Cabral's seizure exposed the factory to massacre

Cabral seized a loaded ship from Jeddah while leaving the Portuguese factory without extra guards, an evacuation, or a prepared escape route. A merchant-led mob attacked for roughly three hours while the fleet lay too far offshore to intervene, killing between fifty-three and seventy Portuguese personnel. Survivors swam to the ships, one man found shelter with a local merchant, and witnesses said the Zamorin's guards either stood aside or helped the attackers. Calicut then impounded the factory and its goods. Cabral answered by seizing and burning merchant ships, killing their crews, and bombarding the unfortified city, beginning a decade-long war.