Battle of Chaul
gigatos | January 12, 2022
Summary
The Battle of Chaul was a naval battle between the Portuguese fleet and an Egyptian Mamluk fleet in 1508 in the port of Chaul in India. The battle ended in a Mamluk victory. It was followed by the Siege of Cannanore (1507) in which a Portuguese garrison successfully resisted an attack by the South Indian rulers. It was the first Portuguese defeat at sea in the Indian Ocean. In the clash, also perished the Lusitanian admiral, Lourenço de Almeida, son of the viceroy of India, Francisco de Almeida.
Previously, the Portuguese had been primarily active in Calicut, but the northern region of Gujarat was even more important for trade and an essential intermediary in East-West trade: the Gujaratis brought spices from the Moluccas and silk from China, and then sold them to the Egyptians and Arabs.
The monopoly interventions of the Portuguese, however, were seriously disrupting trade in the Indian Ocean, threatening Arab and Venetian interests, as it became possible for the Portuguese to sell out the Venetians in the spice trade in Europe. Venice broke diplomatic relations with Portugal and began to look for ways to counter its intervention in the Indian Ocean, sending an ambassador to the Egyptian court. Venice negotiated the lowering of Egyptian tariffs to facilitate competition with the Portuguese and suggested adopting “swift and secret remedies” against the Portuguese. The ruler of Calicut, the Zamorin, had also sent an ambassador asking for help against the Portuguese.
Because the Mamluks had little naval power, they had to be supplied with lumber from the Black Sea to build the ships, about half of which was intercepted by the Hospitallers of St. John at Rhodes, so that only a fraction of the planned fleet could be assembled at Suez. The lumber was then brought overland by camel and assembled in Suez under the supervision of Venetian shipwrights.
The fleet left Suez in November 1505, 1100 men strong, under the command of the Kurdish Mamluk, former governor of Jeddah, Amir Hussain Al-Kurdi (pt. Mirocem). The expedition (which the Portuguese refer to by the generic term “Rūmi”) included not only Egyptian Mamluks but also a large number of Turkish, Nubian and Ethiopian mercenaries, as well as Venetian artillerymen. Thus, most of the coalition”s artillery was composed of archers that the Portuguese could easily overwhelm.
They were ordered to fortify Jeddah against a possible Portuguese attack and quell rebellions around Suakin and Mecca. They spent the monsoon season on the island of Kamaran and landed in Aden, at the tip of the Red Sea, where they were involved in costly local politics with the emir of Tahirid, before finally crossing the Indian Ocean. Then it was not until September 1507 that they reached Diu, a city at the mouth of the Gulf of Khambhat, in a voyage that might have taken as little as a month to complete under full sail. The Mamluk force consisted of 6 caracas and 6 galleys and, in addition to the fighters, included the ambassador of the Zamroin of Calicut, Mayimama Mārakkār.
The fleet was to join Malik Ayyaz (pt. Meliquiaz), a former archer and slave of possible Georgian or Dalmatian origin in the service of Sultan Mahmud Begada of Gujarat as governor of Diu. The fleet was also planning to join the Zamorin of Calicut to raid and destroy all Portuguese possessions on the Indian coast, but the Zamorin, which had been waiting for the Mamluk fleet in 1507, had already departed.
Dom Lourenço de Almeida, son of Francisco de Almeida first viceroy of India, “Admiral of the sea of India” (pt. Capitão-mor do mar da Índia), was sent by his father to protect some ships, between Kochi (the then Lusitanian headquarters in Malabar) and Chaul. He commanded a fleet of eight ships (including 2 galleys and 5 caravels) captained by Pêro Barreto, Lobo Teixeira, Duarte de Melo, Gonçalo Pereira, Francisco de Anaia, Paio de Sousa and Diogo Pires (the latter in command of the galleys). Along the way, they entered some ports, where they looted and burned most of the Moorish ships they encountered. Admiral Almeida found out about the arrival of the Rūmi fleet in Diu and decided to move to meet them.
Off the port of Chaul, Almeida encountered Hussain”s fleet that had moved towards him from Diu. According to the reports, the Mamluk engagement took advantage of a misunderstanding on the part of the Portuguese: seeing the Muslims” “western” vessels (caracas and galleys), Almeida believed it to be Alfonso de Albuquerque”s squadron, returning from the conquest of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. So he did not suspect anything until Mirocém entered the river with his ships and galleys, waving red flags with white moons, and as he passed in front of the Portuguese ships he immediately attacked them with bombards, rifles and arrows, going to drop anchor near the city. Reeling from the surprise, the Portuguese responded in the same manner. Anchoring the enemy fleet, Dom Lourenço, despite having many wounded in all the ships, decided with his and Pêro Barreto”s to ramm the Mirocém flagship and ordered the other captains to ramm the other enemy ships.
Mirocém, fearing to fight without the support of Meliquiaz”s galleys that had not yet arrived, ordered a massive firing against the Lusitanians. The first day of the battle ended without the Portuguese, betrayed by the wind, succeeding in boarding the enemy ships: caravels, caracas and galleys were however so close that on both sides the men targeted each other (which benefited Hussain being his tallest ship). In between exchanges of bullets, Almeida was hit by two arrows (the second in the face). Barreto managed to ram one of the enemy ships and capture it. Pires and two other captains succeeded in ramming three other ships. Spurred on by these successes, despite being wounded, Dom Lourenço wanted to return to attack Mirocém”s flagship but his captains dissuaded him. The next day, Miliquiaz entered the Chaul River. He anchored next to Mirhocem and sent three hulks ahead, which were, however, passed by the galleys of Sousa and Pires.
By now reduced to the minimum terms, the Portuguese opted for a retreat. At the first light of dawn of the third day, the hulks of Miliquiaz surrounded the flagship of Almeida and the target of bombs: one of the devices caused a hole in the hull and the ship ran aground. Miliquiaz sent other fuste on the usta of the galley of Sousa that succeeded however to escape them. When Sousa reached the collection point with the fleet and the captains realized that the admiral had not reached them, they dropped anchor. Almeida”s ship, meanwhile, was under fire. Dom Lourenço refused to get into the lifeboat prepared for him, even after one bombardment tore off half his thigh, until another killed him. His ship was almost sunk and the enemies, who surrounded it from all sides, rammed and boarded it three times, always being repulsed. The fourth assault was finally favorable to the Muslims but Miliquiaz ordered to spare the last twenty Portuguese left alive on board. Eighty Portuguese, including captains and sailors, perished in the fight.
In all, between Almeida”s ship and the others, one hundred and forty Portuguese died and one hundred and twenty-four were wounded. The Muslims lost a total of between six hundred and seven hundred men. Lourenço de Almeida”s death would later be cited by Luís de Camões as an example of heroism in his epic work The Lusiads (canto X, 29-32).
Hussain barely survived the confrontation due to Malik Ayyaz”s delay. Hussain had no choice but to return to Diu with Malik Ayyaz and prepare for a Portuguese reprisal. Hussain reported the battle with Admiral Almeida in Cairo as a great victory, however, the Mirat Sikandari, a contemporary Persian account of the Gujarat Kingdom, describes the battle of Chaul as a minor skirmish.
In Kochi, after learning of the death of his only son from the surviving captains of Chaul, Dom Francisco de Almeida was struck in the heart: he withdrew to his quarters for three days, refusing to see anyone. The presence of a Mamluk fleet in India represented a serious threat for the Portuguese, but the viceroy thought only to take personal revenge for the death of his son at the hands of Mirocem. The monsoon was approaching, however, and with it the storms that inhibited navigation in the Indian Ocean until September. Only then could the viceroy recall all available Portuguese ships for repairs in dry dock and gather his forces in Kochi. Before Almeida could leave, however, Alfonso de Albuquerque arrived at Cannanore from the Persian Gulf on December 6 with a regiment from King Manuel I of Portugal appointing him as the new governor to replace Almeida. Dom Francisco, already resentful with Albuquerque who had let the Egyptian fleet slip under his nose without noticing it and determined to take revenge for the grief he had suffered, refused to allow his designated successor to take office: he rebelled against the royal authority and continued to govern Portuguese India for another year.On December 9, Almeida”s fleet sailed to Diu or defeated Mirocem”s Muslim fleet in one of the battles that changed the course of history.
Also read, biographies – Jacques Cartier
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