Luso–British Cooperation in India: A Portuguese Frigate in the Service of a British Expedition

Abstract

The friendly ties of the Anglo–Portuguese alliance in Europe were hardly in evidence in the Indian context even in the second half of the 18th century. The Marquez Alorna's note to his successor Viceroy of Goa, in 1751, listed the French as a friend and the English as an enemy in India. Towards the end of the century, though, relations took a dramatic turn towards close ties of amity and cooperation between England and Portugal.

This article examines crucial changes during the Viceroyalty of Sr Francisco Antonio da Veiga Cabral (1794–1807) when Anglo–Portuguese relations entered a new phase of assistance and adjustment through the introduction of a British auxiliary force into Goa, by a process of super-imposition rather than supercession. In this atmosphere of friendship and amity, cooperation covered the fields of defence, administration, trade protection and political affairs.

The article specifically studies documentary evidence related to how the Portuguese frigate Real Fidelissimo was spared by the Portuguese Viceroy for service in a British expedition to the Red Sea in 1801. Even a temporary integration of the Portuguese European troops into British pay and a joint command of all the Portuguese and British troops in Goa, under a British Commanding Officer, were possible in that ambience.