese Muslims were spared the dreadful fate inflicted on the children of the Jews. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 124