4th Portuguese India Armada (Gama, 1502)

Along the way, in East Africa, the 4th Armada established a Portuguese factory in present-day Mozambique, made contact and opened trade with the gold entrepot of Sofala and extorted tribute from Kilwa.

Before departing, the armada established a crown factory in Cannanore and left behind a small patrol under Vicente Sodré, the first permanent Portuguese fleet in the Indian Ocean.

By the time this news was received, the 3rd India Armada under João da Nova had already departed, a commercial expedition unequipped to deal with the hostile turn of events in the Indian Ocean.

[4] That these conditions were only revealed at the last minute, just before the fleet's departure, lends credence to the theory, i.e. the monarch did not want to give Cabral time to reconsider or allow opposition to mount against Gama's rapid appointment.

[33] Aboard the ships, as passengers, were Gaspar da Gama (the Goese Jew brought by Gama's first journey, who had also served as translator in the Cabral armada), an ambassador from the Kolathiri Raja of Cannanore and one of two noble Cochinese hostages taken inadvertently by Cabral's Second India Armada back to Lisbon (the other Cochinese hostage elected to stay in Lisbon, dispatching a letter to Trimumpara Raja, prince of Cochin relating the useful role he might serve Cochin by remaining behind in the Portuguese court.)

But they will pick up letters Nova left behind in Malindi, probably describing his outgoing journey and the latest news from India) June 7, 1502 – The third squadron of Estevão da Gama is caught in a terrible storm around the Cape and splits into two groups – Estevão da Gama (Flor) and the ships of Lopo Dias and Thomaz de Carmona (with Bergamo on board) hold together as a trio, while Lopo Mendes de Vasconcellos (Julia) and the ship of Buonagrazia (with Lopes on board) form a separate pair.

The only known loss is the small nau Santa Elena, captained by the novice Pêro de Mendonça, which captured by bad currents around Cape Correntes, ends up running aground near the banks of Sofala.

[45] According to Correia, while repairing on Mozambique Island, Vasco da Gama dispatches Pedro Afonso de Aguiar (captain of the Leitoa) and two caravels south to the city of Sofala, the entrepot of the Monomatapa gold trade.

[49] The new caravel finished, Gama christens it Pomposa and places it, together with some 30 crew, under the command of João Serrão (of future Magellan fame), with instructions to take any goods from the Sofalese trade.

[citation needed] But, mindful of the lesson at Calicut, Gama also wanted to add a touch of intimidation, to show off his heavily armed fleet and impress upon the Sultan of Kilwa the consequences of interfering or turning back on any agreement.

Emir Ibrahim sends a message back declining to dispatch the tribute, and telling the Portuguese captain-major that he can do whatever he will with the hostage Muhammad Arcone, given that his poor counsel had proven him unworthy.

[Correia (p. 282) reports a little knot before departing: several dozen Kilwan women 'picked up' (read: abducted) and taken aboard the ships by bored Portuguese sailors for fun and amusement refuse to return ashore.

Estêvão da Gama's trio, following the itinerary left in Mozambique by his cousin, heads off to Kilwa [56] Alone idling before Sofala, Vasconcellos and Buonagrazia proceed north to the mouth of the Rio de Bons Sinaes (Zambezi River), where they put in for repairs and recuperation.

As already alluded to earlier, the caravel of António do Campo ('Antão Vaz' in Correia) is said to have been caught up and battered by bad winds at Cape Correntes and forced to drift with the current of the Mozambique Channel aimlessly southwest.

[85] Portuguese chroniclers are eager to report that 20 children were spared this fate, and brought back by the 4th Armada to Lisbon, where they will be baptized and raised as friars at the Nossa Senhora de Belém.

[98] Gama is angered, feeling that the Zamorin has changed his tone from his earlier messages, and demands the property taken from the factory be restored in full and brought to his ship, and that all Muslim merchants must be expelled from the Calicut, before any discussion about a treaty begins.

[99] While awaiting the Zamorin's reply, Gama seizes a nearby idling zambuq and some fishing boats that had unwisely ventured into Calicut harbor, taking some fifty fisherman captive.

[102] October 31, 1502 – Infuriated by the reply, Gama sends out a strongly worded ultimatum, declaring that the Zamorin's permission means nothing to him, that he has until noon the next day to deliver the Portuguese factory goods to his ship.

The mostly poor dwellings on the shore having been razed the previous day, the Portuguese cannons now have a clear view of central city and the statelier homes of the richer citizens of Calicut and bring their larger ordnance to bear.

[109] The city is relentlessly bombarded all morning – some 400 large rounds and an indeterminate number from the smaller caliber guns [110] At noon, when the Portuguese pause for lunch, a small group of Malabari vessels tries to attack the idling squad, but are quickly seen off.

[In his somewhat different account,[113] Gaspar Correia does not report the hanging of the prisoners; instead, after the bombardment, while still anchored before the harbor of the smoldering city, the 4th Armada captures a Coromandel merchant convoy of 2 large ships and 27 small boats unlucky enough to turn up at Calicut at that very moment.

While conducting business at Cochin, Vasco da Gama receives a letter from the queen-regent of Quilon (Coulão, Kollam), on behalf of her young son, the raja Govardhana Martanda.

The two ships, carrying temporary factor João de Sá Pereira, the first Portuguese to enter Quilon, will load up quickly, and return to Cochin within ten days.

January 5, 1503 – Vasco da Gama takes his cousin's ship, the Frol de la Mar, plus one caravel, to carry the Brahmin and the Nair back to Calicut, to finalize the peace treaty with the Zamorin.

All seemed to be going well, but in the early morning hours of the fourth day, however, a hundred armed zambuks and paraus swarm into the harbor from the nearby channels and quickly surround the Flor de la Mar.

Although the Arab squadron is out of commission too soon, Coja Casem nonetheless proceeds forward with his fleet of Malabari sambuks, hoping to use their speed to outmaneuver the guns of the heavy-laden naus and reach for the grapple.

Back in Lisbon, Vicente Sodré had been given a commission (regimento) by king Manuel I of Portugal instructing him to lead a patrol of five or six caravels in the Gulf of Aden, and prey on the rich Arab prizes going in and out of the Red Sea.

[129] About five Arab merchant ships are seized by the patrol there but, according to the account written later by Pêro de Ataíde,[130] the Sodré brothers set about claiming a disproportionate share of the plunder for themselves, including embezzling the royal fifth.

The Trimumpara Raja and his Portuguese guests (factor Diogo Fernandes Correia and his assistants), accompanied by a small loyal Nair guard, abandon Cochin city and flee across the harbor to Vypin, a barrier island of the Vembanad lagoon.

Sometime during the course of this siege, the two Italian military engineers (and probable Venetian agents) that had come as passengers on Gama's ships - known only as João Maria (Gianmaria) and Pêro António (Pierantonio) – escaped Cochin and made their way to the Zamorin' camp, offering their services to the army of Calicut.