Gama, unaware of any of this, arrives…
January 1503 CE
Gama, unaware of any of this, arrives in Calicut harbor during Sodré’s absence.
Seeing no sign of Sodré, Gama orders the escort caravel to go towards Cannanore to find him.
He anchors his own ship, the large Flor de la Mar, inside the harbor and lowers a skiff to take the Brahmin to shore, to meet the Zamorin and arrange for the delivery of the compensation payment, retaining the Brahmin's two relatives and the Nair on board as hostages.
Three days are spent waiting, the Brahmin shuttling back and forth between the ship and the shore repeatedly to report and consult on the progress of the negotiations.
All seems 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.
The Flor's high sides do not allow the Portuguese to respond with artillery—the ship's cannons are mounted too high and the paraus are too close for an angle of shot, so the crew turns desperately to crossbows, musket fire and heaving rocks to keep them at bay.
Days before the encounter, Gama had captured a large parau, which was now tied to the stern of the Flor.
In the heat of the fighting, Malabari sappers row up to the tied parau, fill it with tinder, set it afire, and direct the flaming ship towards the Flor.
Gama immediately orders the cables cut and the flames of the drifting parau only just miss them.
Throughout all this, some of the Portuguese sailors are desperately trying to cut the cables on the anchor: a process that takes time, as Gama has ordered it down with an iron chain.
Eventually the anchor is cut, and the Flor begins to sail away.
As distance is gained from the zambuks and paraus, the ship's cannons can now come into play and fire on the pursuers.
The Flor reaches the mouth of the harbor just as Vicente Sodré arrives back from Cannanore with three caravels.
Seeing the ambush is foiled, the Calicut boats turn around and slip back into the side-channels of the harbor.
It is a narrow escape.
Before leaving Calicut, Gama orders the three hostages—the son and nephew of the Brahmin and the Nair—strung up by their necks on the main mast, in full view of the city of Calicut.
He dispatches their corpses on a raft to the shore, pinned with a note swearing revenge on the Zamorin.