Foiled in every attempt with severe loss, by the bravery and excellent dispositions of Prince Naramuhin, the zamorin corrupted the paymaster of the troops of Cochin, who changed the usual order of payment which had been daily made in the camp, and obliged the soldiers to come up to Cochin for that purpose. Naramuhin was obliged to submit to this arrangement, by giving leave to the naires to go for their wages, yet charged them punctually to return to the camp before day. But the treacherous paymaster kept them waiting till after day-light, by which means the prince was left with very few troops to defend the ford. Taking advantage of this concerted stratagem, the zamorin made an assault upon the ford with his whole force by sea and land, and constrained Naramuhin to retire with his small band into a grove of palm trees, where he was surrounded by the whole army of Calicut, yet fought the whole day against such terrible odds with the utmost resolution, several times throwing his enemies into disorder, of whom many were slain. But at length, overpowered by numbers, he and two of his cousins who fought along with him were slain, together with most of his faithful followers.

When this melancholy event was announced to the rajah of Cochin, he fainted from extreme grief, and was for some time thought to have actually expired. At this time, the naires were much exasperated against our men, to whom they attributed the overthrow and death of prince Naramuhin, and the desperate situation of their country, and seemed much inclined to have put the Portuguese to death, or to have delivered them up to the zamorin. On the recovery of the rajah, and learning the designs of his people against our men, he called the Portuguese into his presence; he gave them assurance that even this reverse of his affairs should not alter his resolution of protecting them, both against the zamorin and his own subjects. He then addressed his assembled naires, urging them not to stain his honour and their own by injuring the Portuguese, whom he and they had sworn to protect. He exhorted them to persevere honourably and bravely in defending their country and preserving their honour inviolate to the Christians, and comforted them with the assurance that the Portuguese fleet would soon arrive with sufficient reinforcements to drive out the zamorin and to restore him to his dominions. In the meantime, he proposed that they should retire with what force remained, into the isle of Vaipi, which was of difficult access; and where they could defend themselves till the arrival of the Portuguese fleet, more especially as the winter was at hand, which would stop the progress of the war for some time. The naires were astonished at the resolution of their sovereign, and promised faithfully to obey his commands in all things.

The zamorin made a new attempt to shake the resolution of the rajah in his present adversity, by offering peace on condition of delivering up the Portuguese and their goods; which the rajah rejected with disdain as he had done all his former overtures. On this the zamorin gave orders to destroy the whole country with fire and sword, on which intelligence most of the inhabitants of Cochin withdrew to other places. There were at this time in Cochin two Milanese lapidaries belonging to the factory, named John Maria and Pedro Antonio, who had been brought to India by Vasco de Gama. These men deserted to the zamorin, to whom they conveyed intelligence of the consternation which reigned among the inhabitants of Cochin, and of the small number of men that remained with the rajah. These men also made offer to the zamorin to make ordnance for him resembling those of the Portuguese, which they afterwards did as will appear in the sequel of this history, and for which service they were highly rewarded. The zamorin now moved forwards with his army to take possession of Cochin, and was resisted for some time by the rajah, who was himself slightly wounded. But finding it impossible any farther to resist against such prodigious odds, he withdrew to the strong island of Vaipi, carrying all our men along with him and every thing belonging to our factory. The zamorin, on taking possession of the deserted city of Cochin, ordered it to be set on fire. He then sent a part of his army against the isle of Vaipi, which was valiantly defended by the rajah and his men and in which defence the members of our factory contributed to the best of their ability. But the winter coming on, and bad weather setting in, the zamorin was obliged to desist for the present season, and withdrew his army to Cranganor with a determination to renew the war in the ensuing spring, leaving a strong detachment in the island of Cochin, which he ordered to throw up entrenchments for their defence.

After his shameful desertion of Cochin, Vincente Sodre went with his fleet towards the kingdom of Cambaya; meaning to capture the rich ships of the Moors which trade to India from the Red Sea. He there took five ships, in which in ready money only was found to the value of 200,000 perdaos. Most of the Moors were slain in the battle, and the ships burnt. From Cambaya he sailed for Cape Guardafu; and as his ships were foul, he proposed to lay them aground to be careened at the islands of Curia Muria518. Sodre arrived there with his squadron on the 20th April 1503; and though these islands were well inhabited by Moors, he resolved to venture on land, considering that these islanders were by no means warlike, and stood in fear of our men. The islanders accordingly behaved in a peaceable manner, and sold our people such provisions as they had to spare. Sodre laid one of his caravels aground for repair, on which he was informed by the Moors that their coast was subject to violent storms in the month of May, during which no ships were able to keep the sea, but were unavoidably driven on shore and wrecked. Wherefore they advised him strenuously to remove to the other side of the island, which would then be a sure defence against the storm, after which had blown over he might return to their part of the coast. Sodre made light of their advice, conceiving they meant him some harm; and told them that the ships of the Moors having only wooden anchors, might be easily driven ashore, whereas his anchors were of iron and would hold fast. Pedro Raphael, Hernan Rodriguez Badarsas, and Diego Perez were convinced of the council of the Moors being good, and therefore quitted these islands on the last day of April; but Sodre would not listen to their advice and remained with his brother at Curia Muria. According to the prediction of the Moors, a violent storm came on early in May, by which the two remaining ships were driven from their anchors and dashed to pieces. Vincente Sodre and his brother, with many others lost their lives, and nothing whatever was saved out of these two ships. The loss of these two brothers was considered as a punishment of Providence, for basely abandoning the rajah of Cochin and the factory in their imminent danger.

Those who were saved returned towards Cochin to succour our people, and chose Pedro de Tayde519 as their general. In their passage from Curia Muria towards Cochin, they encountered several severe storms, and were often in great danger of perishing. Being unable to reach Cochin on account of the winds, they were forced to take refuge in the island of Anchediva. A few days after their arrival, a ship came there from Portugal, commanded by Antonio del Campo, who had left Lisbon alone some time after Vasco de Gama, and had been much delayed on his voyage in consequence of the death of his pilot. He had encountered severe weather on the coast, and was forced after much trouble and danger to take refuge in Anchediva. The united squadron wintered in this island, where they suffered severe hardships from scarcity of provisions.