Storia do Mogor 182: Sambha Ji takes the Island of Santo Estêvão from the Portuguese.
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 182
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Sambha Ji takes the Island of Santo Estêvão from the Portuguese.
182.1
A few days after my return to Goa a thing happened which placed the Portuguese in very great danger. The viceroy, as much from deficiency of men as anything else, had neglected to post any soldiers on a little island called Santo Estevao, where there was a castle armed with mortars. Sambha Ji had spies everywhere. It was on the 25th November of some year long ago that the Portuguese had obtained possession of Goa. In memory of that conquest they built a little church called St. Catharine, which at this day is close to the hospital. On that very date in the year 1683, at ten o'clock at night, Sambha Ji sent four thousand men at low tide to occupy the said fortress (i.e., Santo Estevao). The soldiers entered it, and without any loss to themselves decapitated the whole of the garrison. As a signal that they had carried out their orders, they discharged several mortars to inform Sambha Ji and his army that they were masters of the place. A great uproar arose in Goa.
182.2
The following day the viceroy, against the judgment of Dom Rodrigo da Costa, wished to reoccupy the place. Dom Rodrigo's advice was to post two pieces of artillery at the entry of a bridge to prevent any sally, meanwhile to patrol with small boats and stop any attempt to take Goa. This would have been quite easily done, whereby those within it (Santo Estevao) would have been obliged to surrender. But the viceroy, confident in his own judgment, preferred to reinforce the place directly with some men. He selected some [214] one hundred and fifty soldiers, shouting in a loud voice that anyone who meant to come should follow him. He went as far as the castle walls and marched round them, during which Sambha Ji's troops slew a great many. Some reinforcements arrived, and by good luck the viceroy and Dom Rodrigo were able to reach their boats and take to flight, otherwise they would certainly have been killed like the rest.
182.3
Their getting time enough to retire was due to the conduct of a friar, one Frey Pedro de Sylveira, an Augustinian and a great friend of mine, he who had defended the crossing, as I have said (ante, II. 209). Seeing that the viceroy was in great peril, he exerted himself to make up a fictitious body of troops close to the bridge. He gathered caffres (African slaves), serving men, and scullions, whom he ordered to plunder a neighbouring open field of its sugar-cane. They were all to hold a sugar-cane at their side, standing all in a row, and making a noise with a few matchlocks. Thus they stood drawn up in front of the enemy, who, on beholding them, imagined that they were reinforcements on the way. They, too, called a halt, and relinquished pursuit of the viceroy. The latter had thus time to re-embark, but many men stuck fast in the mud, and were killed by the enemy's arrows or bullets; others were drowned. The viceroy, on embarking, took his matchlock and shot his horse to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy, and Dom Rodrigo did the same to his. On this occasion the viceroy came back with a slight bullet wound in the left arm.
182.4
Sambha Ji's soldiers retained the island and were very near to Goa. They gave so much trouble to the city that the viceroy resolved to send an embassy to the said prince to see if he could obtain a peace, and I was obliged to go a second time to Sambha Ji. But on my arrival I found a spy, then in his service, who gave me a faithful report of the latest news. He told me that the army of Shah 'Alam was already quite close. This was enough to decide me not to pursue my negotiation; therefore I determined to retrace my steps, and to advise the viceroy that the deliverance of Goa was at hand with the aid of Shah 'Alam. I stayed in Goa, in order afterwards to visit that prince and negotiate as soon as he arrived. In my place they sent to Sambha Ji Manoel Saraiva and an Augustinian father. But the fighting still went on with great energy. Well was it for the Portuguese that Sambha Ji never knew exactly how few men there were in the island. If he had known, he could have carried out his scheme in its entirety.
182.5
I do not know if it was from carelessness, or from real want of soldiers, that the vessels which were on guard had not more than seven or eight men to each vessel. I know the fact because one night the viceroy invited me to go with him in his boat on his rounds, to see if the officers were doing their duty. We found them nearly all asleep, and instead of challenging us, it was necessary for us to accost them to find out whether there was anyone in the vessel or not. Not aware that it was the viceroy who was passing, they gave us ill-conditioned replies, and we ascertained that there was not a single officer in the ships. But what was my astonishment, on reaching the fort opposite the bar at the entrance to the river, to find we had to beat at the door for a long time, making much noise, without getting any response. Finally came a soldier, who replied to us by stating there were only eleven men. Yet this fort was of the greatest importance, and Sambhā Jī had only to take it to get possession of Goa without any farther difficulty.
182.6
The viceroy was angry at getting such a reply, and asked why the men of the garrison had not answered. The soldier said that they could not answer, for there was no one, only a boy who tended the goats. These were the preparations that we found in the ships and at that fort at a time when Sambhā Jī was doing all he could to capture a city that had ever remained the glory of the Portuguese! From this the reader may judge how little these gentlemen thought of the courage of veteran soldiers such as those of Sambhā Jī; or else, overconfident in themselves, they imagined that their mere name would bar the way to the enemy, or it may be that in reality there were no troops available. In any case, those they had in their service could not have cared much whether they lived under the rule of the Portugal king or that of Sambhā Jī.