The Siege of the Portuguese fort Santa Cruz de Gale at Galle in 1640, took place during the Dutch–Portuguese and Sinhalese–Portuguese Wars. The Galle fort commanded 282 villages, which contained the most fertile cinnamon lands in southern Sri Lanka It was also an important strategic coastal defense of Portuguese Ceylon. The Dutch, who were in an alliance with the Kingdom of Kandy, landed an expeditionary force under Commodore Willem Jacobszoon Coster of Akersloot, at the Bay of Galle, on 8 March 1640. After bombarding the fort for four consecutive days, Dutch troops stormed the fort and secured a victory on 13 March 1640. The Portuguese garrison, led by Captain Lourenço Ferreira de Brito, mounted a stiff resistance and unexpectedly high casualty rates among Dutch troops gave rise to the proverb "Gold in Malacca, lead in Galle". With this victory the Dutch gained access to a large port which they later used as a convenient naval base to attack Goa and other South Indian Portuguese defenses. They also gained access to the Sri Lankan cinnamon trade and gained a permanent foothold on the island.
Background
The Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505 and established trade relations with the Kingdom of Kotte. They erected a fortress in Colombo and garrisoned it. In 1521, during events which became known as the "Spoiling of Vijayabahu", Kotte King Vijayabahu VII's three sons mutinied and killed their father. They divided the kingdom among themselves giving rise to three minor kingdoms: Kotte, Sitawaka, and Principality of Raigama. Subsequent rivalries among these kingdoms gave the Portuguese an opportunity to get involved in internal politics. In 1557, the Kingdom of Kotte became a vassal state of Portugal. In 1591, the Jaffna Kingdom was subjugated and in 1594, Sitawaka was annexed to Portuguese territory. By April 1594, only the Kingdom of Kandy stood in the way of the Portuguese completing their conquest of Sri Lanka.
The Portuguese invaded the Kingdom of Kandy in 1594, 1602, and 1630, but they were defeated on all three occasions by the Kandyans. Meanwhile, after 1602, Dutch envoys began visiting Kandy, and by 1638 negotiations were taking place for a Dutch–Kandyan alliance. A Portuguese army, led by Diogo de Melo de Castro, then invaded Kandy in order to capture it before an alliance could take place. However, the Portuguese army was annihilated on 28 March 1638 in a decisive battle at Gannoruwa. Meanwhile, the Dutch fleet arrived in Sri Lanka on 2 April 1638 and made contact with the Kandyans. Priority was given to capture the Batticaloa and Trincomalee forts. These forts were situated within Kandyan territory and had been built ten years earlier by the Portuguese in violation of the peace treaty that had then existed between the Portuguese and Kandyans.
On 18 May, after being besieged for eight days by a combined Dutch-Kandyan army, the Portuguese commander surrendered the Batticaloa fort. Five days later, on 23 May 1638, a treaty was signed establishing an alliance between the Dutch and the Kandyans. On 2 May 1639, after a siege that lasted for 40 days, the Dutch captured the Trincomalee fort and on 9 February 1640, a combined Dutch–Kandyan army stormed and captured the Negombo fort. By the end of February, preparations were being made for the siege of Galle.
Goa, the headquarters of Portugal's Asian territories (Estado da Índia), was resupplied annually from Lisbon by Portugal's India armadas. These resources were later distributed to the other Portuguese strongholds through further supply convoys and Sri Lanka received supplies and reinforcements twice a year in May and September. However, whenever a Portuguese stronghold was under threat, reinforcements were rushed to that place disregarding the normal procedures of supply.
In 1636, Antonio van Diemen was appointed Governor General of Dutch East India Company. Under his leadership Dutch naval strategy underwent an important change. From 1636, van Diemen annually sent a fleet to blockade Goa, using this opportunity to attack other Portuguese processions as they were deprived of help. He used this strategy in Sri Lanka and after the destruction of powerful Portuguese galleons in the battle of Mormugão on 30 September 1639, the Dutch were able to divert more ships and men to Sri Lanka. On 14 March 1639, issuing a statement, van Diemen declared that the time had come to drive the Portuguese out of their strongholds and to secure Dutch supremacy in the Indies.
Opposing forces and the Galle fort
Portuguese army
Every year an eastbound fleet from Lisbon to Goa brought volunteers, convicts, and men forced into service by periodic sweeps of the streets, as recruits. After a short period of basic training, which included parade ground drilling and fighting in formations, they were distributed throughout the empire. Sometimes these raw recruits received their formal military training on the battlefield itself.
The rank and file was composed of unmarried regular soldiers who were known as "soldados". They were arranged into companies of 30 to 35 men under a captain with an ensign and a sergeant as non-commissioned officers. These regulars were supported by other various fighting elements. "Casados" were retired veterans who had married and settled locally. In special situations like in expeditions and sieges, they were recalled for active duty. Indigenous fighting men who served under the Portuguese were known as "Lascarins". They fought under their provincial leader, a "Dissawe", who was invariably a Portuguese (by 1640 there were four provinces under the Portuguese rule: Seven Korale, Four Korale, Matara, and Sabaragamuwa). They also hired mercenary soldiers from south India and employed African soldiers to further increase their numbers.
The primary firearm used by the Portuguese was arquebus, while spears and swords with shields were used as the primary melee weapons. Comparing the arquebus with the Dutch muskets, Portuguese author Queiroz wrote "... arquebues, do not do as much damage as theirs [Dutch] from muskets, on yet account of the greater expedition with which our men wielded them, they made up for the greater damage of the musketry." Portuguese troops in Ceylon did not wear any armor and some of the rank and file even fought barefoot.
Dutch army
Although called "the Hollanders" by the contemporary sources the VOC army consisted of any European that could be recruited resulting in a multi-ethnic army. Apart from the Dutch, there were also German, English, Scottish, Irish, and French troops on the field. In contrast to the Portuguese troops in Ceylon, the Dutch army used similar tactics to other contemporary European armies, which formed in tight blocks of pike-men and musketeers. They were arranged into companies of 100 men and supported by auxiliary troops that consisted of Javanese and Malays. These Malay troops were organized under their own chiefs with little effort to provide proper military training or up to date weapons.
Unlike the Portuguese, Dutch troops wore armor, which consisted of breastplates and morions. Their primary weapons were matchlock muskets, pikes, and spears, but Queiroz states that the Dutch used flintlock muskets in addition to matchlocks during the siege. Additionally, describing the Dutch troops who fought in Galle, he wrote that “... the Batavian brought on this occasion great leaders, picked and well armed men.”
Santa Cruz de Gale
The Portuguese fort of Santa Cruz de Gale was situated on a promontory at the western edge of the Bay of Galle. Although considerably elevated at its southern tip, it gradually sloped down towards the isthmus where it connected with the mainland. At this isthmus, a wall extended from sea side to the bay side enclosing Galle city. There were three bastions defending the wall from sea to bay called "Santo António", "Conception", and "Santiago". Santiago was small and had a low open terrace making it vulnerable to grenade attacks. From the Santiago, a parapet wall ran along the bay up to the Retreat, a fortification that contained the captain's keep and an esplanade, which had space to mount 20 guns.
At the southern tip of the fort, the Bastion of Santa Cruz commanded the western approaches to the bay. However, at the time of the siege, it lacked any guns and its walls were in ruins. The Galle fort, which was surrounded by sea on three sides, could be entered from the north side through two gates. Porta da Traição, or the Treason Gate, was the main gate. It was protected by a cavalier and was situated where the present-day gate is situated. At the foot of the Bastion of Santiago, there was another gate called Porta do Muro or the Wall Gate, which the Dutch called the “gate of the chief bastion”. There were two more entry points at the bay side, which granted access to the harbor.
The Galle fort was secured at the western side by a reef and hidden rocks. Although an enemy party could have landed over the rocks around the fort in favorable weather, this approach was considered secure. The bastion of Santa Cruz defended the southern side, while breastworks with twelve “field pieces” defended the eastern side, which was approachable from the Galle bay. Despite its strengths, the Galle fort had an inherent weakness. Within cannon range from the northern wall there was an area of higher ground from which a battery, if established there, had the ability to fire grenades over the wall into the fort.
Prelude
Planning and preparation
The mastermind behind the siege was Commodore Willem Jacobszoon Coster, second-in-command of the Dutch expeditionary force to Sri Lanka. The Dutch had been gathering information on Galle and on 14 June 1638, writing to Governor General Van Diemen, Coster outlined his plan of attack. He described his plans to land troops beyond the range of the fort guns to exploit the Galle fort's inherent weakness, “... there is a highland like the promontory, so that one can easily fire with guns from there at the city and the principal fort, and, as far as we can gather, can throw (grenades) with mortars, and we shall obliged to take it in this manner.” Van Diemen, writing back on 11 August 1638, ordered that Galle was a priority target and to capture it before Colombo. He further added “... it [Galle] offers an excellent harbor for vessels which can anchor there at any time of the year”, which better suited their future plans.
As per instructions given by Van Diemen, a fleet of 11 ships approached Galle in December 1638. Their plan was to assess the Portuguese fortifications and locate potential landing sites. After a failed attempt due to heavy rains and rough seas, they landed a small detachment the next day while the ships distracted the fort with a bombardment. They inspected the area and successfully completed the mission at the expense of three soldiers who were killed in action and another soldier who was injured. However, the Dutch council wanted additional information and instructed Coster, “if Portuguese of position are taken prisoner get them to confess by good or bad means.”
In July 1639, a fleet of nine ships was sent to blockade Goa. Their objective was to prevent any reinforcements from reaching Sri Lanka. On 24 September 1639, a Dutch expeditionary force, under the command of director Philip Lucasz, left Batavia. Meanwhile, on 24 October 1639, two Dutch ships appeared off Colombo and attacked Portuguese vessels there, disrupting their shipping along the west coast. After being delayed by several weeks due to storms, Philip Lucasz arrived in December 1639 with a force of 21 ships. They landed north of Negombo and defeated the Portuguese during the battle of Kammala. Later, together with a 15,000-strong Kandyan army, they captured Negombo. After the battle, Lucasz fell critically ill and died on his way back to Batavia leaving Coster in command of the Dutch expeditionary force.
The Portuguese were unprepared for a siege. João Rodrigues Leitão, the captain of the Galle fort, was severely ill. He was succeeded by a Casado Captain, Lourenço Ferreira de Brito, just 28 days before the arrival of the Dutch. He had only 80 Casados, 30 militia, three companies of Topasses, and 300 Lascarins for the defense. The armory only contained a small stock of gunpowder, 20 muskets and arquebuses, and a few spears. In addition to the field pieces along the breastwork, he had only 12 guns, two stone mortars, and seven falcons. The guns were of different calibers so they required shots of different sizes. The treasury was empty so he had to collect money from the inhabitants to pay for munitions and repairs.
Movement to battle
At the beginning of March, Portuguese Generals Manuel Mascarenhas Homem and Dom Brás de Castro left from Cochin, with a strong force of reinforcements in eight ships and 15 galleys. Five hundred Christians led by Cristóvão Teles, a Knight of the order of Christ, joined them bearing the zeal of bishop of Cochin. This large force came to be known as “the two Generals” and was eagerly expected at Colombo.