Battle of Perlis River

At 2 am on 9 September 1547, an Acehnese fleet silently approached Portuguese Malacca in an attempt to assault it by surprise. It numbered 3 galleys, 57 lancharas, 5,000 men (including both sailors and warriors, 300 hulubalangs, plus 80 mercenaries from the Ottoman Empire of which 20 were former Janissaries of Greek origin. After quickly reembarking his men, Bayaya Soora sent the Portuguese captain of Malacca Simão de Melo a message, delivered by some fishermen he had captured and mutilated, written in their blood: he challenged Melo to a single-duel, threatening among other things to "consider the King of Portugal as the lowliest vassal of Aceh" if he did not comply. The message was received with amusement by the Portuguese command, but was ignored, and the Acehnese withdrew north. Portuguese preparations At that time, the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier resided in the city, who publicly criticised the garrison for not chasing the enemy. Nine light-galleys and 230 soldiers were then equipped to seek battle with the Acehnese, the supplies having been provided voluntarily by the people of Malacca. On 25 October 25 Portuguese flottilla set sail, numbering 9 light galleys and 230 soldiers, besides an unrecorded number of rowers, sailors, Indian auxiliaries and slaves, under the command of Dom Francisco de Eça. The ruse of the Sultan of Johor Sometime after the departure of Dom Francisco, a large fleet of over 300 vessels under the command of the Sultan of Johor anchored in the Muar River near Malacca. Having been informed that a Portuguese fleet had recently left to fight the Acehnese, the sultan offered captain Simão de Melo his condolences for "the total destruction" of the Portuguese fleet, and requested permission to both drop anchor in the harbour and also to land forces to help protect the city from the Acehnese. Suspecting treachery, Melo rejected the offer, claiming that "a great victory" had just been won and that he had enough soldiers to defend Malacca. The sultan did not move from the Muar and disptached light vessels north to gather information. ==Battle==

Dom Francisco was instructed not to sail north of Pulo Sambilão island. Once the Portuguese learned that the Acehnese were approaching, Dom Francisco ran through his fleet fortifying his men with spirited words. The Aceh fleet sailed resolutely and in formation, but it lacked heavy caliber artillery, and as the river was narrow, they could not take advantage of their numerical superiority. Acehnese gunners fired too early, and their shots fell short. Once they were very close, the Portuguese fired a salvo of heavy guns, which severely damaged the three Turkish galleys in the vanguard, while the Acehnese flagship was sunk, which threw the following oarships into disarray. The Portuguese unleashed volleys of artillery and matchlock fire or clay bombs into the compact Acehnese fleet before boarding the ships closest, and after an hour all Acehnese had jumped overboard, beached their ships or been killed in action. ==Aftermath==

The Portuguese captured 45 vessels, of which 20 were burned, and 300 cannon, 800 arquebuses and a large but unrecorded number of personal weapons, many richly decorated with jewels. He later met Dom Francisco to sign an alliance with the Portuguese and became a tributary vassal of Portugal. ==See also==