Gama and Sodré spot the Calicut fleet of Coja Casem and Arab privateer Cojambar, near the coast, out of Calicut harbor.

In one of the first recorded instances of a naval line of battle, Gama's spice naus and escort caravels sail in a line end-to-end, concentrating all their immense firepower as they pass against the twenty large Arab ships of Cojambar, before they can get organized, sinking a number of them and doing immense damage to the remainder.

Although the Arab squadron is out of commission too soon, Coja Casem nonetheless proceeds forward with his fleet of Malabari sambuks, hoping to use their speed to outmaneuver the guns of the heavy-laden naus and reach for the grapple.

Gama sends the escort caravels under Vicente Sodré to intercept them in their tracks, while the cargo naus hurry on toward Cannanore.

Although the caravels are outnumbered, the fight is essentially over when Pero Rafael and Gil Matoso quickly board and capture Coja Casem's flagship (oddly, found with a lot of women and children on board).

The Calicut fleet breaks up and rushes back to port.

The pursuing caravels capture a number of sambuks, which they proceed to tow and set on fire before Calicut.

Danger dispelled, the caravels proceed to Cannanore to make junction with the main fleet.

The Battle of Calicut, like the previous year's naval battle of Cannanore, has once again demonstrated the critical importance of the technical superiority of Portuguese ships and naval artillery.

It also demonstrates to the Portuguese that the Zamorin of Calicut is not as easy to intimidate as they had expected.

Despite the terror actions, the bombardment and the naval blockade, the Zamorin has steadfastly refused to capitulate to Vasco da Gama's terms.

On the contrary, the hiring of an Arab privateer fleet demonstrates a certain resourcefulness and willingness to continue fighting and take the fight to the Portuguese.

The Zamorin clearly understands he has to appeal to foreigners to help close the technical gap between Indian and Portuguese forces.

Gama clearly understands that he has insufficient resources to secure continued Portuguese access to the spice markets; he will return to Lisbon with this message.

His priority now is to do everything he can to to protect the Portuguese factories and Indian allies of Cochin and Cannanore from the Zamorin's inevitable revenge when the Fourth Armada departs.

If the battle of Calicut impresses something on Vasco da Gama, it is precisely that the Portuguese in India are living on borrowed time, that it is going to take more resources than he has to bring the Zamorin to heel and secure continued Portuguese access to the spice markets.

And this is the message he will bring back to Lisbon.