Siege of Mangalore

01The port on the Netravati

Mangalore, at the mouth of the Netravati and Gurupura rivers, was the chief port of Tipu’s coast. A Company army from Bombay took it early in 1783. Haidar Ali had died in December 1782, and Tipu, now ruler of Mysore, marched west and laid siege to the fort in May 1783.

02Eight months

Colonel John Campbell held out through the monsoon with a garrison of British and sepoy troops. A truce came when news arrived that Britain and France had made peace in Europe, and Tipu’s French allies withdrew. But the Mysore army kept the fort shut in, and supply ships could not land enough food. Sickness and hunger wore the garrison down. On 30 January 1784 Campbell marched out with the honours of war.

03The Treaty of Mangalore

Company commissioners came to Tipu’s camp, and the Treaty of Mangalore was signed on 11 March 1784. Each side restored the other’s conquests and released its prisoners. In the same year Tipu, who held that the Christians of Kanara had helped the Company, ordered the Mangalorean Catholics carried off to Srirangapatna, where many remained captive until 1799.