Page 29 - Anglo Portuguese Rivalry in The Gulf_Neat

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in masts, hull and rudder. This unfortunate vessel
disabled. Amongst those severely wounded was the
was so mishandled that out of her crew of 250 men
Rear-Admiral, Antonio Telles, whose galleon on the
only seven or eight survived ; but despite this pheno­
next morning (Ash Wednesday) “ rowied by the board
* her maine topmast, with part of her mainemast, and menal punishment she did not surrender, and was
eventually relieved by Botelho’s flagship.1 By this
alsoe her foretopmast.”1 Although thus crippled by
* time both sides were thoroughly exhausted and at
the loss of his strongest ship, Botelho did not hesitate
sunset the English “ ware so faint and werey that our
to accept the challenge of the allied squadron, which,
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having refreshed and refitted themselves at Gombrun, men began to drop downe for very faintness.” The
: Portuguese were in like condition, or even worse, and
bore down upon him at dawn on February 13th.
. ' This second day’s fight “ continued a9 biudy a9 it so once more nightfall parted the combatants on equal
I; was at the first,” or even more so, “ the sea being all as terms.
: At the end of this action the Portuguese were in a
callme and smooth as the Themes and wee continually
1 1: bord and bord.” The English concentrated their sorry plight. Their losses had been extremely heavy,.
efforts on Botelho’s flagship to begin with, but the the casualties in the flagship alone amounting to over
i;. sixty, and though the allies had by no means escaped
Ih Portuguese “ behaved themselves very stoutly.” A
prize renamed thtjohn had been fitted up as a fireship, scatheless, they had the port of Gombrun in which to
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1 one Darby being placed in command, with the promise refit and replenish their supplies of food and ammunition
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1, of £100 reward if he clapped his ship alongside the at leisure.1 The galleons had all suffered severely
in their hulls and rigging, and were in urgent need of
Sao Francisco Xavier. But the Portuguese were on
the alert, and Ruy Freyre with three frigates succeeded xTaylor*« pamphlet (on the authority of a French deserter) states that out
in isolating this vessel from the fleet, and she had of 250 men in the Trindade, 243 were slain in this second day’s fight.
1 Laird Clowes (Royal Navy, Vol. II) remarks that this must be a misprint or
perforce to be set alight prematurely and abandoned an exaggeration, but the statement is confirmed by a contemporary Portuguese
in order to avoid capture. In the afternoon, the allied source, Jornada que Francisco de Sousa de Castro . . . fez ao Achem, com
uma importante Embaixada} enviado pelo Visorei da India Pedro da Silva, no
squadron succeeded in surrounding the galleon Trindade anno de 1638, (Goa, 1642, (reprinted in the Levantamento de Ximabaray
commanded by Francisco de Souza de Castro, which etc., Lisboa, 1643), whose author, Frei Gonsalo de S2o Jos6, states he was an
was almost entirely disabled owing to damage received eye-witness of this heroic feat. Francisco de Souza de Castro was in later
■ years Captain of Dam2o, where he was on excellent terms with the English.
His name is often mentioned in the documents calendared in Foster’s English
£ Factories, 1630-1641. Whilst he was a prisoner in the hands of the treacherous
*A contemporary English account states that the Sao Sebastiao “ had been Achinese in 1638-1640, the English tried to secure his release, but in vain.
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built upon a carrack at Cochin [alias Dam2o] only for to make a battery and
to be a barracado to the rest of her fleet. She was saker, if not whole •The expenditure of ammunition on both sides was colossal. The James
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culverin proof in her lower works. This ship did more spoile unto our r fired 550 shot the first day, and 1,112 the second, whilst Botelho’s flagship
i fleet than any three of their ships taken together.” Her captain, Antonio expended 1,500 shot in this last action alone. The English and Persians
ashore in Gombrun estimated the total number of cannon balls fired at
) TelleSj had later a distinguished career, for he subsequently rose to be x 6,000 on the first day and 17,000 on the second 1 In view of this prodigious
Captain-General of the galleons, 1636-1639 (in which capacity he had three
pitched battles with the blockading Dutch squadrons off Goa's bar); expenditure of ammunition, most of it at close range, the English and Dutch
Governor of India from 1639-1640 (when he was on excellent terms with the losses were surprisingly low, amounting to less than 80 slain all told, whereas
English at Surat, who described nim as “ our worthie friend ”) ; Captain- the James alone had received over 400 shot during the fights. The
• I General of the Home fleet in 1641-1657 ; Governor of Brazil from 1647-1650. Portuguese losses were much heavier, but over half of them occurred in the
and finally appointed Viceroy of India in 1657, when he died on the outward luckless Trindade, whilst the Sao Francisco Xaviery Botelho’s flagship, had
voyage to Goa. >. 84 killed and wounded in the two days’ fight.
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