Battle of Chaul

01The battle

Chaul was a port of the Nizam Shahi kingdom of Ahmadnagar. Lourenço de Almeida was there with a small squadron when the Mamluk fleet under Amir Husain arrived, followed two days later by the light ships of Malik Ayaz. In two days of fighting Lourenço’s flagship was caught on fishing stakes at the harbour mouth while trying to break out. He fought on, wounded, until the ship sank; the Portuguese chroniclers say he was killed by a cannon ball.

02The father’s revenge

Chaul was the only major defeat the Portuguese suffered at sea in their first decades in India. The viceroy Francisco de Almeida swore revenge for his son. Within a year he gathered every ship he had, sacked the port of Dabhol on the way, and in February 1509 destroyed the combined Mamluk, Gujarati and Calicut fleets at Diu, a victory that gave Portugal command of the Arabian Sea for a century.