Cannanore, the Portuguese Fort Part 3.

Figure 1. Cananor Fort from Gaspar Correia’s Lendas da

Índia (mid-1500’s). National Archives (DGARQ), Lisbon (reproduced
from Correia 1975). North is to the left, right is south.[1]
(Please click on image for larger version.)

The drawing above comes from a book written by Gaspar Correia, who is believed to have travelled out to India in 1512, and to have subsequently returned to Portugal in 1529. He left Portugal once more for India, living out the balance of his life there until he died in 1563. It is not clear when the drawing was done. Some authorities believe that the drawing probably pre-dates 1550.

The most striking object in the drawing is the tall tower or keep that stands over the centre of the fort. This tower is essentially a Medieval keep of a form commonly used in Portugal and indeed Spain as well. It is designed to resist weapons like bows and arrows, but would not be suitable to withstand cannon fire.

This suggests that at the time when the tower was built the Portuguese believed that the possibility of an attack by cannon on the fort was low.

Cannon had been present in significant numbers at sieges in Europe since the 1450's. Although cannon had been in use in small numbers since the 1360's, the first really effective use of cannon against castles had been in France when in 1449 Jean and Gaspard Bureau had used a siege train to reduce sixty English held castles in Normandy within a single year of campaigning, bringing to an end the English colonies in France.

At the time that the Portuguese fort at Cannanore was being conceived, the techniques for the use of cannon to defeat castles had developed very rapidly, especially in Italy after 1494 when King Charles VIII of France who had equipped himself with a state of the art, highly mobile artillery train, and had been able to rapidly defeat the Italian armies.

This dramatic series of campaigns, which changed the balance of power in Italy led to a fundamental rethinking of the designs of fortifications, first in Italy where huge new forts surrounded with earthen banks and angled bastions beginning to be built, and then further afield.

Italian architect Antonio da Sangallo was one of the first of this new breed of military engineers.  Between 1492 and 1495 he added octagonal bastions to Castel Sant' Angelo in Rome to provide protection against cannon, whose stone balls could destroy high stone walls with ease. By 1500 many fortresses and towns across Italy, France and Spanish controlled Naples were receiving similarly designed new walls and bastions. [2]

The fort drawn by Correira appears at first glance to be medieval in style, however on closer inspection of the drawing the fort can be seen to have a number of strikingly new features, linked to the development of forts designed specifically for artillery.

For example, the drum shaped tower in the north east corner  is surprisingly squat for a medieval tower.

Indeed it could almost be taken for a circular bastion of the type that was often used by German cities when they first adapted their town defences to cannon.

It is interesting to try to compare the fort at Cannanore with other forts in Portugal or in its overseas possessions.

By 1415 the Portuguese had largely defeated the Moors in Portugal, and as a newly assertive country had acheived a balance of power with Spain.

Most of the wars fought between Portugal and Spain, before 1500 had taken place when artillery was of little real importance in warfare. So although there are lots of later artillery forts along the Iberian border, these cannot tell us much about the design of Cannanore's defences.

However, when the Portuguese had first arrived in India they had already had nearly 75 years of colonial experience behind them gained in North Africa and West Africa.  So I began extending the area of my search to Morocco, where I have begun to find examples of forts that are very similar in style to that shown in Correia's drawing of Cannanore.

It has proved possible to find several forts in Africa with details showing similarity to Cannanore.

The fort with the greatest similarity is Castelo do Mar at the former Portuguese colony called Safim located in Morocco, and which is called Safi today.

This colony is especially significant for our purposes because the Portuguese control of Safi was of a very limited duration between 1508, and 1541. This enables us to assign a sequence of dates to the features at Safi, and because very similar features are also present at Cananore, we can make an attempt to date the sequence the development of the Portuguese fort at Cananore.

 Figure 2. Castello do Mar, Safi, Morocco, showing a very similar

keep to the one shown by Correia at Cananore. [3]

A number of modern authors including André Teixeira [4] and Martin Elbl suggest that the Portuguese typically built their forts in Africa and India over a number of phases, with the first stage being the very rapid construction of a rudimentary fort to secure their position, followed by subsequent upgrades and expansions.

This pattern of development appears to be borne out by the development of the Cannanore settlement and fort.

The very first Portuguese "fort" at Cannanore was built in November 1502. Da Gama had failed establish a trading post in Calicut, which was the best location for trade on the Malabar Coast at that time. Forced by Moor hostility to avoid Calicut he tried trading with Cochin next, where he was able to obtain pepper, before returning to Cannanore, which was also hostile to Calicut.

In order to lighten his ships before the long journey back to Lisbon, he decided to negotiate with the Kolattiri Raja to leave many of his ships cannon at Cannanore. Agreement was reached that the cannon could be buried, and the store would be surrounded by a security palisade and a door fitted with a padlock.  The key of which was keep at night by the Raja. Two hundred Portuguese were left behind when Da Gama left on the 28th December 1502. It doesn't appear that the enclosure was used for accommodation, and one must presume that the Portuguese went to live in the nearby Mopila town along the beach to the east.

It is not clear where this first stockade was, and it may not have been located on the site of the current fort at Cannanore.

In September 1503 Don Francisco de Albuquerque arrived with a new fleet at Cochin, and soon began to construct a fort out of coconut tree trunks and earth to protect his settlement and his local ally, the Rajah of Cochin better against the serious hostility of the Zamorin. This fort was the first fort built by the Portuguese in India.

The next major fleet to arrive was that led by Don Francisco de Almeyda which arrived off the coast of India in September 1505 in eight ships. He had set out from Lisbon with twenty two ships and 1500 troops on board, but many ships were lost or delayed along the way. Almeyda had been issued with instructions dated 25th March 1505 specifically tasking him with building four forts at Anjediva Island, Cannanore, Cochin and Quilon.

He left a party at Anjediva on the 13th of September to start work a fort there, and then left for Cannanore, arriving on the 23rd October 1505, where he disembarked Lorenzo de Brito with 150 men and two ships to commence work on the fort, which he named St. Angelo.

It is not clear what the first fort that was besieged by the Raja of Cannanore and successfully defended by the Portuguese from 27th April 1507 for a period of four months looked like, or it's exact extent. [5]

However, there is a vital clue arising from events during the siege.

During the course of this first siege it had been discovered that the original design of the fort had been deeply flawed.  The only place that the water supply for the fort could be obtained was from a well located outside the walls of the fort on the side occupied by the attacking forces. 

I believe that this original wall was probably aligned along the line of the wall shown to the south (right) of the keep or tall tower in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3. The suggested extent of "fort" built by Lorenzo de Brito

in 1505.

When Lorenzo de Brito was building the fort, it was as an ally of the local ruler, and it is quite possible that it was being built at a trading post, rather than as a full scale fort. The most important thing was to be ready to defend themselves as quickly as possible, and at this first period the most likely enemy was the Zamorin.

By walling off the headland they protected themselves with the minimum of effort. The most likely route that the Zamorin would arrive by was from would be by sea from the south.

In the second stage in the development of forts proposed by Elbl the forts were consolidated and permanent defences were built. I believe this second stage included the construction of the keep and its associated wall immediately to the north of the keep. The tower may have been built to dominate both the entrance door as well as the well which was now securely inside the new wall.[6]

It is not possible to date the keep or tower at Cannanore exactly, but it was almost certainly built immediately after the 1507 siege.

It is interesting to compare the keep at Cannanore with the keep constructed at Castelo Do Mar at Safim in Morocco on the western seaboard of North Africa in about 1512, which is very similar in construction, and this enables us to picture what the tower at Cananore must have looked like, and how it functioned.

Figure 4. Safi Fort from Google Earth showing both the keep tower

and early drum towers fitted for artillery along the southern

elevation.

One significant difference between the circular towers at Safim, which were built shortly after 1508, and those at Cannanore are their respective diameters and construction.  The towers at Safim appear to be taller, and to have rooftop positions, and to have been of a  smaller in diameter than those built at Cannanore. This suggests that the Castelo do Mar towers pre-date the Cananore ones.

I believe that the towers were constructed because although the defenders intended using handguns or small cannon to defend the fort, that these were still small hand held, or tripod mounted weapons.  Notice how the towers in Figure 5 have embrasures set into their walls from which cannon can fire both away from the walls, but also in some cases along the base of the walls.

 

Figure 5. Towers along the southern face of Castelo do Mar, Safim.

Note the letter box apertures installed for handguns or small cannons. [7]

The towers at Safim are approximately 9 metres across the top of the fighting platform, and were probably equipped with breech loading cannon like the one below.  

Figure 6.  Wrought iron breech-loading swivel gun with reinforcing bands around the barrel, cast in Portugal, circa 16th century. [8]

It is probable that the earliest cannon used in the forts at Safim and at Cannanore were taken from ships, and that they were therefore relatively small.

Figure 6. The area of second phase construction after 1507, marked in red.

Note the polygonal gun tower at the shore. 

Because it is not possible to attribute exact dates to the various drawings and maps that survive showing Cannanore, it is not possible to prove an exact sequence to the maps.

However, a valuable clue to the dates of these plans exists, when Figure 6 and Figure 7 are compared. Figure 7, fails to include the polygonal tower. Therefore it is probably earlier than figure 6.

Figure 7.  Another edition of Antonio Bocarro map from the Livro das fortalezas,

showing Cananore at an earlier period without the polygonal tower.  The earlier largely Muslim trading settlement belonging to the Bibi's of Arrakal can be seen across the bay.

The Polygonal Tower is again significant, because it offers another parallel with a polygonal tower at Safi, which helps to date the Correira drawing.

Safi has two fortified areas, the Castelo do Mar on the seashore, and a larger walled town on top of a nearby hill. The Portuguese were able to capture this Arab town, and they proceeded to fortify it in turn.

Figure 8. A photo showing the Polygonal Tower on the southern face

of the walls surrounding Safim town [9]

This polygonal tower at Safim must have been built before the town was lost by the Portuguese in 1541, and it is very likely that it was built to reinforce the earlier walls that had earlier circular towers. The Moroccan forces had by the 1520's acquired considerable numbers of cannon, and the weaknesses of circular and square towers with their concealed zones were becoming apparent. 

Figure 9.  A diagram from "Firearms and Fortifications" by Simon Pepper and

Nicholas Adams, illustrating the way that both round towers and square towers

have areas (hatched) at their bases which are unable to be covered  by fire

 from their adjacent walls. [10]

It is possible that this polygonal tower was an attempt by the Portuguese to address the weaknesses of the round towers with their covered zones, that they had previously been building.  The covered areas at the bases of these towers would have enabled besiegers to get into cover at the base of towers, where they could shelter from fire and from where they could start to undermine the bases of the towers. The use of polygonal towers, perhaps demonstrates the comparative isolation of Portugal from events in Italy where the angled bastion was being developed at around this time, and which would prove to be the most effective form of artillery defence for the next two centuries.

From Figure 7 above it is possible to see that the polygonal tower was added after the outer wall had previously been built with it's three semi circular towers. So it is likely to date not much later than 1540 to 1545, but it was built after the three cannon bastions were added.  When were these three semi-circular bastions and the outer wall built?

Again, it is not entirely possible to be sure.

Elbl writes that the Portuguese forts in Morocco first came under serious attack by cannon in the 1520's when the Sa'dians began to acquire cannon with which to attack the Portuguese.  By 1526-9 the threat had become serious enough for the Portuguese to begin to employ Italian military engineers in Morocco to remodel some of their forts.

However, there are clues from Morocco and elsewhere in India like at Shirgaon, which is a small coastal town north of Vasai, that has another Portuguese fort that appears to date from about this same period. Unlike the fort at Cannanore, however Shirgaon was not upgraded at a later date, so that many more of the original early features survive to this day. 

 

Figure 10. Shirgaon Fort from Google Earth.

Shirgaon is interesting because like Cannanore, it also experienced a series of re-constructions in its early period as it evolved from a manor house like structure with two large walled compounds (gardens?), as shown in Figure 11 below, into a fort.

 

 Figure 11.  Shirgaon from Livro das fortalezas, Antonio Bocarro,

showing the first phase.

It is quite possible that when the first buildings at Shirgaon were constructed the Portuguese had not gained full control of the region from it's existing rulers, as was also the case at Cananore in 1505.  

The first settlements at these coastal settlements were only there at the sufferance of the local ruler's, and therefore could not be seen to present too overtly hostile a style.

After a period of time, and as the Portuguese grew more dominant, there was a matching and equal increase in hostility on the part of the previous rulers and their supporters, towards the Portuguese presence.

It was not until 1541 that nearby Vasai fell to the Portuguese. While it is not possible to assign firm dates to the various phases at Shirgaon, it is probable that the country estate in Figure 11 pre-dates 1520, while the fort shown in Figure 10, which replaced it probably dates from after about 1520.

The fort at Shirgaon was probably originally built as a keep to which was subsequently added a curtain wall fitted with four matching circular corner towers. These towers are approximately 9.9 metres across the upper fighting platform. 

The fort then experienced two subsequent re-builds, as first a polygonal tower was added. I believe that this polygonal tower was probably added to Shirgaon at around about the same time as the towers at Safim, and Cannanore.

It is not possible to precisely date these additions, however they were probably added in the later 1530 to 1545 period. The final phase at Shirgaon was the addition of an angled bastion, facing out towards the creek. This creek is now silted up, but it was probably an enclosed anchorage open to the sea at one end when the bastion was originally added.

I am not able to date this bastion, however it very possibly dates from the period when the Portuguese began to loose control of the coast line. This may link construction of this bastion to the arrival of the Dutch and English off the coast in about 1600, with their much more powerful armament.

Figure 12. The polygonal bastion at Shirgaon.  Photo by S. Patel.

At some point between about 1510 and 1540, the settlement at Cananore began to attract greater numbers of settlers, who all had to be accommodated within the new fort, or the surrounding area.

It is not clear if these were new Portuguese arrivals, or if they were the offspring of the many relationships that were formed between the Portuguese and local women.

At other later European settlements in India like Madras or Tellicherry, suburbs or shanty towns soon began to form around the European forts made up of displaced persons or migrant workers drawn to the new towns by their relative freedoms from the reach of the local rulers, as well as the economic draw provided by trade, so they may have included Indian families.  This may account for the fact that the wall between the older section of the fort, and the new suburb remained in place.  The wall and the old tower would have allowed the Portuguese garrison to overawe the inhabitants of the new suburb in the event that trouble broke out in the new town.

Over time a substantial suburb grew up to the north of the fort, and this had then to be defended by additional walls.

Figure 13. The area of third phase construction after

1510, marked in red.  

These new walls at Cannanore appear to have been designed to be defended by artillery from the very beginning.

They differ however in one highly significant way from the earlier towers at Safim and Shirgaon. The towers are open to the rear, and the cannon are designed to be placed at ground level.

These developments suggest that these towers are designed specifically from the start for small wheeled cannon, and not handguns. These cannon were also expected to be able to fire more rapidly than had been the case before.

Figure 14. A bronze cannon on an early land carriage. [11]

One significant issue with towers like the ones at Safim would be that when handguns or cannon were fired inside them, the gun room would rapidly fill with smoke.  Here at Cannanore, this was avoided by leaving them open to air.  The lack of 360 degree cover would have also allowed the Portuguese to clear these walls, in the event that they had been taken over in a successful assault, by firing at them from the old tower.

Accounts of the return to Cannanore in late February or early March 1509 of the Portuguese Viceroy Almeyda describe how he hung at Cannanore, Turkish prisoners that he had taken in Gujarat on the 3rd of February 1509 when he had defeated the combined Egyptian Fleet manned by Ottoman Turks, and that of the Zamorin from Calicut. He then went on to blow other Turks from guns, showering the bits over the Moorish town across the bay.[12]

The Portuguese used the fort extensively throughout the 1520's as a supporting subsidiary base in support of their settlements at Goa and Cochin, and as a base from which to attack the Zamorin at Calicut. 1524 Vasco de Gama who had made the first Portuguese voyage to India returned as Viceroy of India. On his way from Goa to Cochin he spent three days at Cannanore during which time he forced the Kolattiri Raja to had over Bala Hassan, who the Portuguese considered to be a pirate. Hassan was thrown into a dungeon located in the Fort.

The local seafarers suffered enormously from the Portuguese attacks, and their previous trade was greatly reduced as many of their ships were attacked and plundered.  The local Rajah's however evolved a system of beacons on the local headlands, so that coast watchers could spot the Portuguese shipping, and thereby warn local coastal shipping of its presence.  The local vessels were often able to run for the inlets and coastal channels, so that the Portuguese were unable to capture them.

Throughout the 16th Century a bitter and protracted war was fought all along the West Coast of India predominantly between the Muslim traders and the Portuguese.  In 1564 the Muslims were able to defeat the Hindu dynasty from Vijayanagar, and this enabled them to move more extensively down to the coast from Inland.  Cannanore was besieged, but managed to hold out.  Once the Muslims had retreated the Portuguese are said to have cut down forty thousand coconut trees to punish the local inhabitants.

During 1580 the Portuguese King Henry I died and the Spanish gained control of Portugal.  The great local rival and threat to the Portuguese was the Zamorin of Calicut.  His kingdom was exhausted by the constant warfare and disruption of the trade to his port, and by 1584 had reached an accommodation with the new Viceroy Mascarenhas.

In many ways this represented the peak of prosperity for the Luso-Spanish settlements, as with 20 years first the Dutch and then the English started to arrive on the coast.  As the Netherlands was at war with Spain, and would remain so until 1648, the former Portuguese settlements were seen as legitimate targets of Dutch aggression.

The Dutch established themselves at Vingorla in 1655, and attempted to capture Goa in 1660, but were unsuccessful.  In 1661 they then attacked the Portuguese at Cochin, and found allies in the Paliat Achan, and the Raja of Cochin, as well as amongst the Jews resident in Cochin.  On the 8th of January 1663, Cochin fell to the Dutch, and shortly afterwards the fort at Cannanore also surrendered to the Dutch.

[1] I am grateful for Zoltán Biedermann who brought this illustration to my attention. Biedermann published a very interesting comparison between Kannur Fort and that in Columbo, called "Colombo versus Cannanore:

Contrasting Structures of Two Colonial Port Cities (1500-1700)" in the Journal of the Economic and
Social History of the Orient 52 (2009) 413-459.
[2] See Simon Pepper and Nicholas Adams, "Firearms Fortifications, Military Architecture and Siege Warfare in Sixteenth Century Siena" published Chicago, 1986, and Christopher Duffy, Siege Warfare, The Fortress in the Early Modern World 1494-1660.  Published London, 1979.
[3] Photo by Horto P.
[4] André Teixeira "Fortalazas, Estado Português da India" published Lisbon, 2008. 
[5] William Logan, Malabar Manual, volume 1. Page 313.
[6] Martin Elbl writing in "City walls: the urban enceinte in global perspective," page 354 edited by James D. Tracy.
[7] Photo by Rui Ornelas from http://farm1.static.flickr.com/104/261641968_c22e223396_z.jpg?zz=1
[8] Photo by elakramine.
[9] http://silverhawkauthor.com/artillery-preserved-in-portugal_403.html, Photos taken at the Museu Militar de Lisboa (Portuguese Army Military Museum of Lisbon), Portugal by Harold Skaarup.
[10] Simon Pepper and Nicholas Adams, page 4.
[11] Photos taken at the Museu Militar de Lisboa (Portuguese Army Military Museum of Lisbon), Portugal by Harold Skaarup.
[12] William Logan, Malabar Manual, Vol. I, page 315.

Cannanore Fort, a discussion over it's development . Part 1.

 

Figure 1. Cananoor during the Dutch Period. [1] Please click on the image for a larger image.

The following article is an attempt to respond to a call for help from Sujith Kumar, a member of the Kannur Tourism Police who works at St Angelo Fort in Kannur. Sujith has developed a very good knowledge of the forts history and is trying to collect more detailed background to the forts history.

 Figure 2. 2009 Google Earth Image of St Angelo Fort. Please click on image for larger version.

He regrets however his inability to access original sources of research material, and especially archives from the British period of the forts history. He asked if I had any knowledge of the existence of any maps or drawings from the period? 

Could I help?

A number of maps and drawings survive of the fort at Kannur from the Portuguese and Dutch periods.  [2] 

An particular good one was drawn by Bellin and appeared in several 18th century books including J Van Schley's work of 1760. This is shown in Figure 1. above.

By comparing the 2009 Google Earth image in Figure 2 with the 1760 Dutch plan in Figure 1, it is easy to determine the extent of the Dutch and earlier Portuguese Fort, which is situated towards the end of the promontory. Apart from the later land filling into the bay on the eastern side of the fort, the area is very little changed since 1760, so where was the British Fort situated?

We know that the East India Company [EIC] spent a very large sum on the fort in the years after its final capture by Captain Wiseman, part of General Abercromby's force on 16th December 1790?[3]

In 1796 Walter Ewer, an EIC official from Bengal visited the Malabar and wrote a series of reports to Henry Dundas back in London. [4] The Right Honourable Henry Dundas (1742-1811), was War Secretary in William Pitts Cabinet from 1794 to 1801 and was also responsible for the colonies.

Ewer wrote the following from Tellicherry.[5]

"Cannanore.  Very expensive works are carrying on at this place, tis said they will cost two lacs of Rup's & that when finished they will be useless, being commanded by high ground. I am told it is proposed to level this, the expense of which would be many lac.  One half of the money expended at Tellicherry wou'd make it a strong place, besides here are storehouses, & magazines, & some thousand militia can be raised in case of need.
I mention this on the authority of the first Military Character in the Country." 

The first European fort at Cannanore had originally been built by the Portuguese, and was indeed one of the very first forts that they built in India.  The Portuguese had intended to trade in India and were well informed about the potential locations where the trade took place in India before they had first arrived off the coast.

The first voyage had been intended for Calicut to trade with the subjects of the Zamorin. At this period Calicut was the prime trading location, but it was also very closely connected with the Arab trading system to the Gulf, and it was this same trade that the Portuguese were attempting to redirect via Lisbon. So from the first the Muslim merchants quickly realised that the Portuguese had the potential to destroy their livelihoods.


From the earliest days the Portuguese had had relationships with the Kolattri Rajah. At first this was limited to leaving goods and merchants at the settlement. However King Emmanuel of Portugal decided to send out Don Francisco de Almeyda as his first Viceroy of all the Indies. His appointment on the 25th March 1505 included instructions to built forts at Anjediva Island, Cannanore, Cochin and Quilon.

His fleet arrived at Anjediva on the 13th September 1505 and a fort was commenced straight away.  Leaving a garrison on the island De Almeyda sailed south to Cannanore arriving on the 23rd of October 1505.  He landed Lorenzo de Brito with one hundred and fifty men to construct the fort, and two ships to be used to guard the site and to patrol out to sea. These were not the only Portuguese at Cannanore, some two hundred had been left behind in December 1502 by Da Gama, and some of these had probably survived.

Figure 3. Showing the fort before 1572.[6]

The first fort was probably just a palisade and ditch across the promontory. This was probably soon replaced by stone. The site is built onto a rocky outcrop and the underlying rock of a very soft red ironstone like material that hardened after exposure to air.

Figure 4. Google Earth Image marked to show suggested locations
of the Portuguese walls.
Please click on image for larger version.

The first fort was soon under attack. The Zamorin had wide spread contacts across the Muslim World and the attacks of the Portuguese pirates and fleets in the Indian Ocean was beginning to threaten the long established trading routes from India through the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea. Communities like Muscat, Aden, Alexandria and Damascus and even Istanbul and Venice were suffering shortages of goods.

Ambassadors had travelled to Egypt and Istanbul to request help to rid the Ocean of the Portuguese. Preparations were commenced in Egypt to prepare a fleet to sail to India to attack the Portuguese. Aware of how marginal their hold was in India the Portuguese decided to abandon the Fort at Anjediva, and to concentrate at Cannanore and Cochin.

Lorenzo Almeyda brought his fleet to Cannanore on the 16th March 1506, and was soon faced with a huge enemy fleet of about two hundred and ten ships, including ones crewed by Ottoman Turkish troops. The Portuguese had of course had experience of fighting Ottoman troops before, and this was going to be far tougher than fighting the local Indian troops. A tremendous battle at sea took place in the bay immediately south of the fort.  Eventually the Portuguese cannon prevailed against the allied fleet.  It retreated towards Dharmapattanam as it tried to retreat, but a strong wind got up driving back towards the north.

The Muslim fleet sent messages to the Portuguese asking to be allowed to sail north unmolested, put the Portuguese refused and attacked again causing over three thousand casualties in the Muslim fleet.

Unable to prevail by sea, the Zamorin and the local Muslim's put sufficient pressure on the new Kolattiri Raja that he deserted his former allies, the Portuguese.  Da Gama's former friendly Kolattiri having died, and the Portuguese had abused the Rajah's subjects by taking their ships and possessions.

Gonzalo Vaz had captured a ship near Cannanore with passes, which he claimed to be forged, plundered the ship and then had murdered the crew who were sewn up into a sail and cast into the water. The bodies had floated ashore and included those of the son in law of Mammali Marakkar one of the most important local merchants. After confronting Lorenzo de Brito to demand recompense, receiving an unsatisfactory reponse the merchant when to the Kolattiri Rajah with many supporters, and the Rajah agreed to go to war with the Portuguese.  From the 27th April 1507 the fort came under siege.

The Rajah's obtained 21 cannon from the Zamorin, and forty thousand Nairs were believed to have arrived to fight in the seige. This seems unlikely due to the size of subsequent armies, but it is clear that a substantial force was involved. The Zamorin sent twenty thousand more men to assist.

Many assaults were made, and it was at this point that it became apparent that the Portuguese had made a fundamental error when they had designed the fort.  The only well was situated a" bow shot" from the wall on the enemy side of the walls. Every time the Portuguese needed to draw water they had to fight for it.

This suggests that the first wall in Figure 4 above was along the line of the defences in 1507.

Eventually an engineer called Fernandez came up with the idea of driving a tunnel through the soft rock under the wall and into the shaft of the well. They were then enabled to draw water without exposing themselves.

Most of the surviving Portuguese had been wounded at least once and food was running out. Miraculously on the 15th August 1507 shoals of crabs and prawns were swept ashore by the tide, and the garrison was able to re-supply itself. 

The siege went on until 27th August 1507 a relieving fleet of eleven ships under De Cunha arrived with three hundred men from Europe and were able to drive off the besiegers.

During the siege the fort had been very exposed to fire from the higher ground to the north, and this was to be an issue for the rest of its existence as an active garrison.  The attackers had used bales of cotton to raise themselves up above the height of the walls so that they could fire into the interior of the fort.

As result of the experience of this siege, and in order to enclose the well and to increase the defences it was probably decided to build a second wall in Figure 4 was built outside the first wall.

The drawing in Figure 3 was published in 1572, and it shows only one wall. However the map was probably drawn many years before the print was published.

Figure 5 below comes from a Portuguese Atlas published in 1630. It is likely however that the drawing from which the engraving was done was drawn much earlier.  The text refers to events in 1567, so although the date below the fort says 1505 it refers to the founding of the fort, and not the date of the map.

As the map shows a second wall and refers to events in 1567 it suggests that the second wall pre-dates 1567.

Figure 5. Portuguese atlas, 1630.

Please click on image for larger version.

In figure 5 a town can be seen to have sprung up outside the fort itself. This town was probably under what is now the Dutch fortress. It appears to extend into the older Indian town, although there is still a substantial suburb outside the walls. This suggests that the town was segregated into several communities, Portuguese, Indo Portuguese and the Muslim subjects of the Ali Rajah.

It is interesting that the guns are shown facing out to sea. This is clearly where the greatest perceived threat was seen to lie. By the 1630's Dutch & English ships were beginning to pose a serious threat to the Portuguese settlements, and this threat is probably why these cannons have been mounted facing out to sea.

This poses an interesting question. Was the Portuguese printer re-using an older engraving and had he decided to re-engrave it to show the situation in the years leading up to 1630, when the Dutch and English shipping arriving in the Indian Ocean had become a very real threat to the Portuguese possessions?

Figure 6. Map of the fort and town of Cannanore shortly 

before about 1632

during the Portuguese period, from the

Livro das Plantas de todas as fortalezas, 

by António Bocarro. [Click on for larger image]

Figure 7. Google Earth Image marked up with suggested

extent of the Portuguese settlement before it's destruction by the Dutch.

[Click on image for larger version]

Working from Figure 6, and by using proportions, it is possible to mark up a modern satellite photo with an approximate line of where the two outer suburbs of the Portuguese settlement might have been situated.

Ancient property boundaries are often preserved long after the original reasons for their existence has gone.

I believe that the northern boundary of the Portuguese settlement where it met the territory controlled by the Ali Rajah or Bibi of Arrakal has been preserved down to the present day along the route taken by the Portuguese Walls. There was probably a ditch between the wall and the edge of the Arrakal settlement.

The original Portuguese fort was quite small, and would only have had a limited garrison. This would have required the fort to be built with as short a set of walls as possible.  During the siege it had become apparent that these walls guarded too small and area of ground, leaving the access to the well exposed.

A second set of walls was built, enclosing the well.

As the settlement grew the population increased and required more space for housing.

Most of the new population will have been Indian's or the offspring of Indo-Portuguese marriages or concubinage. These offspring may have been regarded as insufficiently trusted to be allowed to live in the fort itself, but had to be provided with protection, so that the outer township developed within a third set of walls.

By inspection of spot heights on Google Earth it appears that the average elevation of the fort was 8 metres above sea level. The land rises up to about 15 metres above sea level to the north.

Initially this had not mattered as the potential Indian adversaries had only limited access to cannon. They were unlikely to have weapons capable of doing serious damage to the fort walls.

However, as the 16th Century wore on cannon became both more numerous and  effective. The advent of Dutch and English shipping in the area opened up the possibility of attacks on the original fort from the north.

The outer wall in Figure 7 sits almost exactly at the top of the slope climbing up from the fort. By having an outer wall and suburb the Portuguese had strengthened the original fort.

For most likely scenario's against Indian forces the Medieval style walls would be sufficient against most attacks.

In the event of an insurrection amongst the Indo-Portuguese, or a successful attack on the town, the Portuguese themselves could fall back onto the fort, to await rescue by sea from one of the other settlements.

 

Figure  8. Portuguese Map of Cananor town.

from Plantas das Cidades de Fortalezas

da conquista da India Oriental by 

João Teixeira Albernaz circa 1630
[Click on image for larger version]

I have been unable to date the map of the town of Cannanore shown in Figure 8, which appears to show an earlier fort inside the town lived in by the Ali Rajah's subjects, that pre-dated the arrival of the Portuguese.

This fort might have belonged to this family, or it may have been a trading post inside the town.

It was quite common for map makers at this period to re-engrave using information from much earlier maps.

I believe that it is just possible that this map may show the situation in the period not long after the Portuguese arrived, and before they became sufficiently powerful to overawe the Muslim rulers into allowing them to extend their settlement from the fort and to build walls that run out towards the existing settlement.

Figure 9. Google Earth Image showing the same area

that is shown in Figure 8. above. The modern town

appears to have much the same street pattern as the

16th Century one.

[Click on image for larger version]

If you have access to Portuguese or Dutch material about the fort at Kannur, I would be very pleased to hear from you. It is quite possible that I have missed important points, or may have misidentified maps, ad dates of maps. If you can narrow down the dates or origins of these maps, I would be very pleased to hear from you.

It is unlikely that very much remains of the original Indo-Portuguese town that was demolished by the Dutch. This would be especially true close to the old fort, because it is known that the area was scarped and re-worked both by the Dutch and later British to clear fields of fire.

It is also very probable that the fabric of the old Portuguese walls was robbed out to provide materials for later building works. It would still be very interesting to field walk the area to the north and east of the site old town, as it is quite possible that demolition materials, debris and the remains of buildings may remain at or near the surface of the ground.

As it is quite likely to be several years before, I am able to go back to Kannur, I would be fascinated if you are able to find remains.

In my next blog I will go on to explore the Dutch period of occupation of the fort.

[1] Bellin's plan of Cananore, by Prevost, from Frances Pritchett's website. [http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1700_1799/malabar/cananore/cananore.html
[2] See the following website for a particularly good collection http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1700_1799/malabar/cananore
[3] Malabar Manual, by William Logan, volume 1, page 443.
[4] IOR H/438 Papers of Walter Ewer.
[5] IOR H/438 folio 147.
[6] Source: http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/india/cannanore/maps/braun_hogenberg_I_54_3.html
(downloaded Feb. 2006)
"From Braun and Hogenberg, Civitates Orbis Terrarum I 54. Date: first Latin edition of volume I was published in 1572. After: an unidentified Portuguese manuscript."
[7] From Biblioteca Pública de Évora's photostream, see http://www.flickr.com/photos/bibliotecapublicaevora/ which contains many very interesting maps of forts in Asia during the Portuguese colonial period.

Tellicherry in the 1850.

Figure 1. A photograph taken in about 1900 showing houses to the north of the Tellicherry Fort lived in by senior officials, including possibly the Master Attendant described below. Please click on this and subsequent images for a larger version.

The following fascinating account of life in Tellicherry appears in a magazine published in England in 1854 called "The Home Friend, A Weekly Miscellany of Amusement etc."

Sadly, I cannot identify the author of the article, but it is possible from events described in the article to date his visit to 1850.


"Tellicherry is a pretty little straggling town on the sea-coast of Malabar, between the considerable military cantonment of Cananore and the French settlement Mahe or Mai. It may be said to consist of two, divisions or parts; the flat ground constituting Tellicherry Proper, and the high ground, or cliffs, called Deramapatam. We were on two separate occasions for several months resident at Tellicherry, and are consequently familiar with every nook and corner in it.

Tellicherry Proper, or the town of Tellicherry, is built on a low ground, almost on a level with the sea. The town consists of some two hundred irregularly-built European houses; the bazaars; the marketplace; a few so-called shops; an immense prison, built on a lofty bastion facing the sea, which prison includes the dens for criminals and the debtors' gaol, comprising also a lunatic asylum; the Zillah Court, and a species of chapel. Besides these, there is a Catholic chapel and a Protestant church, and the burial-grounds of both creeds, situated on a high mound nearly overhanging the sea. Outside of the town itself, and between it and Deramapatam, are a few straggling country-houses, and the court-house of the now no longer existing judges of circuit, who were three in number, besides the registrar. Beyond these, again, runs a rapid and deep stream, over which a couple of ferry-boats are continually plying; and on the other side of the stream rise the lofty cliffs and high tableland which constitutes that portion of Tellicherry styled by the natives Durhamupatnum, consisting of a few scattered villages, occupied almost exclusively by native fishermen, and two immense mansions, more like palaces than private houses, and heretofore the residence of two of the judges stationed at Tellicherry.

We will, if the reader pleases, imagine ourselves on board of the large Bombay China-ship, the ' Lowjee Family,' or if you object to that name, the ' Pestonjee Bomanjee[1],' just coming to an anchor in the roadstead to land some passengers and a few mess stores for the troops in the immediate interior, and then proceed on her voyage to China.

The morning is bright and cloudless; the water as smooth as a millpond, and the fine fresh land-wind that has favoured us all night, fast dying away to give place to the approaching sea-breeze, whose advent is clearly perceptible on the distant blue horizon, now richly spangled with the foaming bubbles of the sportive waves. This is one great blessing to the mariner that navigates the coast of Malabar; he is never at a loss far a favourable wind, either going-up or coming down the coast. The land and sea breezes are regular to their time, the space intervening between the departure of the one and the arrival of the other being just all sufficient for the requisite alterations in trimming the sails. Captains acquainted with the coast stand off the land about an hour before daybreak, the dawn appearing throughout the year within not many minutes' difference of the usual time, about a quarter to six, and at about ten A.M. they get beyond the influence of the land-wind and into the approaching sea-breeze. This they carry with them the whole day; and towards evening again the vessel stands in towards the laud to avail itself of the night shore-winds. These are regular, excepting during the two monsoons, at which period vessels rarely approach within sight of the land."

Figure 2. The shoreline below Tellicherry Fort, from a photograph dating to about 1900. One of the large houses referred to in this article, is quite probably the large white building seen in this photo.

The author then goes on to describe the journey through the surf from the ship to the shore.

This was the way that the vast majority of European visitors to Tellicherry arrived. By 1850 Tellicherry had lost most of its importance, so there were far fewer ships arriving than in earlier days, and Tellicherry was now mainly a stop over on a journey into the interior, often to Ootacamund in order to restore ones health in the cooler climate found in the Nilgiris.

"The anchor is gone, the sails are furled, the boat lowered; the jolly, good-natured skipper, with a huge bundle of papers and letters under one arm, an umbrella under the other, and a pocket-book full of bills of lading held firmly between his teeth, slides rapidly over the vessel's side into the boat, takes up his position in the stern-sheets, and away we go, under his skilful steering, safe and sound through the foaming surf, notwithstanding the many "crabs," to use a nautical expression, that the three young apprentices catch while rowing us on shore, sadly to their own discomfort, and not much to our own convenience, as we get splashed from head to toe with salt water: however, the heat of the sun soon dries us again, and no one allows himself to be put out by such a trifling circumstance, except a dirty-looking old Italian friar, who, as he has confidentially informed us himself more than once upon the voyage, looks upon the silly custom of bathing the body as very deleterious to the health in hot climates ; in confirmation of which startling announcement he solemnly affirms that, with the exception of his hands and feet and face, no water has touched any part of him for the last forty years, and that he has enjoyed uninterrupted health during that long period. We are not sorry to get rid of our dirty friend on landing; and so soon as we set foot on shore we are beset with hospitable invitations, and almost hauled by main force into half-a-dozen separate tonjons.[2]

There are no such things as hotels at Tellicherry, nor, indeed, at any of the up-country stations; for the English residents are, with a very few exceptions, princes of hospitality, and everybody knows everybody in the Madras Presidency.

The master-attendant's house commands an extensive view of the surrounding ocean. It is a neatly-built edifice, comprising every imaginable comfort, and an extensive and carefully-laid-out garden—all his own property, and has been his own property ever since he was first appointed, which was somewhere about the year 1790—a long period to remain at one place; and if anything argues in favour of the climate, it is the appearance of the old gentleman, who looks as fresh as any of oar country squires, and is as hearty and jolly as though he were only just in the prime of life, instead of being an octogenarian ; no man better able or more willing to give a stranger every assistance and useful information. From his house we proceed first to the Protestant burial ground, which is situated immediately on the left-hand side after passing the gates of the master-attendant's compound. The churchyard also commands an extensive view of the sea. Here are many tombstones of antiquated date, looking as new as the day they were first completed; whilst others, comparatively modern, were utterly neglected and in ruins, the inscriptions being barely legible. The sun shines brightly over the graves of the slumbering multitude, and the sea-breeze sports merrily with the tall rank grass as we quit this solemn place, and proceed to a still more gloomy memento of the wages of sin, even in life—this is the prison before alluded to. The outside looks dingy and wretched enough, and now we pass under the guarded gateway, and mount the apparently interminable stone steps, narrow and dark and damp, and in many parts much worn and slippery. Gradually your eyes get accustomed to the obscure light, and you then discover that these steps have at least one advantage, that of being kept perfectly clean, for they are washed and swept regularly, morning and evening. The heavy clanking of the chains of the criminals now reaches the attentive ear; a sudden turning brings you into the full glow of glorious daylight; you pass another arch with a massive iron door, also strictly guarded, and find yourself in an extensive arena, enclosed on three sides by very lofty buildings, and on the fourth (the side facing the town) a strongly-built, stupendous wall. Passing in regular order through the place, we come first to the court-house of the Zillah judge; but to get to it we must first mount a broad flight of not less than forty stone steps. Here we find an extensive, airy room, at the head of which, railed off from the plebeian herd of half-caste Portuguese and native writers and clerks, are the desks of the judge, the registrar, the pundit, and other officers of the court. Prisoners in the custody of multifarious peons—their accusers, and the witnesses on both sides—are quietly waiting for the coming of the judge, and beguiling the time by chatting with each other on terms of the greatest familiarity and apparent friendship, the prisoners entering into the gist of the argument with all the nonchalance imaginable, though many amongst them are Thugs, those Burkists of India. Their conversation is confined to that one all-absorbing topic amongst the Indians, money."

Figure 3. The Gateway into the Fort. Photo Courtesy of Lindsay Gething

Our traveller goes on to visit the old gaol situated inside the Fort. The building used to house the gaol also acted as the court house at this time.

"The court itself is in a delightfully-cool position, having several windows facing the sea, all of which, however, -are secured with massive iron bars. Adjoining the court-house is a room, sometimes used as a chapel. We look in en passant, and see a few rough, wooden benches, half-a-dozen chairs, and a large accumulation of dust. The chaplain at Cananore occasionally visits Tellicherry, and sometimes one of the judges performs Divine service: on such occasions this room is in requisition, as the church is all crumbling to ruins. Coming down the steps again we proceed on our visit of inspection; and the first thing that attracts attention, from the noisy hilarity going on inside, is the debtors' prison. We peep through the bars of an iron window, and are gratified with a sight of the occupants, who chiefly consist of natives, with perhaps a few lamentably-poor black Portuguese. Most of them are playing at a species of Indian draughts, using, instead of a board, a cloth patchwork, in the shape of a perfect cross, every square of which is of a different colour ; the draughtsmen are painted green and red, and they substitute cowry shells for dice. On the whole they are very happy and contented, for they can take exercise in the yard, and are allowed to cook their own victuals; and eating, drinking, and sleeping are just what suit their constitutions to a nicety. They are entirely supported by their wives and families; and in one respect all Orientals surpass Europeans—I mean in a feeling of pity for their poor and distressed connections, whom they never suffer to want so long as they have the wherewithal to support them. Next in order, we visit the dens allotted to criminals; and it requires no physiognomist to interpret the crimes and brutalities of which the greater mass of those here confined have been guilty. Such as have already been adjudged to different terms of imprisonment and hard labour, arc working, shackled separately or by couples, on the high roads, or else erecting or repairing public edifices. Those within the walls during the day are such as are awaiting some opportunity to convey them to the penal settlements in the Straits of Malacca, or those that have not yet been tried and sentenced by the Superior Court. In a ward, separated from the men, are the female criminals, also under sentence of transportation, or awaiting their trial. Some amongst these are perhaps guilty of crimes even more atrocious than those committed by the worst of male criminals; for as many women are hung in India for murder as there are men punished in a like manner for a similar offence."



Figure 4. The building inside the fort at Tellicherry that used to hold the gaol described in the article. The court was on the upper floor, and the cells below. The photo was taken during restoration in 2006.

In the following paragraph the author describes a lunatic asylum situated inside the fort. The East India Company correspondence suggests that there was an asylum in Tellicherry as early as 1795 but it doesn't say where or who went into it, but it must have been a deeply depressing place.

"Now let us hurry along from these sad spectacles. Next to the criminals' cell is the lunatic asylum, as you may guess by the bellowing of one unfortunate inmate, who imagines himself a' bull. Then there is the hospital, and then the condemned cells; and then we hurry down the steps again, and are thankful to find ourselves breathing a purer atmosphere—a breeze untainted by crimes and misery.

We enter the street; they are not very famous ones, but still they admit of a carriage or two passing abreast. The houses are mostly one story high, of a great variety of shapes and colours, according with the tastes of the various proprietors; and each house has a small compound attached to it, which is securely walled in all round. In the compound are the outhouses, such as the kitchen, stables, etc., a sprinkling of flowers, a few fruit-trees, a duck-pond, a well, and a pacottah, a species of seesaw machine, on which two men balance each other, or both balance themselves against the water, drawn up in a large leathern bag, which, as soon as it reaches the surface of the well, is capsized into a reservoir by an attendant imp, the son of one of the balancers. As soon as the reservoir is filled the men descend, and, taking out the plug from the reservoir, the water is conducted by aqueducts all over the garden, which is watered twice a-day throughout the year, except during the heavy rains. This practice extends all over the Madras Presidency.

Having watched their proceedings for a few minutes, we walk on. The yellow house with the yellow railings and thickly-set marigolds and sunflowers is the property of Mr. Jose de Silva, whose ancestors were originally white Portuguese, but intermarrying with natives some generations before Mr. Jose's birth, that gentleman, much to his discomfort, is decidedly black. He is head cashier to the Circuit Court, and his favourite colour is yellow—hence the colour of his house, his railing, and the flowers he most patronises: the two young ladies, his daughters, are also of the same tinge, and so is his palanquin, his tonjon, and his bundy, or cab; and if such a thing as a bright yellow horse could be had for his money, he would not mind standing a couple of thousand rupees; for the old fellow is quite a Croesus for Tellicherry, though he does go to office every week-day in a very faded suit of nankeen, and a wretchedly bad hat— things that you could never believe him guilty of, if you chanced to meet him at chapel of a Sunday, or when he is receiving a select circle at home on feast days.

The red house next to his belongs to another Portuguese, who is something in the revenue department, and who has a thorough contempt of his neighbours in the judicial line, considering the collectorate the only respectable service in India, and so on."



Figure 5. Typical house in the part of Tellicherry formerly inhabited mainly by Indo-Portuguese. Photo Courtesy of Lindsay Gething.

The area of Tellicherry immediately south of the fort, and extending about one mile south along the beach, and extending for 200 or 300 yards inland had been the home of the Indo Portuguese community in Tellicherry for over a hundred years before our visitor walked through its shady lanes. This community had been established in the town from the earliest days of the settlements history. The earlier Portuguese had been the translators for the East India Company, and had acted as middlemen in all of their proceedings with the local Indian Rajah's.

With Hyder and Tipu Sultan's invasions, the original community had grown rapidly with many Portuguese and Indo Portuguese refugees from other settlements along the coast moving into the town.

We pass a variety of gaudily-painted houses, all, with very few exceptions, the property of wealthy half-castes and Portuguese, who form a class of society amongst themselves, give dinners and evening parties, balls and social suppers, discuss politics, talk law, hatch scandal, and are painfully addicted to fiddles. You can scarce pass through the streets of a night for the villainous discord that fills the air, resounding from shockingly bad scrapers.

There is a fine esplanade just outside of the town, which juts out like a little promontory into the sea. At the extreme end rises a solitary tree, under the shade of which some benign individual in times past constructed a bench; and this extreme point is designated, in the topography of Tellicherry, Scandal Point. Here, in the cool of the evening, the Tellicherians promenade to and fro, and when fatigued repose.

The English residents at Tellicherry were at all times very few, but of late years their numbers have been grievously diminished by the abolition of the circuit court, and the consequent removal of the three sessions judges, the registrar, and their families. The few residing at Tellicherry when I was last there were on terms of the greatest intimacy. In the town itself resided the sub-collector, the Zillah judge, the lieutenant commanding the detachment, and the master-attendant; along the seashore resided the doctor, and one or two other families; and on the other side of the ferry, in Deramapatam, in the only house then habitable (the other one where I had resided on a former occasion having fallen in), Mr. B., one of the judges of the circuit court, the friend with whom I was staying. We had occasional reunions, which were very agreeable, as the ladies of our society, though few, were very accomplished musicians, and one or two of them sang admirably.

Tellicherry is famous in a commercial view for the vast quantities of pepper that the district yields, most of which is dried for shipment on the spot. Cardamums thrive here also, and the cinnamon-tree exists. Fruits, vegetables, and poultry are abundant and cheap, and the market is perfectly overstocked with fish and shell-fish. Amongst the fruit produced at Tellicherry there is a species, rare even there, and which I never met with in any other part of the world that I have visited—the natives called it the " Jumma Malak." The fruit was as large as a good-sized peach, and very much resembled one in shape; but the great beauty of it consisted in its complexion, if I may use such a term, which was of the most delicate white straw colour, with pale, rose-coloured cheeks. It had, like the peach, a kernel, was almost transparent, and its flavour a something between the mango and the mangostein. A tree which yielded fruit plentifully grew in the garden attached to the sub-collector's house. This tree grows to a considerable height above the ordinary run of mangotrees ; and its leaves resemble those of the mango.

Off Deramapatam, near the sea-beach that runs under the cliffs, there are extensive oyster-beds; and many a day have I—bread, pepper, and vinegar in one hand, and an oyster-knife in the other—waded through the waves to these rocks at low-water, and feasted to my heart's content on oysters, fresh from the bed. On one or two occasions I chanced to come across a pearl oyster, but the pearls were small and of little value.

The climate of Tellicherry,especially Deramapatam, is very healthy, and the houses are built so as to exclude damp during the monsoon seasons. The thunder-storms along the whole coast are terrific, though I never heard of a single accident resulting from them.

The native population of Tellicherry consists of the Moplays, Nayars, Malgalams, and the Clings, or Pariahs, from Madras. There are also a few Mahometans and Brahmins, some Malabars of high caste, a few Gentoos, and three or four Parsees. Of these, by far the most fanatical and lawless is the Moplays, who are chiefly merchants, and whose unquenchable hatred to the English has on several occasions displayed itself; on one, especially, about the district of Mangalore. where, not further back than last year, a young officer of the 43rd regiment Madras native infantry was, in endeavouring to quell an insurrection, assassinated by these ruthless people, the Sepoys having ignominiously fled, leaving their officer single-handed to contend against an overwhelming force.

The young officer from the 43rd Regiment whose death is described here is almost certainly Ensign Wyse. On the 25th of August 1849 Torangal Unniyan killed another Indian called Paditodi Teyyunni, and then with four other men went off to join a band of Dacoits led by Attan Gurikkal. This man was the son of an earlier Dacoit or insurgent, and he seems to have been leader of a number of determined individuals.

It is not clear if his intentions were entirely criminal, or whether he had other political motives as well. On the 26th of August they killed a servant belonging to Marat Nambutiri, and two other individuals, before entering a Hindu Temple at Majeri. They set the temple on fire after defiling it.

A detachment of the 43rd Native Infantry Regiment under Captain Watt set out from Malapuram to Manjeri, with a plan to attack the insurgents in the temple on the 28th of August.

Ensign Wyse and his company were sent to attack the temple across some paddy fields, where the rebels who numbered about 32 men were holed up.

Mr. Collett, the Assistant Magistrate and a reserve force had remained on a nearby hill which had the Taluk Cutcherry on it to await events.

As Wyse and his men approached the temple the rebels came rushing out of the temple, and although Wyse was able to kill the first man who reached him, he and four others were killed.

As Mr. Collett wrote in his report, written later that day,

"Others now came down upon Ensign Wyse, and I am informed that one of them seized him by the jacket and he received a wound, when he appears to have fallen and was of course quickly put to death: but by this time three of the insurgents had fallen, and now those men in the detachment who alone had emulated their officer, fell, one of them having first gallantly bayonetted the man who gave Mr. Wyse his death wound."

The event was sufficiently serious for a second party of British troops to be sent for. A detachment of Her Majesties 94th Regiment under Major Dennis was brought down from Cannanore reaching Manjeri on the 3rd of September. After another fierce battle the insurgents were killed, but only after two more privates of the 94th Regiment had been killed, and six men including two officers had been wounded.

A detailed report based on Captain Watt's court marshal appeared in Allen's Indian Mail, dated, Saturday, November 1, 1851.

"in the year 1849, a detachment of the 43rd regiment of Madras Native Infantry, consisting of about 120 men, under Capt. R. P. K. Watt, was sent to disperse a party of these fierce zealots (between sixty and seventy in number), who had committed great disorders in the neighbourhood of Calicut.

Capt. Watt pushed forward half his party in advance, under Ensign Wyse. About fifteen Moplahs rushed out from a mosque, in which they were posted, when nearly all the sepoys, though outnumbering the fanatics four to one, fired at random, and, without waiting for a collision, fled, leaving Ensign Wyse and six gallant fellows who stood by him to be cut to pieces. Capt. Watt was unable to rally the fugitives, whose panic infected the party he was bringing up, who refused to obey his orders, and' he retired to the cutcherry of the collector of the district, which, observing the state of his men, he barricaded, the petty band of fanatics being allowed to approach the cutcherry and abuse the sepoys with impunity.

A detachment of European troops (of the 94th Foot) was sent for, by whom the Moplahs were speedily routed and slain. Capt. Watt was tried by a court-martial, and found guilty of " not having taken sufficient measures to restore confidence in his men," and of allowing them to be insulted by the insurgents " without making any effort to rouse them to resistance."

The Court sentenced him to lose rank, and to be severely reprimanded,— a sentence which the Commander-in-Chief thought too lenient. The last occurrence, so similar in its circumstances, will, perhaps, raise a doubt whether Capt. Watt was not treated with an undue degree of rigour, and whether it was in his power to have "restored confidence" in his men, and animated them to resistance.

These events must still have been fresh in peoples minds when our author visited Tellicherry the following year. The insurgent band wasn't destroyed in the operation, and other Mappilla insurgents were active in October 1850 and 1851.[3]

Our author goes on to describe the other more peaceable main inhabitants of the town..

"The Nayars are tillers of the ground, and masons. Many of them are in the military service of the Rajah of Travancore. The Nair brigade, stationed at Trevandrem, is commanded by an officer in the company's army, and the other officers are mostly English. Both men and women are fair-complexioned for the East, and very handsome in figure and face; the men middle-sized and athletic, the women slim and graceful.

The Malgalams are principally fishermen, and all the other classes are tradesmen—such as shopkeepers, boatmen, coolies, domestic servants, etc. The principal shop at Tellicherry was kept by a Parsee, a leper (and I may here remark in parentheses that this fearful disorder seems to be almost exclusively confined to the Parsees both at Bombay and on the Malabar coast). The shop was scantily furnished, and the articles it contained of a very inferior quality, and exorbitantly dear. Occasionally Madras hawkers and travelling Arab merchants visited the coast; the former brought all kinds of odds and ends picked up at public auctions—such as palmerinos, books, muslins, chintzes, lavender-water, soap, &c.; the latter confined themselves to creature comforts, such as dried figs, Arabian dates, and drugs and gums of various descriptions, with an occasional valuable horse or two. But the greatest treat imaginable to us Tellicherians, quite a prize in rainy weather, was the itinerant book-hawkers, who, picking up books at every auction they attend, and being solely guided in their choice by the cheapness or the binding of the volumes, amass, in space of time, a singular collection of odd volumes— annuals, travels, religious tracts, plays, Bibles, novels, periodicals, and music, the very overhauling of which proves a vast source of amusement, and amongst which one occasionally stumbles across a valuable addition to a library.

Watching the vessels passing to and fro half a mile within the cliffs, on which the house of mine hospitable host was situated, was a pastime to the dilettanti at Tellicherry; and a stroll along the fine, sandy beach, which ran for many miles close under the cliffs, was an untiring source of amusement to the " butchas" of the family, and not less relished by some of the grown-up children. The many gaily-coloured shells which were an inestimable treasure to the baby; the scampering after legions of crabs, which we occasionally captured and more often lost; the not unfrequent wettings we got by unwarily pursuing the prey beyond the limits of prudence; the terror depicted in little missy's face, as she fled precipitately from the quick-approaching wave; the merry, clear little laugh of the youngsters to witness the utter despair of some incautious one, ankle deep in the foaming surge; the horrid dizzy sensation as the wave retreated again, causing you to all appearance to be swept back with it into the bosom of the troubled ocean, all these are scenes and recollections fresh and dear to memory, and they are some of the few scenes of past life that one loves to look back upon, and to pause and meditate during the retrospective glance.

From Tellicherry we coast along southward to Alway, near Cochin."[4]

I would very much like to identify the author, as well as the individuals named. It is quite probable that the Master Attendant referred to was Edward Brennan. However, the author must be mistaken in thinking that Brennan had been at Tellicherry since 1790, as Mr. Oakes had previously been Master Attendant for many years before his death in 1819.

Like Brennan, Oakes was also a philanthropist who devoted much of his private time and fortune to helping the poor and deprived Indian's who had settled around the inland fringes of the town in squatter camps, that had existed ever since the wars in the 1780 to 1799 period.

I would be especially keen to hear from you if yu are connected to any of the Portuguese community described in the account. It would be fascinating to learn more about the lives that community led.


[1]Pestonjee Bomanjee, a large Country built ship named after the famous Pharsee Shipbuilder of that name who was active in the Bombay dockyards until about 1817. This ship went on to transport convicts to Tasmania in 1853.
[2]Hobson Jobson gives the following for Tonjon. Forms in Hind. tāmjhām and thāmjān. The word is perhaps adopted from some trans-gangetic language. A rude contrivance of this kind in Malabar is described by Col. Welsh under the name of a 'Tellicherry chair' (ii. 40). c. 1804.-- "I had a tonjon, or open palanquin, in which I rode."
[3] William Logan, Malabar Manual, Volume 1, page 560 to 562.
[4] From the Home Friend, A Weekly Miscellany of Amusement etc; Instruction. Published in 1854.