Recapture of Bahia

A Dutch Squadron attacking a Portuguese Fortress in the Far East or Brazil. Oil on panel by Adam Willaerts.

On May 8, the Dutch fleet appeared off Salvador. The Portuguese governor of Salvador, Diogo de Mendonça Furtado, organized the defense of the town by hastily recruiting 3,000 men.[15] This Portuguese militia was composed mainly of peasant levees and black slaves, many of whom were resentful of Spanish rule.[12] The port was protected by sea by two forts: Fort Santo António from the east and Fort São Filipe from the west. Additionally, a six-gun battery was erected on the beach and the streets were barricaded.

The Dutch fleet entered the bay divided into two squadrons. One sailed towards the beach of Santo António and disembarked the soldiers commanded by Colonel Johan van Dorth. The other anchored offshore and opened fire on the coastal defenses, which were quickly neutralized. At dawn the city was surrounded by more than 1,000 Dutch soldiers with 2 pieces of artillery.[12] Intimidated, the Portuguese militia threw down their weapons and fled, leaving Mendonça with 60 loyal soldiers.[12] Salvador had been captured at a cost of 50 casualties among the attackers.[12]

Willekens and Heyn installed a garrison under the command of Dorth before departing on new missions, according to the orders they had received. Four ships were sent to Holland carrying booty and news back,[12] and also instructions to call for reinforcements to secure Salvador.[16] The defenses of the city were reinforced and expanded with moats and ramparts and the garrison was soon increased to up to 2,500 men with numerous Portuguese slaves seduced by promises of freedom and land.[12]

However, the Dutch garrison soon began to be harassed by the local guerrilla organized by Bishop Dom Marcos Teixeira, who had escaped inland. He managed to assemble a force of 1,400 Portuguese and 250 Indian auxiliaries,[17][18] who built fortifications and organized ambushes against the Dutch in the surrounding forests. Dorth was killed while attempting to drive off the attackers from the outskirts of town, and morale sagged. He was replaced by Albert Schoutens, who also perished in a later ambush and was replaced by his brother Willem Schoutens.

Engraving by Benedictus Mealius Lusitanus, in Jornada dos Vassalos da Coroa de Portugal, Lisbon, 1625.

When news of the loss of Salvador arrived to Spain in August 1624, King Philip IV ordered to assemble a joint Spanish-Portuguese fleet under Admiral Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Mendoza with the mission to retake the city. On November 22, the Portuguese fleet under Manuel de Menezes, with Francisco de Almeida as second in command, left Lisbon. It was composed of 22 ships and about 4,000 men.[2] The Spanish fleet left the port of Cadiz on January 14 after a delay caused by bad weather. It was composed by 38 ships belonging to the armadas of Castile, Biscay, Gibraltar, and Cuatro Villas,[2] among them 21 galleons. It had 8,000 sailors and soldiers on board, being those latter divided in three tercios, of whom one was Italian and the other two Spanish. Its commanding officers were the maestros de campo Pedro Osorio, Juan de Orellana, and Carlos Carraciolo, Marquis of Torrecuso. The commander-in-chief of the joint army was Pedro Rodríguez de Sebastián, seconded by Sargento Mayor Diego Ruiz.[19]

After passing through the Canary Islands on January 28, the Spanish fleet arrived at Cape Verde on February 6, where it joined the Portuguese fleet. This one had lost a ship and 140 men drowned in the shoals of the Isle of Maio.[20] Five days later, after holding a council of war, the joint fleet sailed to Brazil. After waiting for some Portuguese ships delayed by rough seas and 7 caravels under the command of Francisco de Moura sent from Pernambuco, the fleet entered the Bay of Todos os Santos on March 29.

Detail of a map showing the joint Spanish-Portuguese fleet recapturing Salvador, Bahia in 1625, Atlas of Brazil by João Teixeira Albernaz I (1631)

Toledo anchored his fleet forming a huge crescent to prevent the escape of the Dutch ships in the bay. At dawn of the following day 4,000 soldiers landed at Santo António beach with food and supplies for four days.[6] They joined up with the Portuguese guerrillas and occupied the field above Salvador. The Dutch were forced back within their walls, warping their 18 ships beneath the protection of their batteries. Their strength at that time amounted to 2,000 Dutch, English, French, and German soldiers and about 800 black auxiliaries.[21]

The quarters of Carmen and San Benito, located both outside the walls, were occupied by the Tercios, and a new one, named Las Palmas, was built. Siege warfare ensued, with the artillery firing over the Dutch fortifications from these positions and the pioneers driving saplines toward the Dutch ramparts. The defenders launched several sporadic attacks to obstruct the siege works. During one of these sallies, maestro de campo Pedro Osorio and 71 Spanish officers and soldiers were killed and another 64 wounded.[7] Nevertheless, the siege continued.

Two days later, the Dutch attempted to break the blockade sending two fire ships against the anchored Spanish-Portuguese fleet, but they didn't cause any damage.[7] Some mutinies emerged among the defenders following this failure, and Willem Schoutens was deposed and replaced by Hans Kyff. He was forced to capitulate a few weeks later, when the siege lines finally reached Salvador's moats. 1,912 Dutch, English, French, and German soldiers surrendered, and 18 flags, 260 guns, 6 ships, 500 black slaves, and considerable amount of gunpowder, money, and merchandise were captured.[7]