Though The
Harbour Of Chaul Was Then Occupied By A Considerable Number Of
Portuguese Galleys And Galliots, Catiproca And His Fleet Entered The
Harbour Under Night Without Opposition.
The Nizam was much pleased with
the arrival of this naval force, and having ordered a great number of
his small vessels named calemutes to join the Malabar fleet, he
prevailed on Catiproca to attack the Portuguese ships, which were
commanded by Lionel de Sousa.
They accordingly made the attempt, but
were so warmly received by De Sousa and his gallies as to be beat off
with considerable loss. The Nizam, who had witnessed this naval battle
from an adjoining eminence, used every argument to prevail upon
Catiproca to make another attempt, but to no purpose; for after
remaining twenty days in the harbour, he stole away one night, and got
away as fortunately as he had got in.
While on his return, Catiproca was applied to by the queen of Mangalore
to assist her in surprizing the Portuguese fort at that place, which she
alleged might be easily taken. Catiproca agreed to this, in hopes of
regaining the reputation he had lost at Chaul. He accordingly landed his
men secretly, and made an attempt under night to scale the walls. While
his men were mounting the ladders some servants of Antonio Pereyra, who
commanded in that fort, were awakened by the noise, and seeing the enemy
on the ladders threw out of a window the first thing that came to hand,
which happened to be a chest of silver; with which they beat down those
who were on the ladder. Pereyra waking with the noise, threw down those
who had mounted, and the rest fled carrying his chest of silver on board
their ships. While passing Cananor, Don Diego de Menezes fell upon the
Malabar squadron, which he totally routed and drove up the river
Tiracole, where every one of the ships were taken or destroyed, the
admiral Catiproca slain, his nephew Cutiale made prisoner, and the chest
of money belonging to Pereyra recovered.
Even by the fitting out of this unfortunate fleet, the zamorin did not
fulfil the conditions of the confederacy against the Portuguese, as each
of the high contracting parties had engaged to undertake some
considerable enterprize against them in person; but he had been hitherto
deterred by the presence of Diego de Menezes with a squadron in their
seas, who burned several of his maritime towns and took many of his
ships. Towards the end of June 1571, Diego de Menezes having withdrawn
from the coast with his squadron, and when Adel Khan and the Nizam were
both about to desist from their enterprises upon Goa and Chaul, the
zamorin took the field with an army of 100,000 men, most of them armed
with firelocks, with which he invested the fort of Chale about two
leagues from Calicut, which was then under the command of Don George de
Castro. Having planted forty pieces of brass cannon against the fort and
straitly invested it with his numerous army so as to shut out all
apparent hope of relief, a small reinforcement under Noronha was unable
to penetrate; but soon afterwards Francisco Pereyra succeeded by an
effort of astonishing bravery to force his way into Chale with a few
men.
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